Hud - Jon G. Robinson, Road Scholar
Transcription
Hud - Jon G. Robinson, Road Scholar
[email protected] 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. 32 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. ■ CARS & PARTS HH 0609 CP.indd 32 4/7/09 11:45:22 AM