Martin Ritt

After driving through the night in their pickup truck holding their life's belongings, divorced mother Emma Moriarty (Sally Field) and her son Jake (Corey Haim) arrive at their new home in Eunice, AZ. The property is a run-down ranch fixer-upper, so they resignedly set to work cleaning and repairing. Emma has grown up working hard and is handy with hardware, and they work well together to get the place in shape. She goes into town to install advertisements under car windshields to advertise her services as a horse boarder and trainer. When she comes to the corner drug store on the main road, she stops to admire the beautiful vintage car parked there before starting to add her flyer. She is interrupted by the store and car owner, a widower named Murphy Jones (James Garner), who allows her to display the sign in the store window. She sits at the old-fashioned soda fountain to learn about her new neighborhood. She tells Murphy she has moved there from Modesto, CA, this time; he tells her the town is progressive enough to have a cross-dresser, but she should go elsewhere to raise public consciousness. Jake starts at his new school, and Emma spends a lot of time alone waiting for business, and she keeps Jake up late playing rounds of cards. One evening they go to town together and spot Murphy playing fiddle at the weekly dance. He stops to talk to them during a break and tells them he shares the stage with other local town officials. The available women outnumber him, so he is a busy widower. He has an ongoing feud with the town over parking his classic car in front of the store and not feeding the parking meter. Vandals have been a problem, so he wants to keep the car close where he can watch it. While Emma is in the town hall to get a license for her business, she overhears him while he pays his fines (he has 22 outstanding tickets to pay off to avoid getting arrested). When Emma says one can't fight city hall, Murphy replies that one can wrestle them. He proposes that the town plant a tree, which he will pay for, in place of the meter, and the officials give in; soon the public works department removes the meter and installs Murphy's tree. Things become tough for Emma, as the bank can't provide her a loan. She stops by Murphy's pharmacy to see if she can borrow money from him. He shows her that he is carrying several townspeople on his books to help keep them on their feet, and since he hardly knows her she would be at the bottom of the list. Back at home she tells Jake they have to be frugal as money is running out. The boy goes into town to find a job, and Murphy offers him a dishwasher job after school, then takes him for a ride in the 1927 car, which he has maintained showroom new. On the way he picks up the town's oldest resident, Amos Abbott (Charles Lane), who is walking down the side of the road. He tells them he has found love at age 89 with an elderly widow. The cantankerous senior asks Murphy to let him off before reaching his destination, complaining that Murphy drives too fast at the car's top speed of 30 mph. Emma finds Murphy one day at a horse auction. She has already strolled the grounds and checked out some of the animals up for bid. She sits with him and points out the problems with each horse that comes up on the block, until a healthy one appears for Murphy to bid on; he ultimately buys the horse and boards it at Emma's, where he comes and watches her train it, and he starts to admire her character. On the way home one afternoon, Emma is tailgated by a rambunctious young driver who causes her to swerve off the road and hit her head. He stops to check on her, but she faints when he says he has no insurance. Murphy visits her in the hospital where she is crying at the thought of the expenses of staying there. He has put the word out and some folks from town have put up their horses at her place. She breaks down and sobs that she worries she is raising her son all wrong, then blurts out that she is 33 years old and living like a nun. He cajoles her into taking a walk down the hospital hallway with him while he addresses her concerns; he has observed that her son is a fine young man, and to avoid living like a nun she should say yes next time she is asked. Before leaving he wryly notes that her hospital gown was open in the back the whole time they were talking. Emma finally gets home to find a new problem waiting on her porch: her ex-husband Bobby Jack (Brian Kerwin) has found her and claims he has changed his spots and is a reformed man. Emma worries about his past habits, including spending money they didn't have (but helping himself to hers), but he is out of work and she can't bring herself to put him out, so they settle into an awkward routine. Of the three, Jake is happiest, enjoying having his dad back in his life. Murphy meets Bobby Jack in the stable, and they civilly maintain an aloof tolerance. Emma sets her ex to work with her on taking care of the horses. When the house's only toilet stops up (due to a flushed cigar butt), Murphy comes to the rescue as Bobby Jack is inept at plumbing. Making small talk, Murphy notes that he can also sew as his mother taught him how to follow a pattern. He ignores Bobby Jack's comments on that information. Emma invites Murphy to stay for dinner, and soon it becomes a ritual, with Murphy spending more