Hud - Jon G. Robinson, Road Scholar

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GM Journal
Hud
When Paul Newman’s co-star was
a 1958 Cadillac
BY JON G. ROBINSON ■ TRULY GREAT MOVIES USE INANIMATE OBJECTS
AND PLACES PURPOSELY, LEAVING NO IMAGE ON THE SCREEN TO CHANCE. THE 1958
CADILLAC CONVERTIBLE PAUL NEWMAN DROVE IN HUD WAS A CAREFUL DECISION THAT
REVEALS THE MOVIEMAKERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD THE CHARACTERS.
The ’58 Cadillac was the last to have a
face. American cars had human-like faces
beginning in the 1940s with headlight
“eyes” mounted way above toothy
grilles. The ’58 Cadillac’s style features
are enjoyable in the 21st century, but its
excesses and mismatched elements had
a different meaning in 1963 when Hud
came out. By then, all large American
cars were de-finned, serious, anti-fun
rectangles that carried their headlights in
their grilles. They had “lost face.”
The film is in an especially clear and
beautiful black-and-white, but the first
we hear of the Cadillac reveals it is hot
pink – more worthy of Jayne Mansfield
in the 1950s than a Texas rancher’s son
in the 1960s.
Hud Bannon is a 34-year-old sociopath
who lives only for himself and still rebels
against his deeply decent, aging father.
He has helped raise his 17-year-old
nephew, Lon, since the death of his
brother. Lon is at a fork in the road where
he can choose to be a decent man like
his grandfather Homer or a self-indulgent
fun-lover like his uncle Hud.
The first we see of the Cadillac, Lon is
rousting Hud out of a married woman’s
house at six in the morning because
there’s trouble at the ranch. Hud drops
the Cadillac into reverse, floors the
accelerator, turns the wheel, and whips
the car 180 degrees in a cloud of dust
that makes an old-car lover want to cry.
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Seconds later, the Cadillac becomes
airborne over a set of railroad tracks and
slides to a stop in the ranch house yard.
Patricia Neal plays the ranch house
keeper. Her pickup truck is on the
side of the road with a flat tire when
Hud pulls up in the Cadillac for a full,
broadside shot that fills the movie screen
from headlight to tailfin to impose the
The ’58 Cadillac’s style
features are enjoyable in the
21st century, but its excesses
and mismatched elements had
a different meaning in 1963
when Hud came out.
Cadillac’s huge proportions and odd
shapes onto the viewers’ eyes. The car
is imposing, invasive, and out of place
on the dusty Texas plains. In other
words, it’s a lot like Hud, and it reveals
Hud’s inner face more and more as the
movie progresses.
Lon decides to give Hud’s way of life
a try for an evening, and they return to
the ranch drunk and punchy from a fun
bar brawl. Hud confesses to Lon his
greatest crime. Lon listens in shock,
and the Cadillac’s face fills the screen
behind Lon as Hud’s accuser, judge,
and conscience. Hud’s crime involved
a car; this one watches him, and there’s
The late Paul Newman starred in Hud in
1963. The movie’s title sequence should
have given his ’58 Cadillac equal billing,
because the car is as important a character
in the film as any of the humans.
no question that a 1960s car without a
face would not have fit the bill.
Hud falls apart more and more, and
while Lon is driving a Dodge pickup
down a dark road, Hud roars up from
behind to nudge him with the Cadillac.
Lon slams on the brakes to keep from
hitting his grandfather, who is lying in
the road after falling from a horse. The
Cadillac smashes into the rear of the
Dodge, and the Cadillac’s damaged face
becomes a revealing new expression.
The driver-side headlights are smashed,
and the passenger-side hood is forced
upward while the passenger-side
bumper and grille are forced downward.
It’s the expression of a boxer who’s had
his eye swollen shut, while on the other
side of his face, his broken jaw hangs
open to reveal shattered teeth.
At Homer’s funeral, Lon stops to take
a deliberate look at a ’58 Cadillac hearse
with the same face as Hud’s Cadillac.
The ’58 Cadillac hearse is leading Hud’s
Cadillac to the grave.
In the final scene, Lon is walking away
from the ranch forever, while Hud drives
the Cadillac next to him. The Cadillac’s
smashed face reveals Hud’s inner face.
After only a moment’s consideration,
Hud closes the ranch house door, having
learned nothing and having decided he
doesn’t need to change. The bruised
and battered Cadillac shows us how
Hud will wind up.
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4/7/09 11:45:22 AM