What kind of movie should Hud be called.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a clear thing.\u00a0 I guess I\u2019d call it a character driven story about an amoral man.\u00a0 Paul Newman plays Hud Bannon the son of a small-time Texas cattle rancher Homer Bannon (played by Melvyn Douglas.\u00a0 They live in a small house on their ranch along with Hud\u2019s nephew Lonnie.\u00a0 And rounding out the cast is the housekeeper Alma Brown played by Patricia Neal.<\/p>\n
Hud is a handsome, personable young man who spends his time drinking and sleeping with the various unfaithful married women of the small town they live near.\u00a0 In the opening scene Lonnie is searching around town for Hud to come look at a dead cow at the ranch.\u00a0 When he finds him at the house of one of his women the husband shows up and Hud tells the man that Lonnie was the one who was with his wife and Hud quickly escapes with Lonnie while claiming that he will punish Lonnie for his behavior.<\/p>\n
(Spoiler Alert \u2013 Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)<\/strong><\/p>\n This sets the tone for the whole movie.\u00a0 Hud is completely irresponsible and selfish and he really doesn\u2019t care how his behavior effects anyone or anything.\u00a0 The movie shows Lonnie learning about his uncle by following him around and experiencing how exciting, reckless and dangerous his uncle is.\u00a0 We gather from his speech that Homer has long ago written off his son as a hopeless case and shows cold distaste for him.\u00a0 Part of this is based on Hud having killed Lonnie\u2019s father in a drunken car accident years ago.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Alma is somewhat charmed by Hud\u2019s attentions but she is careful not to encourage him because she senses his callousness and irresponsibility.<\/p>\n By the end of the movie the depth of Hud\u2019s selfishness and disloyalty is on full display.\u00a0 When the ranch is in crisis because the herd has to be destroyed because of disease, Hud immediately calls on a lawyer to have his father declared incompetent so he can turn the property into cash.\u00a0 And in another scene, in a drunken debauch, Hud attempts to rape Alma and is only stopped when Lonnie pulls him off of her.\u00a0 Hud barely restrains himself from beating Lonnie to a pulp.<\/p>\n The story ends with Homer dying from a fall from his horse but it seems the case that he no longer wanted to live.\u00a0 Alma has already left town to escape Hud and in the final scene Hud comes back from the funeral to see Lonnie walking away down the road to continue his life without his heartless uncle.<\/p>\n I will admit that this doesn\u2019t sound like a promising plot.\u00a0 But the four principals provide truly excellent characterizations and the plot draws you in to see how this fraught situation will resolve.\u00a0 Newman\u2019s character is both unsympathetic and mesmerizing.\u00a0 Patricia Neal\u2019s Alma is humorous and bittersweet.\u00a0 Hud\u2019s father and nephew are also played very convincingly.\u00a0 When the movie ends, and it ends abruptly, I guess the feeling you\u2019re left with is anger.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a strange way to leave an audience but at the same time there\u2019s an honesty about the ending.\u00a0 Many people have probably known someone like Hud, a charming sociopath who leaves a path of destruction in his wake.<\/p>\n This movie may not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea.\u00a0 I\u2019m recommending it because I think it\u2019s a good film.\u00a0 If my description hasn\u2019t scared you off give it a try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What kind of movie should Hud be called.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a clear thing.\u00a0 I guess I\u2019d call it a character driven story about an amoral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[3429,43,3994,210,38,1355],"class_list":["post-23057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-melvyn-douglas","tag-movie-review","tag-patricia-neal","tag-paul-newman","tag-review","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n