Paul, Pulitzer and Principles

I love Netflix.

I don't do well in video rental stores. I wander aimlessly trying to remember movies that have been recommended to me or think of an actor that I want to see, but can't remember any of their movies. I get distracted by the kid trying to persuade their Dad to see the latest Disney movie for the thousandth time. Frustration builds by not being able to read more than the back of the box as a recommendation. The lack of foreign films, independent films, etc. You get the picture. I think it's too close to shopping. I hate that too. Go figure. 

I love adding movies to the queue in Netflix. I love the ability to look at the list of movies I've watched. One that is at the top of my ratings is Hud.

Over the years I heard great things about this movie from great people, so years ago I wrote it on a paper list that got stuck in a drawer never to be found again.


Another reason to love Netflix. One less random note in a junk drawer.

For those of you saying "Hud?" What in the hell kind of movie name is that? Well, then my friend, you've never known a Texan. Texans name their kids all sorts of weird things. My Texan grandfather was W.O. (pronounced Dubyo and not to be confused with Dubya). He was married to Lytle. (not little, but Lightel)

Hud is based on a book written by Pulitzer prize winning author Larry McMurty (Terms of Endearment, Lonesome Dove, Brokeback Mountain), who happened to be my Dad's best friend through high school and the best man in my parent's wedding. Larry and Dad grew up in the same tiny little town in Northwest Texas. Believe it or not my father was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in music composition. Imagine-two Pulitzer Prize nominees coming out of a town that size. 

Hud is about a guy who lives in a small Texas town in the 1950's (the same time Dad and McMurtry were hanging out). If for no other reason, watch this movie for Paul Newman. This is decades prior to his philanthropic salad dressing. His anti-hero character is young and hot and studly, albeit a bit of a drunken player.

 "The only question I ever ask any woman is "What time is your husband coming home?"

You can almost see the beautiful blueness of his eyes even though the film is black and white.



There is no soundtrack.Just the power of great words and well-timed drawn out silences. The landscape is the barren loneliness that defines Northwest Texas, similar to the beauty of the deep wrinkles in a wise and experienced grandmother. Aesthetically pleasing? No, the beauty is much deeper.



Existential subjects are raised such as: principles, decency, fairness, the value of hard work and the honor of a man's word. Hud's father, is the epitomy of these values juxtaposed against ruthless Hud.


After the father is forced to kill his diseased cattle, he pronounces "Doesn't take long to kill things-not like it does to grow." His love of doing over taking is inspiring in this world of many takers.

Patricia O'Neal plays the singular female lead, Alma and won an Oscar for her efforts.

Her character is full of merits as well. Cautiously tolerant of the Texan machismo standards, she's damn smart to keep Hud at arm's length for most of the time and to leave town at the first opportunity.

Hud Bannon: Give me a clean white shirt.
Alma Brown: Boy, you're real big with the "please" and "thank you," aren't you?
Hud Bannon: Please get up off your lazy butt and get me a clean white shirt. Thank you.

This movie was released in 1963, the year I was born. That means that McMurtry wrote the book no later than his early 20's. Amazing.

I felt the whole movie could have been summed up in the following quote and when I heard it, that's when I knew I would have to make you suffer through my ramblings.

Homer Bannon: Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire. You're just going to have to make up your own mind one day about what's right and wrong.

Popcorn, anyone?