evenings at the house. During a game of cards, Murphy excuses himself and Bobby Jack. On the porch Murphy calls him out for dealing off the bottom of the deck when they're only playing using matchsticks for money. He warns not to do it again, especially in front of Jake. When Bobby Jack wonders what they'll say about why they stepped out, Murphy replies they had a pissing contest and Bobby Jack won. Low on funds, Bobby Jack helps himself to Emma's wallet while she is sleeping, and the next day uses the money to buy Jake a hat to impress his son. Murphy is in the shop and says hello. The four of them then go together to the movies and catch the latest slasher movie installment. Murphy is the first to bow out of the gory movie, and Jake soon joins him outside. Jake tells Murphy he saw his dad cheating at cards, and Murphy tells the boy it was a good thing that he noticed, and he can decide whether or not to take after Bobby Jack. Emma is next to arrive, repulsed at the "human hamburger" onscreen, when she notices some activity nearby; Murphy says there is a weekly bingo game and they join in. In the ladies' restroom between games, a local woman tells Emma that Murphy's wife died suddenly, never having been sick a day in her life. Murphy was an emotional wreck and reclusive for years afterward. At the next round of bingo, Emma wins the biggest jackpot of the night: $200. Bobby Jack uses the bingo funds behind Emma's back to buy beer for a big party to which he invites the entire town. Murphy and Emma wind up doing dish duty while the others have fun. Emma asks Murphy how old he is and Murphy creatively dodges the question. When he takes out a load of trash and runs into Bobby Jack, who accuses him of "banging" Emma, Murphy won't be baited into an argument. Some time later, at a benefit dance, Emma finds herself with both men trying to usurp her time on the dance floor, cutting in on each other before either can get a dance with her; she finally stops, joins their hands and tells them to dance with each other as she has had enough, and they gamely dance their way off the floor to the other folks' amusement. One evening Emma invites Murphy to dinner, but he doesn't seem interested, so finally she confesses that Jake wanted to see him; when he enters the house he finds they have arranged a surprise birthday party for him. He thanks them for tolerating him in his darker moments, grateful for their support. Emma takes him aside and asks him how many candles they need on the birthday cake, and he tells her to set it on fire. While Emma and Bobby Jack are putting hay in a stall, he makes a move to kiss her, but suddenly she is overcome with sneezing and ruins the mood. She realizes that it's time to make up her mind; she picks up Jake from school and tells him that she will be putting his dad out because they can't continue to live together as if they are still married. She apologizes to him for the realities he has had to face, but he asks to be dropped off and wants to walk home the rest of the way. When Emma gets home, a strange truck is parked there, and in the house is a young woman named Wanda (Anna Levine) with twin baby boys Linus and Larry; they're Bobby Jack's children. Emma tells her to consider learning typing or a skill in case she needs it, but Wanda just wants to stay home with the children. When Jake arrives home, she sits the twins in his lap and introduces her son to his new half-brothers. Emma talks to Bobby Jack on the porch and tells him that he has to start being responsible. Though he balks at first, he realizes he has used up his time as a free spirit and leaves for good with Wanda and the kids. Confused and lost, Emma goes into town to talk to Murphy; he tells her that Bobby Jack stopped in for baby supplies on the way out of town. She asks him what she should do, and he sets her straight; he is not her advisor, as there are professionals in town for that. Then he kisses her passionately, says that if she doesn't know how things are, she might not be as smart as he thought she was, puts her out the door and turns the "closed" sign up. Driving home in the truck, she thinks things over. At home Murphy has finished his ride and stabled his horse. After he and Emma make some awkward small talk, he tells her that he may be worn, but sturdy and faithful, and he is in love for the last time in his life. She replies that she is in love for the first time in her life and asks him to stay for supper, but he replies that he will only do so if he is still there for breakfast. She agrees. As they go into the house together, he tells her his age. He is sixty.

A prostitute and a drifter find themselves bound together as they make their way through the rural South, doing what they have to do to survive.

Casey is a young boy in a family that trains racehorses. His best friend, a foal they call "Casey's Shadow", looks to be a loser, but comes out a champion. —Martin Lewison <lewison+@pitt.edu>

Does Hecky himself turn anybody in? I remember he is an alcoholic with a ridiculous excuse for being one, namely that he saw his father drink one shot glass of whiskey every night by gulping it and so grew up thinking there is no way to drink except by gulping, though he consumes more than one glass. (What's your excuse?) And that he is blacklisted---did somebody rat him out in retaliation?

