![]() Ironically, “Hud” was a minor character in McMurtry’s novel. Ritt even noted that Paramount executives wanted a happy ending with Hud “reforming and marrying the nice girl.” In a on-set New York Times interview, Ritt described “Hud” as “modern” Western that basically turned the image of the “hard-fighting, heavy-drinking, loose-living hero” depicted in Hollywood film upside down. “Hud” is based on Larry McMurtry’s (“The Last Picture Show,” “Lonesome Dove”) 1961 novel “Horseman, Pass By” and adapted by Ritt’s frequent screenwriters Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. ![]() ![]() But Hud has the farm, a refrigerator full of beer and probably will drill for oil on the property. Alma gets the bus out of town after Hud tries to rape her and Lonnie leaves after he realizes Hud’s true character. Characters like Hud usually have a comeuppance such as Kirk Douglas in Billy Wilder’s 1951 drama “Ace in the Hole.” Hud ends up alone after his father dies tragically. Greed and hedonism win the day in “Hud.” His actions have no repercussions on him which was generally unheard of in film at the time. His scenes with Newman are haunting especially Homer’s tragic death scene in which Hud almost reveals his humanity. He was best known in the 1930s and 1940s for romantic leads in comedies most notably Ernst Lubitsch’s 1939 “Ninotchka” in which he made Greta Garbo laugh. “You got enough for both of us.”.ĭouglas, who won the supporting actor Oscar, is a revelation as Homer. “Don’t let that worry you none,” replies Hud. He tells Hud: “You’re an unprincipled man Hud.” You keep no check on your appetites at all. ![]() That’s the same of it because you don’t value anything. And it makes the youngster wants to be like ya. “You don’t care about people Hud,” says Homer. Hud, though, wants to sell the cattle to neighboring ranchers before word gets out about foot and mouth. The only option to to destroy all the cattle and shut down the ranch. This chasm between Homer and Hud widens when it’s discovered that Mexican cattle Homer recently bought had foot and mouth disease which is spreading to the rest of the herd. “You’re just going to have to make up your own mind one day about what’s right and wrong.”Īlso living with the three men is Alma (Neal) the world-weary housekeeper who is interested in Hud but stays clear because she as abused by her ex-husband. “Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire,” Homer tells Lonnie. Lonnie loves his grandfather, but he idolizes Hud which worries Homer. And that blame sent Hud further into the dark side from which he will never return.īoth men are trying to influence Lonnie (De Wilde), Homer’s 17-year-old grandson and Hud’s impressionable nephew. Homer blames Hud for the death 15 years earlier of his oldest son in a car crash. Living on a cattle ranch in a tiny, arid Texas town, Hud is always locking horns with his rigid, principled father Homer ( Melvyn Douglas). Newman had played characters of questionable morality such as his Oscar-nominated turn “Fast” Eddie Felsen in 1961’s “The Hustler,” but he had never played anyone quite like Hud, the ultimate heel who never met a bottle of booze he wouldn’t drink or a married woman he didn’t seduce.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |