“Hud” - an elegant showpiece, incorporating intriguing and true-to-life character

A good film should make the audience experience the atmosphere of the setting, allowing them to sympathize, love, pity or feel and understand the emotions of the characters. Such is the presentation of “Hud” , a Western drama written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. The film directed by Martin Ritt was released in May 1963 and features Paul Newman as Hud Bannon, a hard-drinking self-centered womanizer who openly seduces married ladies and has no regard for hard work or responsibility, a character which horrifies his father Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas). The southern drama is set in rural Texas, where the principled ageing Homer Bannon runs a family cattle ranch all by himself, as his son Hud does not want responsibilities. The tension between Hud and his father Homer reach a crescendo when a potentially serious ailment, thought to be foot and mouth disease, affects the herd. Hud wants the family to sell the animals before they are declared unwell but his father is not of the same opinion, a point at which we understand the father’s disappointment does not arise from Hud’s role in the accident that killed Lonnie’s father, but Hud’s lack of commitment and responsibility. 

James Wong Howe films the movie in black and white, contrasting the intricately linked emotions in the movie with the open skies of Texas. Drama is progressed throughout, focusing on a fractured family torn at generational crossroads, an element further impregnated by elements of situational tension, possibilities and flawed characters. The story highlights the limits of the often unspoken hostility in the family, combined with the unrelenting weight of expectations that tends to influence the direction of an individual. Mr Douglas’ performance in the key scene where government officials destroy his whole herd is especially emotional, testing his character and also bringing into focus the themes of infection and destruction. These fascinating scenes therefore make “Hud” an elegant showpiece, incorporating intriguing and true-to-life characters.