HUD
It’s strange that the last two DVDs that I’ve watched were so timely even though they were made in the early ’60s. While Elmer Gantry looked at the impact of religous fundamentalism on the human psyche, HUD is about a family tied to cattle ranching and what happens when the cattle get sick and must be slaughtered.
HUD is the story of an aging cattle rancher, played by Melvyn Douglas, and his son, Hud, played by Paul Newman. The performances are excellent all around; both Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas won Oscars for their supporting performances. Paul Newman was nominated for best actor.
It is the story of a new generation, represented by Hud, trying to live in the present when the older generation is trying to hold them in the past. While Hud is rebelling against his father, the father is rebelling against change and time.
The movie struck me as timely because the father’s entire cattle herd must be destroyed because it has been exposed to hoof and mouth disease; everything that he has worked for is completely destroyed because one of his cattle becomes sick. First Hud wants to sell the sick cattle and then after the cattle at slaughtered and buried in a mass grave he wants to lease the property to oil interests for drilling but the father will have none of it.
Since mad cow disease was discovered in one cow in Washington State, 25 countries have banned the import of U.S. beef which will devastate the meat industry.
The national beef market began to slump yesterday as 25 countries that account for 90 percent of U.S. beef exports now ban American products, according to the USDA.
While individuals like Hud might think that it is profitable to sell diseased cattle, it is devastating to the market once the disease is discoverd. It is clearly in the rational self-interest of cattlemen to make a profit and if they want to insure that their market stays healthy, they must also insure that their cattle are healthy. Once people suspect that the food is not safe, they will stop buying it. The net effect (the wasting of all the meat) is the same as if they had to kill all their cattle in the first place.
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