The son of a powerful Mafia don comes home from his army service in Vietnam and wants to lead his own life, but family tradition, intrigues and powerplays involving his older brother dictate otherwise, and he finds himself being slowly drawn back into that world. —anonymous

In West Berlin in the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, Alec Leamas is a spy in charge of British Intelligence operations in the city. However, his operatives have been hunted down and killed by Mundt, the head of East German counter-espionage. Leamas himself is present at Checkpoint Charlie near the Berlin Wall when he witnesses the last of his agents, Karl Riemeck, being killed as he attempts to escape to the West. Leamas is recalled to London by Control, the head of the "Circus" (slang for MI6, the British Intelligence service). Control makes little secret of the fact that he sees Leamas' career as over, however he is willing to keep him on for one last operation: to destroy Mundt, something which Leamas is only too happy to do. Leamas is later seen apparently out of the service and unemployed. He gets a job at a reference library and starts an affair with Nan Perry, another librarian and a member of the British communist party. Leamas gives the impression of a bitter, broken man and an alcoholic. He later assaults a grocer and spends time in prison. After his release from jail, Leamas is approached by a man called Ashe who claims to be part of a charity that supports ex-convicts. Leamas is quick to realise that Ashe and his associate Carlton are East German agents who want him to defect and provide information. Still a heavy drinker and desperate for money, he agrees. Leamas later visits George Smiley, another leading official in the "Circus", and there he meets Control who briefs him on what he is to tell the Germans. Leamas' defection is part of a long-term plan hatched by the British that will lead the East Germans to believe that Mundt is a traitor and will be executed by his own side. Travelling on a false passport, Leamas goes to Holland where he meets Peters, an East German Intelligence official. Leamas tells Peters about what he knows about the "Circus" and specifically about Operation "Rolling Stone" during which he made payments into Danish and Finnish banks under a false name. The money was later taken out by a "business partner", actually an agent working behind the Iron Curtain. Leamas later reads a newspaper article which shows that he is wanted by the police in England. He has no choice now but to agree to actually go to East Germany itself and is taken there by Peters. Leamas arrives at a compound where he meets Fiedler, Mundt's deputy in counter-espionage. It's well known that there is little love lost between Mundt, an ex-Nazi, and Fiedler, who is a Jew. Fiedler questions Leamas further about "Rolling Stone" and suggests that it was all about secret payments to a spy even higher up in the East German government than Karl Riemeck, who worked for the Presidium of the East German Communist Party. Leamas himself rejects this theory on the grounds that, as head of British Intelligence operations in Germany, he would have been told about all the agents working there. Meanwhile in London, Leamas' girlfriend Nan Perry is visited by George Smiley who claims to be a friend of Leamas. She is later invited to East Germany as part of an exchange program between the British and East German Communist Parties. One night, Fiedler and Leamas return to the compound where they are arrested by Mundt himself. However, Fiedler has already reported his own findings to the Presidium and Mundt is himself later arrested as a spy for the British. A secret tribunal is convened to determine Mundt's guilt. At the hearing, Fiedler outlines his case: in 1959, Mundt was part of a trading mission in London, a cover for intelligence work. He killed a man and escaped under the noses of the authorities. Fiedler claims that his escape was too easy and that he only got away when he agreed to supply information to the British, for which he was paid. Fiedler also points out that Karl Riemeck, a proven spy, rose high in the East German civil service thanks to Mundt, thus enabling them to gain access to secrets. When Riemeck came under suspicion, Mundt had him killed to protect himself. Another point is that the money from the bank accounts set up by Leamas in Helsinki and Copenhagen was withdrawn at times when Mundt is known to have been in those cities. When Leamas is asked to give evidence he again rejects the idea that Mundt was a spy for Britain because he - Leamas - would have been told. In answer to Mundt's lawyer, he denies ever meeting George Smiley. Mundt's lawyer, Karden, claims Leamas was set up by his boss, Control, to defect in order to frame Mundt and get him executed. He further reveals that Mundt's agents actually followed Leamas during his last days in London and that, although he gave them the slip, it was in the neighbourhood of George Smiley's residence. Leamas' girlfriend, Nan Perry, then appears in the court, having been lured to East Germany. Without knowing exactly what is going on, she is quizzed over her involvement. It's revealed that she now owns the lease on her rented flat due to an anonymous benefactor and that she was visited there by George Smiley. Karden persuades the court that Leamas did meet Smiley before he left London and set in motion a plan to discredit Mundt. In an attempt to try and get Nan out of trouble, Leamas quickly steps forward and admits that Karden is right about the British plan. Mundt is cleared and Fiedler and Leamas are arrested. Although Leamas hoped to get her released, Nan is also taken into custody. Leamas is taken back to his cell, but later hears the door being unlocked. Making his way out of the building to a back exit he meets Mundt. Nan is also there waiting next to a car. Mundt gives Leamas instructions on how to get to East Berlin and meet a contact who will get him over the Wall. His escape will give Mundt extra excuses to purge Fiedler and his associates and have them executed. During the journey by car, Leamas tells a confused Nan what's really been going on, the truth that he himself has only just realised: Mundt is a spy for the British and Fiedler was closing in on him. Rather than just have Fiedler killed, Smiley and Control decided to discredit him and his evidence as well. Leamas was used to make Fiedler's case and Nan to undermine it. Thus Fiedler will die for trying to incriminate a senior intelligence officer and Mundt will be able to resume his work as a double agent. When Nan berates him for causing the execution of Fiedler who was guilty of nothing, Leamas tells her that London needs Mundt in order to protect the West and the freedoms people like her take for granted: "What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not. They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me. Little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong? Yesterday I would've killed Mundt because I thought him evil and an enemy, but not today. Today he's evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary crummy people like you and me." He also points out that her own Communist beliefs have their own share of evils: "There's a few million bodies on that path." In East Berlin, Leamas and Nan meet a contact who directs them to a section of the Wall over which they can escape to the West. But as they climb over it, the contact takes aim with a rifle and kills Nan, who now knows too much about Mundt to be kept alive. A shocked Leamas sees Nan collapse to the bottom of the Wall on the Eastern side. At that moment, Smiley himself calls from the Western side for Leamas to hurry and get over the Wall. Leamas instead climbs back down to the East German side and goes to Nan's lifeless body where he himself is shot dead.

