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

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.

Hud is annoyed by his father's decision to summon the state veterinarian, pushing for unloading the cattle to unsuspecting neighbors before the news spreads; otherwise, government agents will kill the entire herd and destroy everything they have worked for.

When the Bannon's herd tests positive for foot-and-mouth, the veterinarian orders it to be destroyed and buried on the ranch under state supervision to keep the disease from spreading.

Hud suggests selling some leases to drill for untapped oil on their land to keep the ranch profitable, but Homer refuses, stating he only has pride in what he earns through hard work with his own hands.

After the cattle have been killed, the state veterinarian and his assistant drive up to the ranch and notice that two Longhorns are still alive, a single pair of a dying breed Homer keeps for sentimental reasons.

After working together on other projects, director Martin Ritt and Paul Newman co-founded Salem Productions and the company made a three-film deal with Paramount Studios.

[3] For its first film, Salem hired husband-and-wife scriptwriters Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., who had worked with Ritt and Newman on The Long, Hot Summer.

Ravetch found Larry McMurtry's novel, Horseman, Pass By, in an airport shop during a Dallas stopover and presented the project to Ritt and Newman after reading a description of Hud Bannon.

"[7] To accentuate the scene's violence, Hud's roughness was complemented by the use of shadows,[10] while a camera was attached on Newman's back to create a "man's view angle" while he chased Neal.

[4] Although Paramount was doubtful about casting Melvyn Douglas due to his heart condition, Martin Ritt insisted that he was the right actor for the role.

[18] Ritt decided to cast Patricia Neal (whom he had met at the Actors Studio) when he was impressed by her performance in The Untouchables episode "The Maggie Storm Story".

[4] To avoid surpassing the shooting schedule due to weather conditions, the cast had to cancel two scenes originally planned for the location that featured people from Claude and Amarillo.

[22] When a man was shown shooting, the camera would switch to the cattle; the crew shook the cords, creating an effect of the herd being shot.

[29] After Hud was previewed, Paramount considered dropping the project, feeling that it was not "commercial enough," but Ritt flew to New York and convinced the executives to release the film unmodified.

[32] An Outlook reviewer wrote that the four main cast members acted "splendidly"; Newman "speaks at times with an unpleasant nasal twang, but is clearly suited to the part."

They described Melvyn Douglas' performance as "impeccable", Brandon deWilde's as "[successful] in looking earnest unsure of himself" and praised Patricia Neal's expressiveness.

"[34] The New York Times, in a favorable review, said Ritt's direction had "[a] powerfully realistic style" and called Ravetch and Frank's work "[an] excellent screenplay."

The newspaper called Newman's acting "tremendous", Douglas' "magnificent", deWilde's "eloquent of clean, modern youth" and Patricia Neal's "brilliant."

The reviewer described the relation between Hud and Homer and determined that "two hours of this type of conflict can prove distasteful" but he added that the "vivid performances of principals" and "some yeoman work" by Ritt "are definite credits, turning 'Hud' into an absorbing, if troubling, cinematic experience".

[40] The New York Daily News rated Hud four stars, as the publication consider the movie "a rarity, a realistic film about real people, hard, stubborn cattlemen of Texas, a drama unsentimental and uncompromising in a strained relationship".

The performances of Newman, De Wilde, Douglas and Neal were welcomed as "uniform perfection" as the review further added that they "play these strong people as if they had lived them".

"[43] Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune attributed the main character's behavior as "one of the reasons for this pictures' power, in addition to some superior performances, is that provides no easy answers."

Douglas's appearance was seen as "the perfect touch of a true professional", while De Wilde's offered "innocence and vulnerability without the slightest trace of mawkishness."

Critic Jack Anderson hailed Ravetch and Frank's adaptation that offered "a well balanced script" and "skillfully managed inter-relationship of its characters."

While Anderson felt that the story was "a depressing one", he opined that it was "so well told and acted that it transcends its emotional murkiness to make it completely fascinating to watch.

The reviewer felt that Hud was "much like life" as in the end "Nothing is settled, no real victories are won and none of the principals undergoes a major change in character or personality".

For the reviewer, Hud was "enhanced considerably by the use of black and white film" , while he added that the characters were "so vital" that "color photography might have overstated the general tone".

[46] Although Hud was conceived as an outwardly charming, but morally repugnant character, audiences, especially young people, found him likable, even admirable.

[54] Allmovie gave Hud five stars out of five, calling the film "a warning shot for the Sixties" and saying that its "generational conflict would prove prescient".