1963. Starring Paul Newman, Patricia Neal. Directed by Martin Ritt. There’s no other actor I’d rather be than Paul Newman. Not only handsome and cool, but humble and talented enough to play an anti-hero like Hud. “An unprincipled man,” as his father (Melvyn Douglas) describes him, Hud spends his days resentfully working the family ranch and his nights drinking and romancing married women. Hud lives under a shadow, responsible for his older brother’s death and never living up to his father’s expectations. His one fan is his brother’s son, Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde), who at 17 is starting to feel …
Month: September 2008
Passings: Jerry Reed
“Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin’, we gonna do what they say can’t be done. . .” Jerry Reed started out as a songwriter and session man, recording a few rockabilly sides of his own before gaining attention through the recording of his “Crazy Legs” by Gene Vincent, as well as “Guitar Man” and “US Male” by Elvis Presley. He had some later hits of his own, including “Eastbound and Down,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” and “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft).” Probably best known as Burt Reynolds’ sidekick in Smokey and the Bandit and its …