Patricia Neal won the first of her two Oscars for her performance as Alma in the 1963 drama Hud. Hud tells the story of three generations of the Bannon family. Melvyn Douglas is Homer Bannon, the family patriarch and a man of unbending principals. Paul Newman is Hud Bannon, his son, and a man of no principles at all. And caught between them is Brandon de Wilde as Lon, Homer's grandson and Hud's nephew. Riding herd on these three men is Patricia Neal as Alma, the housekeeper.
Directed by Martin Ritt the film is a modern melodramatic western along the lines of Giant, Long Hot Summer, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and East Of Eden. The action of cattle drives and shoot-outs is replaced with family conflict and sexual tension.
In this case Hud believes his father blames him for the death of his older brother and that is why Homer holds Hud in such contempt. Lon does not understand it and idolizes Hud and his boozing and womanizing ways. But the rift between Hud and his father goes much deeper and it is one that can never be healed.
All three leads, Newman Douglas and Neal were nominated for Academy Awards and Neal and Douglas won. the film was nominated for a total of seven Oscars and was awarded three. The other Oscar went to James Wong Howe for his superb B&W wide screen cinematography. The film is absolutely stunning to look at and the images are accompanied by and evocative score composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film was also nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay and best Art Direction (b&w)
At the Movie House rating **** stars
1 comment:
An absolute classic film...some films get 4 stars because they are great...but then there are the greats among them, the classics...this is one such movie...I saw this for the first time only in the last year as it was on TV one night...i was very glad I stayed with it.
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