MovieChat Forums > Hud (1963) Discussion > plot changes

plot changes

posted 20 years ago by EJF
8 replies | jump to latest

If you've never read the Larry McMurtry novel on which this film was based, you'll be surprised at the significant changes that were made for the movie. The housekeeper is named Halmea, not Alma, and she's black. Hud (real name Scott) is Homer's stepson, not his son, and his mother is still alive and living on the ranch. The whole interaction between Hud and Lonnie that's central to the film doesn't exist in the book. Not only that, but there is no older brother -- so the whole plot about Hud having killed Norman in an a car accident doesn't exist, either. Still, it's a great book -- the first significant novel of the "new west."

[–] sportster_16301 20 years ago

I read the book too, and the actual rift between Homer and Hud was that Homer accidentally shot his wife to death. That's what makes Hud's comment, "My Mama used to love me but she died", so cutting in the movie. Of course, that's lost to the viewer who has'nt read the book.

[–] keef22 18 years ago

Yes, but in the book, Horseman Pass By, Hud's mother (Homer's second wife) is still alive and living on the ranch yes? Also, I'm pretty sure that it was Homer's son (Lonnie's father) that accidentally killed the first wife.

[–] PercyByssheGuam 17 years ago

The other workers on the ranch, namely Jesse and Lonzo, were featured quite a bit in the book. They weren't really "important" to the story, but they were in it quite a bit and helped Lonnie out. In the movie, the actors portraying them weren't even paid enough to speak.

_______
You scurvy shyster bastard, watch your language! You're talking to a doctor of journalism!

[–] ae7641 16 years ago

Took a look at the book and it opens up with Hud using racial slurs against Halmea, the black cook and it makes her a bit of a racial sterotype. I wouldn't think Newman would want to be known for that or the movie people would want that in a movie at a time of civil rights, Martin Luther King and blacks being lynched in the south for entertainment.

But the racism would have fit the evil bastard character Hud was in the book and movie.

Cool Hand Luke and Newman's other films were more popular and better liked by the public. "What we have here is a failure to communicate" has become part of the American language.

[–] IloveMuggy 16 years ago

These are significant changes, indeed--why did they feel the need to change the original story so much? It's kind of unsettling and makes me like the movie a bit less, which I saw for the first time tonight and enjoyed thoroughly. Patricia Neal was simply awesome.

[–] sportster_16301 15 years ago

I find it irrelevant if the movie follows the book or not. Most people who loved the movie Hud never even heard of Horseman, pass by. The film stands on it's own as an enduring masterpiece of cinema. The characters are down to earth, flawed and believable. You probably know somebody just like Hud.

Take the sinners away from the saints and you'd be lucky to end up with Abraham Lincoln.- Hud

[–] MrPie7 14 years ago

"You probably know somebody just like Hud."

Lon: "I don't know Grand Dad. Most of the people around here are like him in one way or another." Homer: "Well that's no cause for rejoicin'". :)

[–] torquemama2002 13 years ago

My dad, who read the book while on the ship for the US Navy, told me once that the housekeeper was black. He didn't mention that the name was different. He liked the book and the movie, though.

The New York Rangers suck. And Sidney Crosby is a cry baby!