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DVD Hud
Based on a Larry McMurtry novel, this Martin Ritt film was a testament to the sex appeal of the young Paul Newman. Playing the title character--a total rotter who, by the end of the film, has double-crossed or screwed over everyone he knows, including his hard-working father and brother--Newman turns him into an intriguing antihero. Things are tough on the ranch and Hud's dad (Melvyn Douglas) needs help, but Hud is too busy looking out for number one, even as things fall apart. And guess who's going to land on his feet? Beautiful black-and-white cinematography by James Wong Howe won an Oscar, as did performances by Douglas and Patricia Neal. --Marshall Fine
Portrait of a totally no-good, amoral man, set on a Texas ranch. Paul Newman is the no-account Hud, the man who sleeps with everyone else's wife in town and just doesn't give a damn about anything. Melvyn Douglas is his righteous father, and caught in the middle is Brandon de Wilde (yes, the one who played the boy in SHANE), 17-year-old brother of Hud, who looks up to Hud but also has something of his grandfather in him, too. Patricia Neal is the ranch cook/housekeeper, a tough little cookie who knows the ways of the world - and a standout here. When the cattle contract hoof-and-mouth disease, Hud wants to sell them off quick, but Douglas does the right thing and slaughters them all.
One wishes the conflict between Newman and Douglas was developed more (like that between Newman and Burl Ives in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF), but unfortunately we just get a presentation of Hud the nihilistic crumbum. Newman's performance is terrific, though. Based on Larry McMurtry's novel HORSEMAN, PASS BY (McMurtry sure had good luck with his books being made into unusually fine movies, every one). Neal and Douglas won Oscars.
Great acting and a fascinating setting make this a special movie!
This review is for the 2003 widescreen DVD release by Paramount.
I've always been intrigued with movies about life in rural Texas. The movie Hud features Paul Newman as Hud Bannon, a morally-bankrupt, hell-raising cowboy who lives with his father Homer (played by Melvyn Douglas) and Hud's nephew Lonnie on a large ranch in West Texas. In addition, Patricia Neal plays the role of their cook and cleaning lady. The storyline revolves around the wild life of Hud and how his lack of moral principals and irresponsible living soon puts a major strain on the entire household. The plot is solidly melodramatic and the ending is somewhat subdued, but the acting is what makes movie extra special, especially the Oscar-winning performance by Melvyn Douglas. The other thing that makes this movie so enjoyable are some great scenes shot in and around the nearby small rural Texas town. The sing-along inside the movie theater is priceless. All in all, Hud is a very well done movie, and if you like it, I'd also recommend viewing two similar, and in my opinion better movies, "Giant" and "The Last Picture Show".
The DVD is in widescreen black and white. The picture quality is near pristine with an occasional tiny dot of film deterioration showing up here and there during the movie, but nothing at all bothersome. The audio and soundtrack are outstanding. There are no bonus features on the DVD which is disappointing for a movie of this caliber.
Movie: A-
DVD Quality: A-
Texas style family values
Paul Newman was masterful as the apathetic, self indulged title character "Hud", a hard living womanizing cowboy. Hud is the youngest son of an old time Texas cattle rancher, Homer Bannon, played passionately by the venerable Melvyn Douglas. Douglas is deeply disappointed in his son, thinking him lacking in the social attributes needed to lead a productive life.
The flick focuses on the dysfunctional family dynamic that developed over the years. Living under the same roof as Newman and Douglas is grandson Lonnie played by Brandon de Wilde of "Shane" fame. De Wilde idolizes his uncle Hud but is torn between the ideals expounded by his free living uncle and those of his straight laced grandfather. Patricia Neal, in her Oscar winning performance plays Alma, the family's earthy housekeeper. As the main female presence of the movie, she acts as a beacon to the men in the family. Their personalities shine through in their relationships with her.
Under Martin Ritt's skillful directorial hand "Hud" relates a sobering message as we see the passing of the torch for control of the family cattle business. The old school with a diligent work ethic, championed by Douglas is being replaced by the heartless, get rich quick attitude of Newman.
