page_title: Hud (1963 film)
section_title: Plot
hierarchical_section_title: Hud (1963 film) / Plot
caption_attribution_description: English: Hud (Paul Newman) argues with his father (Melvyn Douglas), while his nephew Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde) watches.
context_page_description: Hud is a 1963 American Western drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, and Patricia Neal. It was produced by Ritt and Newman's recently founded company, Salem Productions, and was their first film for Paramount Pictures. Hud was filmed on location on the Texas Panhandle, including Claude, Texas. Its screenplay was by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. and was based on Larry McMurtry's 1961 novel, Horseman, Pass By. The film's title character, Hud Bannon, was a minor character in the original screenplay, but was reworked as the lead role. With its main character an antihero, Hud was later described as a revisionist Western.
  The film centers on the ongoing conflict between principled patriarch Homer Bannon and his unscrupulous and arrogant son, Hud, during an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease putting the family's cattle ranch at risk. Lonnie, Homer's grandson and Hud's nephew, is caught in the conflict and forced to choose which character to follow.
  Hud premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, and was a critical and commercial success at its general release.
context_section_description: Hud Bannon (Newman) is ambitious and self-centered, the opposite of his deeply principled rancher father Homer (Douglas). Also living on the Bannon ranch is Hud's teenaged nephew, Lonnie (Brandon deWilde), who looks up to both men, but is most impressed by Hud.  Lonnie and Hud are attracted to the Bannons' housekeeper, Alma (Patricia Neal). Although she is attracted to Hud, Alma keeps her distance because she has been mistreated in the past by men like him.
  After the sudden, inexplicable death of a cow on the ranch, Homer sends Lonnie to town to bring Hud to the ranch for his opinion.  Lonnie, finding Hud just in time to take the blame for Hud's tryst with a married woman, protests Hud's putting him in a dangerous situation as they return to the ranch, with Hud driving over Alma's flowers as they arrive.  At the dead animal, Hud shoots several buzzards to scare the flock away against his father's protestations that they keep the land clean and shooting them is illegal.  Hud states his immunity to laws that inconvenience him, setting the tone of his overall demeanor.  Hud is annoyed by his father's decision to summon the state veterinarian, and suggests selling the animals to other ranchers before the news spreads; otherwise, government agents will kill all the cattle and destroy everything they have worked for. He blames his father for not realizing that the cheap Mexican cattle were sick before he bought them. Adhering to his principles, Homer ignores Hud's idea and waits for the veterinarian. Upon his arrival, the state veterinarian immediately issues a legally binding state livestock transfer order directing the quarantine of the ranch for a possible foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. This freezes the movement of all livestock to or from the Bannon ranch, while they await the test results.
  Aware of the possibility of bankruptcy to the ranch, Homer nevertheless complies.
  One night, Hud takes Lonnie out and they prevail in a drunken barroom brawl. Back at the ranch, he reflects on the past (when  Lonnie's father and he did the same thing), revealing his feelings about his brother Norman's death and his father's coldness to him. When they enter the house, Homer confronts Hud, accusing his son of trying to corrupt Lonnie. They argue, with Hud accusing Homer of hypocrisy and resentment of him for Norman's death. Homer replies that his disappointment in Hud began before the accident; Hud cares about no one but himself, and is "not fit to live with". Hurt and angry, Hud retorts "My mama loved me, but she died" as he walks away. When Lonnie tells Homer that he was too harsh and other people act like him, Homer replies that one day he will have to decide for himself what is right and wrong.
  After learning from Lonnie that Hud is trying to seize the ranch, Homer confronts Hud.  Infuriated by his eroded inheritance, Hud threatens to have Homer declared legally incompetent so he can take over the ranch.  Homer tells his son he will lose. He admits that he made mistakes raising Hud, and was too hard on him. When Hud accuses him of having a "shape up or ship out" policy, Homer wonders aloud how a man like Hud can be his son and storms off to his room. Hud, drunk, goes outside and tries to rape Alma before Lonnie comes to her aid.
  When the herd tests positive for foot-and-mouth disease, the veterinarian orders them to be killed and buried on the ranch under state supervision to keep the disease from spreading.  Hud points out that they could sell some oil leases to keep the ranch profitable, but Homer refuses as he only has pride in cattle, despite his ruinous decision to purchase the Mexican cattle.
  The state veterinarian and his assistant pull up to ranch following the killing of most of Homer's cattle, noticing that  two Longhorns are still alive.  The assistant gets his rifle and proceeds to leave the car with the intention of killing them.  Homer stops him and tells him he will take care of them himself, seeing as how he raised them.  The assistant voices his doubts about Homer going through with it, he has no guarantee that will
caption: Homer confronts Hud, as Lonnie looks on
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