dual personalities

Recently I watched the movie Hud (1963) for the first time in a long time. I was really impressed. Based on a book by Larry McMurtry (his first), it is directed by Martin Ritt and stars Paul Newman, Brandon de Wilde, Melvyn Douglas and Patricia Neal.

It’s a story about people and relationships. There are no explosions, no psychopaths, no CG special effects. It’s kind of a perfect movie in that it is a good story, well-written, beautifully filmed in black and white by James Wong Howe and intelligently directed. The actors are all pros–even 20-year old de Wilde had been acting for 10 years–well cast and believable in their roles.

Patricia Neal, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her part as Alma and who is not a favorite of mine, is really good. Paul Newman is terrific.

The only problem I had was that Newman, who plays a “cold-hearted bastard,” cannot really play one. I think you are supposed to admire his father (Melvyn Douglas)–and you do–but when his father asks him how he ever ended up with a son like Hud, you see pain register in Hud’s eyes. When Hud says sarcastically, “My momma used to love me, but she died,” you can’t help feel the probable truth in the statement.

You’re also supposed to sympathize with the de Wilde character, Hud’s nephew, who comes to realize what a “cold-hearted bastard” his hero is, and cheer him on as he leaves home at the end. But I felt sorry for Hud.

According to IMDB, Newman’s intention was to play the part as a bad guy, and he was later stunned that so many young moviegoers had a poster of Hud and viewed him as their hero. This is the main failure of the movie I think and also what makes it memorable. Well, I’ll have to read the book and see what McMurtry was trying to say.

Anyway, I am kind of in the mood to revisit some more Paul Newman films from his heyday in the 1960s. He really was something.

The Elmer Bernstein score is also excellent.

I also watched Ten Who Dared (1960), a Disney movie from the olden days, which I originally saw on the Sunday night “Wonderful World Of Disney” show.

The film, starring John Beal, Brian Keith, Ben Johnson et al, tells the true story of Major John Wesley Powell, who in 1869 is sent by the U.S. government to map and chart the Colorado River region. Powell is a geologist and ex-Union Army Major who lost a hand in the Civil War. He needs assistants but trustworthy skilled men are hard to find after the war. The Major has to accept any volunteer he can find and he assembles a diverse team of nine men. The movie is full of action and beautiful scenery–like most Disney movies of that era. I loved those movies back in the day–movies without an agenda beyond teaching about another fascinating footnote to American history. As a result, I learned, as a child, about the one-handed John Wesley Powell, trilobites and Andersonville Prison, among other things. Back in the day, Disney set kids up to enjoy history and fostered a lifelong interest in learning.

(I rented it on Amazon Prime. The print is not great, but I did not care. It was just fun to see it again. There are other such Disney movies available to rent on Prime, ones that Disney Plus does not include.)

I will note that Saturday is the OM’s birthday. We will toast Pappy and order pizza and hope that his grandchildren do not start pushing random buttons. We will have cake. Even though he already got his big present, there will be a few more to unwrap.

And this is a good reminder for all of us. “There is no circumstance in which God has nothing for us to do, no situation in which we cannot be faithful to his calling on our lives. He calls none of us to uselessness and calls none of us to another man’s life or ministry. He calls each of us to be obedient in the context he has ordained for us.”

*Homer Bannon in “Hud”