The acting which garnered Oscars for both Douglas and Neal is brilliant. Newman's effective portrayal of Hud successfully evokes feelings of disgust towards his character. The settings and camera work nicely portray the expanse of land over which this passion play is being fought.
Paul Newman gives one of the defining performances of his career, and cemented his place as a beautiful-rebel screen icon playing the stubbornly tough and independent title character in Cool Hand Luke. And before he became familiar as a sidekick in 1970s disaster movies (Earthquake and the Airport movies), George Kennedy won an Oscar for playing Dragline, the brutal chain-gang boss who tries to beat loner Luke's cool out of him. It's a classic rebel-against-the-repressive-institution story in the line of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Shawshank Redemption. Certain moments have become classics--particularly the hardboiled egg-eating contest, and the immortal line (drooled by Strother Martin, as a sadistic redneck prison officer), "What we have... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Stuart Rosenberg DVD Release Date: Released the 25 June 1997 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Paul Newman shines as cocky poolroom hustler "Fast" Eddie Felson in Robert Rossen's atmospheric adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel. Newman's Felson is a swaggering pool shark punk who takes on the king of the poolroom, Minnesota Fats (a cool, assured Jackie Gleason in his most understated performance). After losing big and crashing into a void of self-pity, Eddie meets down-and-out Sarah (Piper Laurie in a delicate performance), an alcoholic blue blood who's dropped into Eddie's world of dingy bars and seedy poolrooms. Eddie regains his confidence and attracts the attention of a shifty, calculating promoter, Bert Gordon (George C. Scott at his most heartless), who offers to bring Eddie into the big money--but at what cost? Rossen brings his film to life with the easy pace of a pool... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paul Newman - Jackie Gleason Director(s): Robert Rossen DVD Release Date: Released the 04 June 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Paul Newman has his glorious youthful swagger in this southern-fried melodrama, which marked his first picture with Joanne Woodward (they married after shooting ended). The script is a melange of William Faulkner stories, although it appears more under the influence of Tennessee Williams and Picnic than the Nobel Prize winner. Drifter Newman catches the eye of schoolmarm Woodward and her father, a rural Mississippi bigshot (Orson Welles). This is not one of Welles's better moments; he appears to be conducting make-up experiments. There is some enjoyable flapdoodle along the way, in the Freud-meets-Gone with the Wind manner of '50s southern cooking, but the ending is embarrassingly compromised. The same production team would leave out the box-office concessions a few years... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paul Newman - Joanne Woodward Director(s): Martin Ritt DVD Release Date: Released the 20 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Elizabeth Taylor has never been sexier than as Tennessee Williams's hot-blooded Maggie "The Cat" Pollitt, prowling around her boudoir in a slinky white slip. That's how you know her alcoholic, ex-football-player husband, Brick (Paul Newman), must have more than just his leg in a cast. It's the 65th birthday of wealthy (but dying) southern patriarch Big Daddy (Burl Ives), and his sons Gooper (Jack Carter) and Brick have come to suck up to him for $10 million in inheritance money. Gooper is a family man and father to a brood of "no-neck monsters"; youngest boy Brick is papa's favorite (as if you couldn't tell from the fellow's names), but hasn't sired progeny. Maggie is definitely in heat, but Brick refuses to sleep with her because he suspects her her of being unfaithful with his best... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elizabeth Taylor - Paul Newman - Burl Ives Director(s): Richard Brooks DVD Release Date: Released the 19 September 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Paul Newman is the blue-eyed "savage," a white man raised by the Indians who rejects so-called civilized society for his spiritual family, in Elmore Leonard's take on Stagecoach. It's not exactly Grand Hotel on wheels. The hypocrites, crooks, and racists Newman travels with cast him out of their polite company in the coach, then turn to him for salvation when outlaws hold up the stage and hunt them through the desert. It's hard to "like" Newman's cold, hard survivor, but you can't help but respect his cunning and his unsentimental directness. Fredric March is sweaty with corruption as a crooked Indian agent, and Richard Boone smiles his deadly charm as a lusty bad man. While this 1966 Western wears its social politics on its dusty sleeves, director Martin Ritt tempers the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paul Newman - Fredric March Director(s): Martin Ritt DVD Release Date: Released the 04 June 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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