A flat landscape at dawn, clouds nearly washed out of the sky on purpose by the Oscar-winning cinematography of James Wong Howe, opens the classic Texas film, "Hud." Those billowing clouds that can fill the otherwise barren ranchland would have made the film too pretty, Howe once said. And "Hud" is not a pretty film.
Oh, for sure there’s a stark beauty to the images, and Paul Newman certainly fills a handsome frame. But "Hud," released in 1963 just before the 1960s became “The Sixties,” is headlined by one of the biggest heels of a character in all of cinema. Yet audiences loved the movie and its title character, much to director Martin Ritt’s surprise.
"Hud" is routinely listed among the best Texas films, but it also might be the defining film about Texas, presciently illustrating the end result of our maverick ways and going it alone, damn everyone else.
In "Hud," three generations of a ranching family in the Texas Panhandle live under one roof. Melvyn Douglas plays the patriarch Homer Bannon. Paul Newman is his son, Hud, and Brandon deWilde is Hud’s nephew, Lonnie. (Lonnie’s father was killed in a car wreck with Hud at the wheel.) Rounding out the four-hander is Patricia Neal, who won an acting Oscar as Alma, the family housekeeper. Neal here is playing earthier and more world-weary than she ever had before.
With quiet dignity, Homer sees the ranch as his calling and vocation, and his values seem to have rubbed off on young Lonnie, but the teen is still forming his own opinions about the world and looks up to his Uncle Hud, who, when not on the range, is in the bedroom of just about every housewife in town after busting up the bars at night. He’s drunk, disorderly, and even steals Alma’s homemade peach ice cream out from under his nephew’s nose on the porch.
When their livelihood is threatened by the herd contracting foot-and-mouth disease, Hud suggests shipping the sick cows off rather than the harder choice of eliminating them all.
“And take a chance on starting an epidemic in the entire country?” Homer asks.
Hud explodes, “Why this whole country is run on epidemics. Where you been? Epidemics of big business, price-fixing, crooked TV shows, income tax finagling, souped-up expense accounts!”
Homer has scruples, trusts his neighbors, and looks out for others, but Hud sees hypocrisy.
“I say let’s us put our bread in some of that gravy while it is still hot!” he says.
The counterculture hadn’t yet emerged in 1963, but within a few years, the younger generation wasn’t going to trust anyone over thirty and sure as hell wasn’t trusting the authorities. "Hud" tapped into that anti-establishment feeling early on. Its success, and audiences’ admiration for cynical Hud Bannon was a leading indicator of the culture.
No other actor besides Paul Newman could have pulled off this role. He was devilishly handsome, with those baby blue, turned-down-at-the-side eyes, and a mischievous grin. When Homer dresses him down one night, there’s a vulnerability in the way Hud, dripping wet from having dunked himself and Lonnie in the water tank after a night of carousing, stares back at his father.
“What turned you sour on me? Not that I give a damn,” Hud asks.
“Just that, Hud. You don’t give a damn. … You don’t care about people, Hud. You don’t give a damn about ‘em. Oh, you got all that charm goin’ for you, and it makes the youngsters wanna be like you. That’s the shame of it, ‘cause you don’t value nothin’,” Homer replies.
“My mama loved me, but she died,” Hud says.
See there, how can you not feel bad for Hud? But that feeling doesn’t last long, because in the very next scene, Hud is busting in on Alma in a drunken attempt to rape her, but Lonnie interrupts him and intervenes.
Hud is an impatient man. He goes his own way, and he’s all taking, no giving.
In one of the special features on Criterion’s new 4K/Blu-ray edition of "Hud," actress Sally Field is interviewed about the film. Field, like Newman, worked on several films with Martin Ritt. Asked how "Hud" relates to our world in 2026, she explains, “What 'Hud' is, is mean. And right now, our country is so mean. And can’t find a way to heal. We’re promoting brutality, and violence, and meanness … and that’s what this movie is.”
The rugged characteristics of the stereotypical Texan — maverick, individualist, powerful, looking out only for himself, if not tempered or checked by compassion and respect for others, can easily twist into that meanness we see in our society today. We’ve seen it in our leaders who are praised for bravado and bluster.
Where does this leave Hud at the end of the film? He’s alone, with nothing but a beat-up Cadillac, an empty bottle of Lone Star, and a ranch without a herd. No matter, he’s going to drill, baby, drill, on the land.
As goes Texas, so goes the rest of the country.
"Hud" is a brilliant masterpiece of a movie, but is Hud the definitive Texas film? Maybe so. The bigger question is, do we want it to be?
'HUD' on 4K Blu-ray
"Hud" was originally shot and released on 35mm film, and has been scanned, scrubbed and restored for this stellar home video presentation by The Criterion Collection. In addition to the best-looking version of the film on disc, the set includes a new interview with Sally Field, the very first episode of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio with guest Paul Newman, and an archive audio interview with director Martin Ritt, where he somewhat incredulously recounts how audiences cheered for Hud, despite the character's many flaws. There's also a terrific interview with cinematographer Roger Deakins about the legendary work of James Wong Howe. You can watch an excerpt, below.
Post script: I want to note the passing earlier this year of Robert Hinkle at age 95, who may have been one of the last living screen actors from the film, "Hud." Hinkle was hired by Paramount Pictures as a dialogue coach for Newman and others on set, and wound up both in the film as a rodeo announcer, and behind the cameras directing the famous "hog scramble" scene. Hinkle visited with TPR audiences twice, in 2011 and 2015, to share his stories of working on "Hud" and "Giant." You can read more here in this obituary from The Hollywood Reporter.
