H-Hz Movies

Hair (1979)  This movie, based on the cult Broadway musical of the 60s, tells a story about Claude, a young man from Oklahoma who comes to New York City. There he strikes up a friendship with a group of hippies, led by Berger, and falls in love with Sheila, a girl from a rich family. However, their happiness is short because Claude must go to the Vietnam war.

A bit dated but worth seeing by serious moviegoers.

Although the film is based on the theatrical stage musical as well as sharing some of the songs and character names, the two versions are drastically different in most respects including plot, which songs are sung, the order in which they are performed and which character performs them, and how the characters are portrayed.

The play is much better.

Good flick, a bit dated.  The play is better as is the remake.

The Hangover II (2011)  Stu is getting married. Along with Doug, Phil, and his soon-to-be brother-in-law Teddy, he regretfully invites Alan to Thailand for the wedding. After a quiet night on the beach with a beer and toasting marshmallows by the camp fire, Stu, Alan and Phil wake up in a seedy apartment in Bangkok. Doug is back at the resort, but Teddy is missing, there's a monkey with a severed finger, Alan's head is shaved, Stu has a tattoo on his face, and they can't remember any of it. The wolf-pack retrace their steps through strip clubs, tattoo parlors and cocaine-dealing monkeys on the streets of Bangkok as they try and find Teddy before the wedding.

The sequel to The Hangover and not as fresh and original but still worth seeing.  The Thai scenery is awesome.

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)  During a Thanksgiving Day party we make aquaintances with numerous and problematic members of a family. The leading characters are three sisters: Lee, the woman of Frederick, an old misanthrope painter; Holly, who dreams of becoming a writer, or an actress, or who knows who...; Hannah, famous actress, beautiful, intelligent, good mother, good wife, good sister, in short perfect, the pivot of the family. The balance begins to break up when Hannah's husband, Elliot, falls in love with Lee, who leaves Frederick. Holly goes through a deep crisis and meets Mickey, the former husband of Hannah, a hipocondriac TV producer. The affairs evolve and at the last Thanksgiving resolve in new directions. 

Many of Hannah's scenes were filmed in Mia Farrow's apartment. Woody Allen said that Farrow once had the eerie experience of turning on the TV, finding a chance broadcast of the movie, and seeing her own apartment on TV while she was sitting in her apartment.

Harper (1966)  Lew Harper is a Los Angeles based private investigator whose marriage to Susan Harper, who he still loves, is ending in imminent divorce since she can't stand being second fiddle to his work, which is always taking him away at the most inopportune of times. His latest client is tough talking and physically disabled Elaine Sampson, who wants him to find her wealthy husband, Ralph Sampson, missing now for twenty-four hours, ever since he disappeared at Van Nuys Airport after having just arrived from Vegas. No one seems to like Ralph, Elaine included. She believes he is cavorting with some woman, which to her would be more a fact than a problem. Harper got the case on the recommendation of the Sampsons' lawyer and Harper's personal friend, milquetoast Albert Graves, who is unrequitedly in love with Sampson's seductive daughter, Miranda Sampson. Miranda, who Harper later states throws herself at anything "pretty in pants", also has a decidedly cold relationship with her stepmother, Elaine. As Harper begins his investigation, he is often joined by one or two new sidekicks, Miranda, and/or Allan Taggert, Sampson's private pilot who was the last person to see him before his disappearance. Living on the Sampson estate, Allan is also Miranda's casual boyfriend who Harper coins "Beauty" because of his preppy good looks. They discover that Sampson has indeed been kidnapped as they receive a ransom note. As Harper follows leads, he ends up in the underbelly of Los Angeles society, which includes encounters with Betty Fraley, a junkie lounge singer, Fay Estabrook, an ex-movie ingénue now overweight alcoholic, and Claude, a religious cult leader. At each of Harper's stops, people seem to want to beat him up or worse kill him. The case takes a slight turn after they decide to pay the $500,000 ransom to see where it leads.

The character Lew Harper is based on novelist Ross Macdonald's character Lew Archer. The name was changed for the film supposedly because Paul Newman had recently enjoyed success with Hud (one of his many successful films beginning with H) and the producers wanted the movie's title to begin with "H". Also, the Macdonald estate did not want the name "Archer" used in the movie. There may have been fear of legal complications because Macdonald got the name "Archer" in the first place from Miles Archer, Sam Spade's partner who is killed early on in Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon."

Harry and the Hendersons (1987)  Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they examine the "body" they find it's a "bigfoot". They think it's dead so they decide to take it home (there could be some money in this..). As you guessed, "it" isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear "Harry" to be, he's a friendly giant. In their attempts to keep Harry a secret, the Henderson's have to hide him from the authorities and a man, who has made it his goal in life, to catch a "bigfoot".

Funny but a bit pointless.

