A critical analysis of Martin Ritt’s Hud (1963), the film adaptation of the novel by Larry McMurtry, starring Paul Newman and with James Wong Howe’s Oscar-winning cinematography, from production through the film’s complicated reception.

Martin Ritt’s 1963 classic Hud is a quintessential Western. Update horses with pickup trucks and a pink Cadillac; barroom shootouts and fistfights with family drama and dysfunction; Indians, rustlers, and corrupt sheriffs with a deadly disease, and government agents dressed like stormtroopers, and the film hits all the standard beats of a Western. In this short, stylish, and thorough addition to the Reel West series, James Mayo uncovers these complexities and more, walking the reader through the film’s inception, production, and reception and offering insightful analysis of Hud’s fraught characters.

Hud’s star-studded cast features Paul Newman as the title character alongside Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas, and Brandon deWilde. James Wong Howe’s stark black-and-white cinematography won an Academy Award, as did Neal’s portrayal of Alma Brown (Best Supporting Actress) and Douglas’s portrayal of Homer Bannon (Best Supporting Actor). With the first book-length treatment of Hud, James Mayo offers fascinating insights into the complex characters that have captivated audiences since the release of this gripping “elegiac Western.”