HUD (1963) and The West Texas Landscape

The desolate West Texas landscape is the setting for HUD (1963) Starring Paul Newman. In the movie, director Martin Ritt and cinematographer James Wong Howe use the west Texas film location as a symbol for Hud's character.

Based on the novel Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry, published in 1961, the film centers on Hud and his ongoing clashes with his principled well respected father Homer Bannon a North West Texas cattleman played by Melvyn Douglas.

As an early revisionist western, HUD bridged the gap between the more naive less cynical films of the 1950s and early 1960s and the more realistic and challenging movies that came later in the decade.
The movie is a fantastic character study of Paul Newman's western bad guy Hud Bannon, and the film also co-stars, Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas and Brandon De Wilde and also one of the best movies set in Texas.

Want to know more? Check out this video on HUD cinematographer James Wong Howe
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[CinemaCities]

Paul Newman and Martin Ritt had a pretty great run of films they made together HUD being one of my favorites.

[richardlee]

James Wong Howe was my great uncle. Paul Newman donated a print of this film to the Asian American Film Festival in Seattle where I was a keynote speaker in 1997.

[xpindy]

Clearly...clearly Paul Newman's greatest performance. Absolutely convincing.

[call]

The film is a brilliant modern Western cowboy film. The cinematography of a desolate town and farm is captivating and very fitting for the film.

However, I especially adore the performance of Patricia Neal, who played Alma with a down-to-earth persona. No dramatic monologues, no fancy costumes, no screaming or shouting. Just a quiet, understated but vocal performance about a world-weary woman.

[billystpaul]

A perfect movie all around. Great actors, good script and a fine director make a truly classic movie. Too bad Brandon De Wilde did not make more movies, he was a fine young actor...

[normadesmond]

This film is just perfection. I was a teen when it came to the theatre. I just watched "The Reward" (1965) and I believe some of the music score was used again from Hud. I recognized it immediately by the fabulous Elmer Bernstein. So glad Hud was filmed in black and white as was The Last Picture Show also West Texas landscape. I loved this review!

[Kurtiscott]

I was always struck by the unique look and feel of “The Last Picture Show” and then, I finally saw “Hud” and realized where they got their inspiration. And both based on McMurtry stories.

[mrkurtlovesmovies]

One of my favorite things about your videos is how every featured film or program is made to feel perfectly suited to your presentation style. It's a kind of serene conversation, like a quiet talk on a porch on a cool summer's night. So enjoyable. Another great episode.

[brownrich]

It's absolutely one of the best movies ever made. I fully suggest this masterpiece to everyone.

[sanfordtm]

I've never heard the movie explained so well. One of my favorites since I was a kid, as you know, "Little by little the look of the country, changes because of the men we admire"

[johnradovich]

Excellent video. Newman made many great films. I’ve had this one for years and have yet to watch it. You just changed that.

[Deepurplerain]

In this film, there is nothing, there is everything. Ritt had a european sensibility, close to social issues, deep&subtle intimacy into characters, but he seemed too ambitious with his adaptations, this slow highly subtle bleak story was perfect for him, no edifice or strong family to knock down, it's already bleeding, agonizing. As grand as another Larry McMurtry adaptations, The last picture show, one of my top favorite.

[allanjacquadro]

You could argue that Hud gets his comeuppance: he is abandoned by everyone. Without the cattle he is left in a financial hole. He wanted Lonny to follow in his footsteps; no dice. Alma admits she would have eventually succumbed to Hud’s charms. No-Hud gets what he deserves: total abandonment

[martharunstheworld]

I feel that role was written just for Newman; no one could have played it better.

[markodjuric]

Thank you for doing a review on this film! There is so little about this movie on youtube, let alone such nice analysis like you make! Keep up the good work!
I would suggest you look up the Kirk Douglas movie Lonely are the brave

[barbara]

Fabulous film - one of my favourites of all time.

[MoreMoviesu]

Another excellent video! I really love Hud and you have once again provided a unique insight into this classic movie. Top notch stuff CC!

[yuckyool]

Not sure where, but I read a wonderful essay comparing the films, "Hud" and "Giant".
They both explore the myth of the purity of inherited, vast, Western lands to be used for cattle and gazing.
Larry McMurtry visits this theme in both Last Picture Show and then again in Texasville.
FWIW, "Yellowstone" plays with this myth too as if vacant land for cattle to eat grass in, is so valuable.

Exploration and extraction of oil was thought . . .would spoil that purity.
Homer has to die, for Hud to transform their land . . . but Bick merely has to see the prosperity of Jett on his Little Reata to be convinced.

[Dan-vfey]

I'm from west Texas small town called Lorraine in between Abilene and Midland this movie reminds off backhome.

[PaulKyriazi]

Hud: "It's time to dip our bread into some of that gravy while it's still hot." Meaning; knowingly passing on tainted beef to the public. Yet, young people of the day thought Hud was cool.