Hud is a 1963 American Western film starring Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon deWilde, and Patricia Neal. Directed by Martin Ritt, 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.

Plot

Hud is the ambitious, self-centered son of deeply principled Texas rancher Homer Bannon. Lonnie, teenaged orphan son of Hud's elder brother Norman, looks up to both men, but is most impressed by Hud. Both young men are attracted to the Bannons' earthy housekeeper, Alma. Although she finds Hud physically attractive, Alma keeps her distance because she has been mistreated in the past by self-centered men.

Awards