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Hud, the tale of an egotistical and self-absorbed modern cowboy, has never been Paul Newman's most proverbial film. For a Western starring Ol' Blue Eyes, one only has to witness perennial crowd-pleaser Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to get blown away. For a dramatic turn, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler and The Verdict are generally the first ports of call. Martin Ritt's black-and-white critics' favourite though is certainly worthy of a watch. Firstly, of course, Newman injects so much vigour into the title role of Hud Bannon that, even though it would go against his character to seek and unearth redemption by the disheartening finale, it is testament to the actor that he invests so much humanity into Hud that the viewer wants him to be redeemed. Indeed, the Texan rancher is one of those career-shaping turns aspiring actors hope for when they dream of hitting the big leagues. Like James Bond, Bruce Wayne and even Hugh Hefner, Hud is a figure men want to be and women want to be with. The jovial and fun-loving character has even made a mark on popular culture among the disenfranchised youth similar to Tony Montana or Che Guevara. A similar character, Jon Voight's Joe Buck from Midnight Cowboy, even has Hud's poster on his wall.
When he isn't womanising, drinking extensively, starting barroom brawls and joyriding in his pink Cadillac, Hud lives on a ranch with his father, Homer (Melvyn Douglas), his nephew Lonnie (Brandon De Wilde) and housekeeper Alma (Patricia Neal). The strained relationship the protagonist has with his father influences Hud's troubled rapport with everyone else - a roguish wayward soul ultimately yearning for companionship but too emotionally shallow to sanction his desire. When Hud starts spending more time with Lonnie, passing on his bad habits in the process, the father-son turmoil deepens. In addition, problems with the family's cattle begin when foot and mouth disease spreads rapidly and destroys Hud's inheritance. Being a man of principle, Homer would rather have the cattle destroyed instead of selling them on quickly to an ignorant soul like Hud suggests. Annoyed, Hud takes out his frustrations on everyone and everything, including Alma, and alienates himself further. Despite him possibly wanting a cohort to love him in some way deep down, Hud is a man perfectly capable of surviving alone and this adds to the harshness for the viewer as we realise he will experience no poignant salvation.
Most of the time Ritt has seemingly asked his talented cast to infuse an element of kitchen sink drama into proceedings as Hud is ultimately a bleak character piece, an adult Western drama in an unglamorous climate - Claude, Texas is wonderfully captured by cinematographer James Wong Howe - where Dr. Pepper signs and illustrations of modern technological advancement settle uneasily against the clean visual style of the agricultural landscape. The four lead performances are all superb but one feels as if the austere ending would have been more suited for the stage. Nevertheless, this is only a minor observation - not even a complaint - and Ritt's unconventional method of ending his adaptation of Larry McMurtry's original novel Horseman, Pass By has certainly opened the door for original conclusions to films ever since. After all, this is not an exercise in storytelling but characterisation, and this is why Hud's story does not come full circle but his moral fibre does - he is still "the man with the barbed-wire soul" at the climax as he is at the beginning.
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The summary
A harrowing watch, especially if you like animals, and not necessarily a film one would revisit in a hurry, but Hud is a great example of an effective ensemble performance on the silver screen.
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