Hud opens on a wide open Texas landscape, which turns to a highway while spare and lovely guitar music plays. We then meet Lon (Brandon De Wilde) an impressionable teenager catching a ride into town to retrieve his Uncle Hud. The driver lets him out and asks how he'll look for Hud and Lon explains he just has to find Hud's pink Cadillac.Seeing a bartender sweeping up window glass from the sidewalk, Lon asks what the trouble was, the bar owner explains his trouble was Hud being there the last night. Lon soon finds the Cadillac outside a local married couple's house. Honking on the Cadillac's horn, he manages to get Hud to come out, although Hud is clearly angry about being disturbed as he was in bed with the wife and isn't quite dressed. Lon explains that Hud's father Homer (Melvyn Douglas) needs him right away. Ready to leave he peeks in the door and says "Thank you honey." Lon and Hud are both surprised when the woman's husband, Joe, pulls up to see them leaving. He asks which of them is leaving his house at 6 in the morning. Hud claims that he found Lon there and came to take him home. Joe threatens Lon, but Hud reminds him of his diabetes, and promises to "cool his temperature." Driving away, Lon's upset, but Hud tells him "Relax, you could charge a stud fee by the time that story gets around town." Hud asks what Homer wants and Lon says he needs advice on something. Hud is surprised as Homer hasn't asked for advice in fifteen years. Hud speeds home and parks in a flower bed which Alma (Patricia Neal) the Bannon's live in housekeeper, isn't pleased about, remarking that he does it every time. Homer brings Hud and Lon out to see one a heffer who has died of unknown causes with no signs. Alma asks him why he parks on her flowers and Hud tells her "Don't plant them where I park." She offers him some eggs asking if he had breakfast in bed. Hud tells her, "Nope hadn't gotten around to breakfast." which makes Alma grin as Hud leaves. Homer has hands watching the corpse to keep the vultures away. Reaching the site, Hud starts shooting at the vultures, prompting Homer to scold him, saying "Don't do that, Hud; they help keep the country clean. Besides, it's against the law." Hud tells him "Well, I've always thought the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner. Sometimes I lean one way and sometimes I lean the other." Hud has no idea what killed it and Homer mentions wanting to call in the state vet to check it out. Hud has a problem with that and tells Homer the government shouldn't have any business on their land. Homer appears decided however, and tells Hud and Lon to stay with the steer and wait so the ranch hands can take a break. After a few minutes, Hud gets bored and takes a nearby horse back to his car, leaving Lon to do the watching. Soon after getting his car Hud finds Alma with one of the ranch hands on the side of the road with a blown tire. He leaves the hand to fix it and takes Alma back home as she has groceries to get back before dinner. She teases Hud about the smell of Chanel #5 in the car saying "You sure weren't riding the range this afternoon, were ya?" Hud responds "I sure wasn't." Alma tells him she doesn't know how some women have the time for Hud in the middle of the day. He tells her "They just drop everything honey." and she tells him "I suppose it does beat housework." Alma also tells him that a checker at the grocery store told her that Hud is seeing Truman Peter's wife. Homer and Lon eat dinner with Alma serving them, and then go sit on the porch to wait for desert. Hud, meanwhile yells at Alma to bring him a shirt. Hud flirts with her when she brings it to his room although she rebuffs his comments. Lon talks with Homer on the porch. When Homer asks what he's thinking about, Lon tells him, the future, having a car, and girls. Homer tells him "You'll get your share of what's good. A boy like you deserves it." Lon takes a look at a fading picture of his deceased father, Homer's son, from Homer's wallet. Lon asks him if he doesn't carry a picture of Hud in his wallet. Homer says "No, I don't" Lon says Lon: But he's your son, same as my Dad was. Homer: Yeah, he is. Lon: What are you holding against him Granddad? Homer: He knows and you don't need to. Alma brings them desert and sits on the porch with them. Hud comes outside ready to leave and Homer asks him to try and be home for the vet in the morning. Hud asks ALma to get a drink with him, but she declines, although he flirts with her about it. Lon asks Hud if he can go along and Hud agrees to take him into town. Homer tells Lon to be careful and glares at Hud, who tells Lon to drive. Lon asks "What was that all about?" and Hud says "It's a story I'll tell you one day when I'm drunk." In town, Lon tries to get a drink with Hud but Hud tells him to get a Dr. Pepper instead. Lon heads to the corner store and looks through paperback book rentals, then catches up with Hud, who now has beer. Hud gives Lon a hard time for following him and reveals he's on his way to "Mrs. Ruben Fletcher's house." Lon protests Hud treating like a kid and and Hud asks "How old are ya, Fantan, a fast 17?" Hud tells him "When I was your age, I couldn't get