"In this age of heel-heroes and beasts that walk like men, the screenwriters have pulled a switch that is both commercial and commendable. They have created in Hud a charming, raffish monster who demonstrates by inversion that such old-fashioned virtues as honesty, loyalty, and filial duty are still highly cherishable." – Arthur Knight, The Saturday Review, 1963.

"A provocative picture with a shock for audiences who have been conditioned like laboratory mice to expect the customary bad-guy-is-really-good-guy reward in the last reel of a western. Newman, Neal, Douglas and de Wilde are so good that they might well form the nucleus of a cinematic repertory company." – Time, 1963.

"The distinction of Hud is that it presents the unpleasant truth about people without the pretty packaging.... And perhaps the most encouraging aspect is that the making of such a film and our appreciation of it indicates that we are getting out of the lollipop stage at last." – Judith Crist, New York Herald Tribune, 1962.

"Paul Newman's new film Hud is the best American picture since Newman's The Hustler [1961]. ... Newman confirms his place in the front rank of American film actors." – Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic, 1963.

"Any film with a title as cryptic and ugly-sounding as Hud better have more to recommend it than its name. So take it from me, [it] does have more-so much more, in every aspect that it shapes up now as this year's most powerful film." – Bosley Crowther, New York Times, May 29, 1963.

"Ritt skillfully develops the complex conflict between Hud, the cynical realist, and Homer, the ageing idealist, in bitter opposition yet bound by deep affection. Ritt's direction and James Wong Howe's photography of the cattle slaughter is masterly: no cattle are seen to die, but the tragedy is plain. Paul Newman is a moving and convincing Hud...." - The Oxford Companion to Film.

"Superbly set in an arid landscape, this incisive character drama is extremely well directed and acted." - Halliwell's Film & Video Guide.

"Hud is a near miss. Where it falls short of the mark is in its failure to filter its meaning and theme lucidly through its characters and story...But the picture has a number of elements of distinction and reward. The four leading performances are excellent." - Variety Movie Guide.

"...one of Ritt's best films, less abrasive than it thinks but still a remarkably clear-eyed account of growing up in Texas to mourn the old free-ranging ways of the frontier days...The film sometimes seems to be busting its britches to attain the status of Greek tragedy in delineating the disintegration of a heritage, with dialogue haunted by images of death and decay. But pretensions are kept nicely damped down by the performances (all four principals are great) and by Wong Howe's magnificent camerawork." - Tom Milne, TimeOut Film Guide.

"Hugely entertaining contemporary Western...it's visually simple and precise and unadorned. The film is schizoid: it tells you to condemn the nihilistic heel Hud (Paul Newman), who represents modern "materialism", but casting Newman as a mean materialist is like writing a manifesto against the banking system while juggling your investments to make a fortune...Patricia Neal, full-bodied and likable, has an easy, raunchy good humor, and talks seductively, in a deep-toned Texas twang; the sexual byplay between her and Newman has just the right summertime temperature - this is some of the best work the director, Martin Ritt, has ever done." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies.

"Excellent story of moral degradation set in modern West, with impeccable performances by all." - Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide.

"1963's remarkably dull Hud more or less plays out as a home-on-the-range knock-off of Nicholas Ray's brilliant Rebel Without a Cause [1955]...There's very little to recommend here (the insights are as profound as "no one gets out of life alive") besides James Wong Howe's glorious black-and-white cinematography and Newman's smarmy performance-his legs are perpetually open and even a department store's mannequin isn't safe from his lascivious gaze." - Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine.

"Hud is definitely at the top of the list of classic 'modern' Westerns. A wide spectrum of talent came together for this high-end studio film and the result is marvelous, from the B&W Panavision photography to details like the dust on Main Street and the moths bothering Patricia Neal's work in the Bannon ranch kitchen. The script is as smart as a button and profound without being preachy. It's a moralistic story that doesn't pretend that every situation can turn out well. Everyone remembers Paul Newman's famous line, "Kid, there's so much crap in the world that you're going to get into it sooner or later." - Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Hud opened in May 1963 to rave reviews and quickly became a major commercial success.

Academy Awards went to Patricia Neal (Best Actress), Melvyn Douglas (Best Supporting Actor), and James Wong Howe (Cinematography, Black-and-White). Oscar® nominations also went to Paul Newman (Best Actor), Martin Ritt (Director), the adapted screenplay, and the art direction-set decoration.

Neal and Douglas also won National Board of Review awards for their work, and Neal earned the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress award and Best Foreign Actress from the British Academy.

Nominations from numerous other award organizations were given to Hud, Newman, Ritt, and editor Frank Bracht. Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr. were awarded Best Written American Drama by the Writers Guild and Best Screenplay by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Compiled by Rob Nixon & Jeff Stafford