TCM Pick Of The Day

TCM Friday
9:00 PM

Hud

On a desolate Texas ranch in the 1950s, a teenager must choose between the values of his honorable but aged grandfather and his charming but no-good louse of an uncle.



One of my favorite films. Superbly adapted from Larry McMurtry's first novel (published when he was 24), this is a near-perfect blend of oustanding writing, direction, production and acting -- Patrica Neal and Melvyn Douglas would win Oscars for their performances, and Paul Newman should have.

Two aspects of the film demand special mention. James Wong Howe won an Oscar for his brilliantly evocative photography of the west Texas plains (Peter Bogdonavich would pay Howe the ultimate compliment by blatantly imitating the look of this film for The Last Picture Show).

Composer Elmer Bernstein contributes my all-time favorite film score. The spare solo guitar (occasionally two) perfectly symbolizing both the empty Texas landscape and Hud's empty soul.























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James Wong Howe


Elmer Bernstein