enough of anything." He tells Lon that's the year he was born and tells him about going out with his father, adding "Boy, we dossie-doed and chased a lot of girlish butts around that summer." Lon is fascinated at the talk and tells Hud "I wouldn't mind going that route myself." prompting Hud to tell him to come along, although Lon declines. Alma comes into Lonnie's room to wake him the next day. She asks him "Are you sleeping in the raw again?" to avoid pulling the sheet off of him. He says he is, and asks Alma what she sleeps in. SHe tells him "In my own room with the door locked." He asks "Do you ever wear any of those little shorty things." Alma: What kind of question is that? Lon: Just wondered. Alma: Does your mind usually run that direction? Lon: Yeah, it seems to. Alma: Boys with impure thoughts come out in acne. Lon: Oh, that's all bull Alma. Alma: Keep it up, you'll see. SHe tickles him to make him jump before leaving the room. Homer and Hud are out at the dead heifer, meeting with the vet, who tells Homer to get all of the cattle together for inspection. Homer asks why and the vet explains "I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid you've got the very worst kind of trouble a cattleman can have. I think that cow died of foot and mouth disease." Homer is surprised. Homer realizes that the vet may have to kill every animal he owns to prevent outbreak. After the vet leaves Hud remarks, "You gonna let them shoot your cows out from underneath you on account of a schoolbook disease? You getting that old Homer?" Homer: I wonder if a long quarantine wouldn't satisfy them? You think they'd agree to that? Hud: They don't have to agree to nothing. They're the LAW. You can agree with 'em 'til Hell freezes over for all the good it'll do ya. Hud proposes that Homer sell all the cattle before the inspector comes back. Homer: Would that be your way of getting out of a tight? Hud: Ship the whole herd out before they begin the tests! Homer: You mean, try and pass bad stuff off on to my neighbors who wouldn't even know what they was getting? Hud: You don't know it's bad stuff. I'd ship 'em out of state. Load them up north before the news gets out. Homer: And take a chance on starting an epidemic in the entire country? Hud: Why, this whole country is run on epidemics, where you been? Epidemics are big business, price fixing, crooked TV shows, income tax finagling, souped up expense accounts. How many honest men you know? You take the sinners away from the saints, you're lucky to end up with Abraham Lincoln. Now I say let us put our bread into some of that gravy while it is still hot. Homer: You're an unprincipled man Hud. Hud: Don't let that flush ya. I mean, you got enough for both of us. While the cattle are rounded up, Hud notices Homer is having a tough time. He suggests Homer go take a nap but Homer insists "I'll hold up my end of it." Lon comes out to help with the round up. Lon talks about the rarity of a couple longhorn steer that Homer keeps for nostalgic reasons, and suggests they turn them loose. Homer insists that they have to go with the rest. Homer and Lon go out to see a movie and Homer keeps dozing off. After the movie they go to a diner for desert and Hud happens to walk in with Mrs. Peters. Homer asks Lon if he's with Truman Peters' wife. Lon says yes and offers to call Hud over, but Homer tells him to leave him alone. Hud walks over with her anyway, introducing Mrs. Peters to Homer, who shakes her hand and then looks at his plate. Hud points out that Homer hasn't asked them to sit down, explaining that her being married offends Homer's "high priciples and what have you." WHile Hud is talking Homer suddenly slumps and looks ill. Hud and Lon get him to the car right away to go home. Lon reasons that he must have got too much sun. Homer falls asleep and Hud and Lon talk. Lon: I forget how old he is. I just don't want to think about it. Hud: It's time you started. Lon: I know he's gonna die someday. I know that much. Hud: He is. Lon: Makes me feel like somebody dumped me into a cold river. Hud: Happens to everybody, horses, dogs, men. Nobody gets out of life alive. Lon helps Homer into the house and Hud sees Alma come home. He goes to her room to visit her, looking through items she's won in contests to make conversation. He tells her "You're a good housekeeper, a good cook. You're a good laundress. What else you good at? [sitting down and leaning on her bed] Alma: [sitting on the other side of the bed] Taking care of myself. Hud: Shouldn't have to, a woman that looks like you do. Alma: That's what my ex husband used to tell me before he took my wallet, my gasoline credit card and left me stranded in a downtown hotel in Albequerque New Mexico. Hud: What'd you do to make him take to the hills, wear your curlers to bed? Alma: Ed's a gambler. He's probably up at Vegas arena right now, dealing at night, losing it all back in the daytime. Hud: A man like that sounds no better than a heel. Alma: Aren't you all? Hud: Hony, don't go shooting all the dogs because one of em's got fleas. Alma: I was married to Ed for six years. The only thing he was eve good for was to scratch my back where I couldn't reach