Cheap Hud (DVD) (Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal) (Martin Ritt) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hud

POWERFUL, POIGNANT and PACKING A WALLOP ON DVD
"Hud" is the story of an embittered, ruthless son (Paul Newman) of cow rancher Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas). Determined to take over his father's prosperous farm, Hud bides his time with sexual conquests and playing big brother to Lonnie (Brandon DeWilde). Lonnie worships Hud as a god, a rabid fascination that will be irreversible shattered when Hud attempts to rape the ranch's cook and housemaid, Alma Brown (Patricia Neal). However, before the disillusionment comes the spoils. The family partake in a county fair in which Hud wins the 'greased pig' contest. He and Lonnie start a victory fight inside a barroom. Hud takes Alma to the movies. There's really nothing extraordinary about the film, and yet it captures, perhaps better than most, the raw emotion of a powerful slice of Americana in the mid-west. However, as the story drags on the tide begins to turn away from Hud's favor. Homer becomes ill and unable to tend the far. The cattle contract an infection, forcing the farm hands to exterminate the entire herd. Alma, realizing that Hud is incapable of any sort of compassion or tenderness, abandons him and the farm in search of a new life somewhere else.

The transfer is a bit disappointing. Though the picture is free of many age related artifacts and digital artifacts, the overall presentation is somewhat soft, with blooming around the edges that renders parts of the B&W picture in various rainbow hues - even with the color on one's television set turned to zero. Also edge enhancement is sometimes obvious. Finally, the overall presentation tends to be just a little too soft for the vintage of the camera negative. Close ups and medium shots look fairly sharp but long shots become a blurry mess. The gray scale is reasonably balanced, though during scenes shot at night, fine detail tends to get lost in the shadows. The audio is remastered and well balanced. There are NO extras.

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Timeless Classic!!! Score: 90 (out of 100).
Here is a movie that looks like it was made yesterday. Paul Newman's character, Hud Bannon, is a spoiled-rotten, waste of a man. He is the personification of selfishness - booze, adultery, and various other sins are his way of life. He has even distanced himself from his aging father, Homer (Melvyn Douglas - Best Supporting Actor Oscar). Homer is a principled, upright rancher. When Homer faces a crisis, his relationship with Hud is put to the test. Homer turns to Hud for advice, and Hud responds, "he didn't ask me about anything in fifteen years."

Homer is familiar with Hud's persona. Homer states "you live just for yourself (Hud)." Homer's housekeeper, divorcee Alma Brown (Patricia Neal, Best Supporting Actress Oscar), knows Hud's type of person, too. After Hud makes advances on Alma, she tells him "I done my time with one cold-blooded bastard. I'm not looking for another." The tie that binds the three of them happens to be Lon Bannon - Hud's nephew. Lon idolizes Hud. Homer is fearful of this and he doesn't want him to be like Hud. Gradually, we come to find out toward the end of the film what has alienated Hud from his father, and vice versa. In the end, Lon learns Hud's true identity after several more tragedies.

Neal and Douglas are brilliant. James Wong Howe won Oscar for cinematography. The film was also nominated for Best Actor (Newman), director (Martin Ritt), screenplay (Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch), and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Robert R. Benton, Sam Comer, Tambi Larsen, Hal Pereira). This is Newman's BEST movie!!!!

Pros: Acting, direction, cinematography, screenplay
Cons: Adult, depressing atmosphere

Score: 90 (out of 100)

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You're an unprincipled man, Hud
Welcome to the last Western. HUD is a chronicle of what killed the western ethos - it was done in by a man with a "barbed wire soul" driving a pink cadillac. Before HUD men raised cattle or plowed the earth, after HUD men ceded the land to the oil drillers.
The movie opens with 17-year-old, wide-eyed Lonnie looking for Hud. The trail leads him past a busted up saloon and ends when he finds a married woman's high heel shoe carelessly flung on her front porch. Hud seems to have a taste for married women and a way with the bottle that the curious Lonnie finds attractive.
When they get home Homer drives them out to a freshly dead heifer. There are no bullet wounds or other signs of injury and Homer decides to call the authorities. Hud disagrees. If the heifer died of a disease it could jeopardize everything, and Hud is too close to inheriting the ranch for that. Homer has more at stake, but burying the cow without an investigation would simply be wrong. The drama proceeds from there as deliberately, and inevitably, as a Greek tragedy.
Like other epics, and HUD deals with epic themes, there are great battles. Hud Bannon battles with his father, Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas) for the heart and mind of his nephew Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde.) Hud and Lonnie battle over their "half-wild" maid Alma (Patricia Neal.)
Hud, a man of little patience, is brutally direct in his approach to Alma. The inexperienced Lonnie admires her from a gentler distance. Director Martin Ritt includes two scenes that highlight this difference. One night Hud tomcats his way into Alma's room asking for a cigarette. The experienced and wary Alma gives - Hud lights the handout and blows out the match just as Alma asks for a light. With his back to her Hud drops the burnt out match into her hands and waits a beat before dropping the matchbook. It's a short throwaway that highlights Hud's loutish behavior. It gains relevance a little later when Lonnie takes a blow to the head and has to take to his bed. Alma brings him a glass of 'fresh squeezed lemonade.' Lonnie takes the drink and a worried look beetles his brow. Alma puts her hand under his mouth and urges him to spit. 'C'mon, honey,' she says, 'they're just lemon pits.'
Lonnie spits his seeds into her hand, Hud a useless, burnt out stick, and Dr. Freud has just left the building. Maybe Ritt put those scenes in to delight louts like me four decades on. HUD is filled with powerful, multi-layered scenes. Another memorable one occurs when Homer Bannon's herd is driven into an enclosure. It is very long, maybe four minutes, and deliberately edited. I don't know if we'd see its like today, but its length and deliberation gives it awesome power.
Melvyn Douglas won an Oscar in this movie, and he portrays Homer Bannon as a man about as played out as his over grazed land and about as obsolete as the two longhorn he keeps solely for sentimental reasons. Neal also won an Oscar in this one, and her character is almost as worn out as the elder Bannon. Life has used her hard. Paul Newman was nominated as the title character, and in my opinion would not have made an embarrassing winner. One of the most charming and charismatic actors in movie history, Newman manages to play a man of hollow charm. When he flirts, we see the snake lurking behind his smile. HUD won a third Oscar for photography, and James Wong Howe presents a parched and arid black-and-white landscape.
This is an excellent movie, and well worth the investment of anyone's time.