Synopsis
Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."
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Cast
- Paul NewmanHud Bannon
- Melvyn DouglasHomer Bannon
- Patricia NealAlma Brown
- Brandon De WildeLon 'Lonnie' Bannon
- Whit BissellMr. Burris
- Crahan DentonJesse
- John AshleyHermy
- Val AveryJose
- George PetrieJoe Scanlon
- Curt ConwayTruman Peters
Recommendations
- 100
Empire
Newman is at his very best, and the cinematography is backing him up every step of the way. Must-see material. - 80
Time
The film is on the level, and the four principal actors—Newman, Neal, Douglas, and de Wilde—are so good that they might well form the nucleus of a cinematic repertory company. The point of the picture is as dry and nihilistic as a Panhandle dust storm. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
Newman's performance is unquestionably the best thing about this brutal portrait of humanity. - 70
The New York Times
Ugly, powerful drama. [28 May 1963] - 70
Time Out
Pretensions are kept nicely damped down by the performances (all four principals are great) and by Wong Howe's magnificent camerawork. - 60
Variety
Hud is a near miss. Where it falls short of the mark is in its failure to filter its meaning and theme lucidly through its characters and story. - 50
Slant Magazine
Remarkably dull Hud more or less plays out as a home-on-the-range knock-off of Nicholas Ray’s brilliant Rebel Without a Cause. - 50
Chicago Reader
Paul Newman in his first ascendancy, as the favorite antihero of the Kennedy era. Martin Ritt directed, putting a little too much dust in the dust bowl for my taste.