it. Hud: You still got that itch? Alma: Off and on. Hud: Well, let me know when it gets to bothering ya. Alma smiles and Hud makes his exit. The next day the vet starts injecting fresh cows with specimens taken from Homer's herd. From there they have to wait 6 days to look for symptoms to develop. Lon ends up getting kicked in the head by one of the cows, passing out when he tries to get back to work. Hud carries him to the house and puts him in bed. Alma suggests they call a doctor but Hud insists they don't need one. She checks on him in bed and he tells Alma how beautiful she is. She encourages him to go to sleep. The cattle are penned in for quarantine and signs put up around the property. Lon wakes up the next day ready to work, but Homer tells him there isn't anything to do until the quarantine is over. Hud takes exception, telling Homer they're just letting the government throw dirt in their faces. He mockingly refers to the family as "poor but honest." Hud asks Alma where his Jack Daniels is, although he already looks drunk. She tells him he already drank it. He comes up behind her and nuzzles her neck. She tells him she "doesn't like sudden passes." He warns here that "there's another one coming up on your right." before moving to the other side of her neck. She says "Don't you ever ask?" Hud says "The only question I ever ask any woman is 'What time is your husband coming home?'" He suggests they "get their shoelaces untied." ALma says she's "been asked with a little more finesse." She doesn't tell him to stop, but Hud quickly moves away and says "I wouldn't want to come on crude." He offers to bring her some perfume and she adds a few items to the list, including colored beads and wampum. Hud says "Whatever it takes to make you trade." Alma replies "No thanks. I've done my time with one cold blooded bastard. I'm not looking for another." Hud replies, "It's too late honey. You already found him." The next morning Hud invites everyone to watch him at the "pig scramble." making a dig at Alma in the prcess saying "They're letting ladies in free. You might just qualify." She doesn't answer the remark but Lon tells Homer it's the first time Hud's ever asked him to go anywhere and he wonders why. Homer says "Lonesome I imagine, just trying to scare up a little company." Lon: Hud, lonesome? He can get more women coming in than anyone else around. Homer: That ain't necessarily much. It ain't necessarily company neither. Women just like to be around something dangerous part of the time. Even Hud can get lonesome once in a while. Alma listens to the conversation silently while washing dishes, but when Homer and Lon decide to go, she says "I'll stay home. I don't like pigs." At the pig scramble, Hud joins a contest to catch greased pigs and wins. Afterwards Hud invites Lon and Homer to go out with him. Homer declines but Lon takes him up on it. Hud offers to buy Lon a drink. The two sit in a diner together and Hud offers to spike Lon's drink with whiskey, which he eagerly agrees to even encouraging Hud not to be sparing about it. Lon notices an attractive woman. Hud encourages him to approach her, but Lon says he wouldn't make a move at her. Hud asks "Well why not? You ain't nailed down, are ya?" He encourages him more saying "Get all the good you can out of 17 because it sure wears out in one hell of a hurry." Lon: My trouble is I need to like a girl a lot before I can work up to anything. I mean like her as a person." Hud: Honcho, you're a regular idealist. Lon: What's wrong with that? Hud: I don't know. I just ain't never tried it. Lon: I suppose you think I'm a jerk. Hud: WHat do you care what i think? Lon: This is probably gonna hand you a big laugh... but I do. Hud: Then have another little drink, and I'll have another little drink. Then maybe we can work up some real family feeling here. Lon gets up to put change in the jukebox, and while he's doing that he makes a point of looking at the lady they were admiring. This isn't appreciated by her boyfriend, who starts threatening him. Hud gets involved and ends up sucker punching the man. Both Lon and Hud end up getting into it and get the bar into an uproar. The two head home afterwards and Hud tells Lon it felt like old times mentioning Lon's dad. Hud tells Lon "When you ain't bein' a pain in the tail, you remind me a lot of him." Hud starts talking about Norman (Lon's dad) remembering an episode where they got drunk and Norman convinced him that he could hear the grass grow. He tells Lon that was the night he crashed a car, killing Norman and walking away without a scratch himself. Hud expects the story will change Lon's opinion of him, but it doesn't. The two of them walk into the house singing loudly. Homer hears them and can tell they're drunk. He asks Lon "What else has he give you a taste for?" Homer tells Hud he doesn't have a problem with Lon having a drink, but Hud Hud asks what's bothering him. Homer: You, Hud. Like always. Lon: Hey, waht are you climbing on Hud foor? Homer: Yo think a lot of Hud, do ya? You think he's a real man. Well, you're being took in. Hud: You listen to him honcho. He's my daddy and he knows... Homer: I know ya. You're smart. You