Reply #3: No [View All]

[Jack Rabbit]

That is an awful put-down of Hud. You owe that fictitious character an apology.

Hud was an adult. He didn't think the world owed him anything, but he did believe it is a dog-eat-dog world and he was going to dine on the carcass of decent men like his father rather than be anybody's prey. I don't know what Bush would do if faced with the possibility of being stuck with a whole heard of cattle with hoof and mouth disease. We know what Hud would do: sell every head to anybody stupid enough to buy. "All I'm saying is let's get our bread in that gravy while it's good and hot." Every since I first saw the film, I can hear Melvyn Douglas' wraspy voice reply, "You're an unprincipled man, Hud."

Bush takes because he thinks he's entitled to it. Hud takes because he thinks that's the only way he, or anybody else, can have it. He knows that it, whatever it is -- his father's estate or Patricia Neal's snatch, is not his by entitlement. Hud is no more entitled to it than the next man's. It's not his until he take possession of it.

Hud is a pure nihilist. He believes in nothing and thus fights for nothing but his own self-interest. Bush, self-centered as he is, has some things he believes in, like some warped version of God and country where he, Bush, is God's anointed to lead America to smite God's evil-doing enemies, foreign and domestic. This gives Bush the delusion that while he serves his own selfish ends he is in fact serving a higher force in the cosmos. Hud had no such delusion. If there is a God, Hud figures, God would take care of Himself and probably does nicely. It was for Hud to take care of Hud.

ON EDIT

I have just read some of the other comments and wonder if those people have seen the film. Hud, directed by Martin Ritt (a badly underrated filmmaker, in my opinion) starred Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal and Brandon de Wilde, all of whom were nomonated for Oscars (Ritt always got good performances from his actors; I once counted 17 Oscar nominations for acting performances in Ritt's films over the years).

Paul Newman plays Hud beautifully, but Hud is no hero. This is not a man to admire.