got your share of guts. You can talk a man into trusting ya, and a woman into wanting ya. Hud: I got it made ain't I? Homer: To hear you tell it. Hud: Why don't you get it off your chest. What's been griping ya all this time is what I dne to Norman, Homer: You were drunk and careless of your brother. Hud: You had fifteen years to get over it, that's half of my life. Homer: That's not our quarrel and never has been. Hud: The hell it isn't. Homer: No, boy. I was sick of you a long time before that. Hud: Well, isn't life full of surprises? All along, I thought it was because of what I done to my big brother. Homer: I took that hard, but I buried it. Hud: Well alright I'll bite. What turned you sour on me? Not that I give a damn. Homer: Just that Hud, you don't give a damn. That's all. That's the whole of it. You still don't get it, do ya? You don't care about people Hud. You don't give a damn about em. You got all that charm going for ya and it makes the youngsters want to be like ya. That's the shame of it, because ya don't value nothin'. You don't respect nothin'. You keep no check on your appetites at all. You live just for yourself and that makes ya not fit to live with. Hud: My Momma loved me, but she died. Hud leaves and Lon tells Homer he shouldn't pick on Hud, as everyone around is like him in some way. Homer tells him "That's no cause for rejoicing. Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire" Lon: I still think you nailed him pretty hard. Homer: Did I? Maybe. Old people get as hard as their arteries. You're just going to have to make up your own mind one day, about what's right and what's wrong. Lon goes to check on Hud who's upset that Alma's asleep when he wants to eat something. Lon offers to cook something but Hud yells at him to leave while he has another drink. The next day Lon is out watching the rodeo. Hud stops by and finds him offering Lon ten dollars to get himself a good seat, and promises there's more money to come. Hud reveals that he's talked with a lawyer who told him "There's a law that says when old folks can't cut the mustard anymore, you can make them let go, whether they like it or not." Lon is disgusted with the idea and tries to return the ten dollars. Hud tries to explain that he just wants what he's worked for for years and says "You don't look out for yourself, the only helping hand you'll ever get is when they lower the box." Later on, Hud sits in his room drinking and watching TV. Homer comes in and confronts him about Lon has told him.Hud is proud to tell Homer that when the cattle situation is over, whatever happens "you better get yourself a rocking chair and get out of my way." Homer tells him there's no way he can get control of the property while he's above ground. Homer admits he might have made some mistakes and been too hard on Hud. Hud tells him "You ain't never been wrong." painting Homer as uncompromising and holier than thou, and the concluding "So I just naturally had to go bad in the face of so much good." Homer wonders how a man like Hud can be his son and leaves the room. Hud follows him yelling "You've got the same feeling beneath your belt as any other man, that's how you got stuck with me for a son." Lon hears the yelling and comes out of his room but Hud runs past him and heads to Alma's room when he sees her outside. SHe sees he's in rare form and runs inside, locking the door as fast as she can, but Hud kicks the door open and grabs her and starts kissing her forcibly, escalating as she struggles, meaning to rape her. Lon interrupts before that happens. Hud easily bests him, but can't bring hiself to punch Lon, so leaves instead. The next day the vet tells them that it is foot and mouth disease which means all of the animals have to be killed and quickly. The vet tries to cheer up Homer telling him he might sell some oil leases anyway. Hud speaks up about it saying "My Daddy thinks that oil is something you stick in your salad dressing." Homer says "If there's oil down there, you can get it sucked up after I'm under there with it. But, I don't like it and I don't aim to have it. There'll be no holes punched in this land while I'm here. They ain't gonna come in here and grade no road so the wind can blow me away. What's oil to me? What can I do with a bunch of rotten oil wells? I can't ride out every day and prowl amongst 'em like I can my cattle. I can't breed 'em or tend 'em or rope 'em or chase 'em or nothing. I can't feel a smidgen of pride in 'em 'cause they ain't none of my doing. Hud says "There's money in it." Homer answers "I don't want that kind of money. I want mine to come from something that keeps a man doing for himself." They then have a big pit dug to herd the cattle into. Homer gets all of the help together with guns and they shoot all the cattle from above until they're all dead while Homer forces himself to oversee it. Lon remarks "That didn't take long." And Homer says "It doesn't take long to kill things, not like it does to grow." Bulldozers start filling in the hole with dirt. Homer still has his two Longhorn steer and is watching them and one of the government guys notices them as well and moves to enter their pen. Homer tells him he's going to kill them himself, but the man says "There's no guarantee that you'll do it." The vet hears the argument and calls the man off, willing to take Homer's word. He apologizes to Homer who remarks "He ain't such a bad fella, just got a cruddy job." Homer next lets all of his ranch hands go and asks for his rifle. He tells Lon "I've chased them Longhorns many a mile. I don't know if I can kill 'em, but I guess I can." He tells Lon to go somewhere else and shoots them both, needing a couple shots for each. Hud listens a little ways away and tells Lon "Them old bulls are hard to kill." Alma is packing her things to leave. Lon gives her a ride to the bus station and tries to talk her into staying. She tells him to take care of his grandfather and not to be lazy and gives him a hug. Hud happens to be passing the bus stop and sees her there. He apologizes saying "Looks like we're losing a good cook. Maybe we should've boosted your salary a little. You ain't letting that little ruckus we had run you off?" Alma: As far as I can get on a bus ticket. Hud: You telling me i'm the first guy who ever stuck his foot in your door? Alma: No. Hud: First one who ever got rough huh? Well, I'm sorry. It ain't my style. I don't usually get rough with my women. I generally don't have to. Alma: You're rough on everybody. Hud: So they tell me. Alma: You want to know something funny? It would've happened eventually without the roughhouse. You look pretty good without your shirt on you know. The sight of that through the kitchen window made me put down my dish towel more than once. Hud: Why didn't you speak up sooner? The bus pulls up and Alma gets on. Hud calls after her :I'll remember you honey. You're the one that got away.The bus takes off. Lon is driving home in the dark and Hud comes up speeding behind him. Hud bumps into Lon's car to nudge him. Lon sees Homer crawling across the road and slams his brakes sending his car off the road. Hud doesn't know what happened and yells at Lon telling him he'll be paying to fix the car for a long time. Lon tells him he saw Homer in the road and Hud rushes out to check.Homer is still conscious and tells them he fell off his horse. Hud tells Lon to take his car and go call for an ambulance, but when the car won't start Hud tells him to bring the whiskey. Homer tells them he feels like giving up. He tells Hud "They're waiting on me. And he ain't a patient man." Hud tells Lon that Homer's gone. Hud tells Lon that "he couldn't have made it another hour, any way in the world." Lon answers "He could've if he'd wanted to. You fixed it so he didn't want to anymore." Hud: You don't know the whole story. Yeah, him and me fought many and many a round together, but I guess you could say that I helped him about as much as he ever helped me. Lon: How did you help him Hud? By trying to sell him out? By taking the heart out of him? By making him give up and quit? Is that how you helped him? We next see Lon and Hud at Homer's funeral service. One of the mourners tells Lon "Look at it this way, he's gone to a better place." Lon says "I don't think so. Not unless dirt is a better place than air." Lon walks away. We then see Hud pulling into their property with his car still damaged. He sees lon walking around and tells him they buried Homer. Lon is carrying his things and Hud asks him where he's going.Lon tells Hud he's going somewhere else to work for awhile. Hud expresses concern that Lon's too green to make it on his own. He tells Lon a story about his grandfather giving him a Mars bar when he joined the army and telling him, "Character's the only thing I got to give you. Be a man." Lon answers "Well I guess he was kind of worried, your trying so hard to get out of the draft and all." Hud tells Lon that if he isn't succesful he can come back and work for him, but Lon says he won't be back. Hud tells him " I guess you've come to be of your Granddaddy's opinion that I ain't fit to live with. That's too bad. Yeah, we mightta whooped it up some, you and me. That's the way you used to want it." Lon: I useta. So long, Hud. Lon starts walking again and Hud yells after him "You know something Fantan? This world's so fulla crap, a man's gonna get into it sooner or later whether he's careful or not." Hud walks into the empty house and gets a drink. He lights a cigarette, looking out the open door in thought. He then waves and closes the door behind him as he goes back in the house.

Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren star as longtime widower Frank and recently widowed Rose, lonely hearts who discover something special in The Black Orchid, a sensitive comedy romance directed by Martin Ritt (Norma Rae, Murphy's Romance). After mobsters murder her husband, Rose Bianco works long hours making artificial flowers, to support herself and her son. Some suspect that Rose's demand for a lavish lifestyle pushed her husband to a life of crime, and they blame her for his death. Widower Frank Valente is attracted to Rose, and must convince her that real love exists. He must also deal with his own daughter, who has her own reasons for opposing his marriage to Rose. —Molly Malloy <mailcall@intersource.com>