Harry and Son (1984)  Harry Keach has been widowed for two years and works as a bulldozer operator on a construction crew. Despite having a strong work ethic, that working life is cut short when health issues lead to him no longer being able to do the job. Harry has a strained relationship with his two grown children: Nina, who, with her insurance salesman husband, seems more concerned about what they can receive in material possessions through her relationship with Harry; and Howard, who still lives with Harry. Howard is an aspiring writer, but as a person who lives in the here and now would rather hang out having fun than find work in a steady job when he isn't writing. Despite Harry loving Howard and Howard loving Harry, the strain in their relationship is brought to the fore as Howard can work but won't while Harry wants to work but can't. Especially while they still live together, the two have to come to a new understanding as they move into the next phase of their respective lives, Howard's which includes his on-again, off-again relationship with girlfriend Katie Wilowski, that off again status due to Katie being pregnant with another man's child, and Harry's which includes Howard's want for him to start thinking about women again.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)  In Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, Harry finds a book marked mysteriously, "This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince," which helps him excel at Potions class and teaches him a few dark and dangerous ones along the way. Meanwhile, Harry is taking private lessons with Dumbledore in order to find out about Voldemort's past so they can find out what might his only weakness.

Harvey (1950)  The classic stage hit gets the Hollywood treatment in the story of Elwood P. Dowd who makes friends with a spirit taking the form of a human-sized rabbit named Harvey that only he sees (and a few privileged others on occasion also.) After his sister tries to commit him to a mental institution, a comedy of errors ensues. Elwood and Harvey become the catalysts for a family mending its wounds and for romance blossoming in unexpected places.

Heaven Can Wait (1978)  Joe Pendleton is a football quarterback, who hasn't been playing a lot because of injuries. But now it appears he has fully recovered and the coach wants to make him the starting quarterback. But he goes out one day and an accident occurs and the next thing he knows he is on his way to heaven. But he convinces the man in charge, Mr. Jordan. that he isn't suppose to be here and upon checking Mr. Jordan discovers that he is right and tries to get him back into his body but his body has been cremated. Mr. Jordan tells him that they can put him in another man's body provided that the man's death has not been discovered. Now Mr. Jordan shows him the body of Leo Farnsworth, who has just been killed by his wife and secretary. Joe doesn't want to take Farnsworth's body until a woman, Betty Logan who has a problem with what Farnsworth's business is doing to her home, insists on meeting him. Now Joe's taken with her and would like to help her but can only do it if he assumes Farnsworth's identity. And he does but unfortunately still acts like himself which perplexes everyone who knows Farnsworth especially his wife and secretary who are sure that they killed him and are on the edge of their seats wondering what he is going to do.

The fictitious Super Bowl game (Rams vs. Steelers) was filmed during halftime of the Rams/Chargers preseason at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum on September 1, 1977.  

In this movie the Rams play the Steelers in the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XIV (1979) The Rams play the Steelers in real life. Rams lost 19 to 31.

The Helen Morgan Story(1957)  The 1920's and 30's career of singer Helen Morgan is followed from her early days singing outdoors in a carnival, through her speak-easy and chorus-girl days, to her stardom on Broadway in Ziegfeld's "Show Boat". Her involvement with Larry Maddux, a gin-runner and con-man, and Russell Wade, a prominent, married New York lawyer, and her decline thanks to these failed romances and alcohol are punctuated by performances of many of the songs she made famous.

Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)  Young and restless Nick Adams, the only son of a domineering mother and a weak but noble doctor father, leaves his rural Michigan home to embark on an eventful cross-country journey. He is touched and affected by his encounters with a punch-drunk ex-boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and an alcoholic advanceman for a burlesque show. After failing to get a job as reporter in New York, he enlists in the Italian army during World War I as an ambulance driver. His camaraderie with fellow soldiers and a romance with a nurse he meets after being wounded propel him to manhood.

Ernest Hemingway wrote the opening and closing narration and was scheduled to deliver it himself, but his suicide prior to the film's conclusion prevented that.

The European version is six minutes longer than the U. S. release. Among the deleted scenes include Joe Boulton's suicide by slitting of his own throat, a scene where Rosanna lets down her hair preparatory to presumably having relations with Nick, a suggestion in Nick's scene with her father that Rosanna and he have been lovers, and Nick's scene with a coroner after his arrival back home.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)  Boxer Joe Pendleton is on his way to the championship but fate intervenes. While flying his small airplane it crashes and he finds himself en route to the ever after. There's only one problem: he wasn't supposed to die and was meant to survive the crash. Due to a mix-up and a bit of inexperience on the part of Messenger 7013 who was sent to collect his soul, the man in charge Mr. Jordan orders him returned but it's too late: Joe's manager Max Corkle has already had his remains cremated. Mr. Jordan agrees to find another body for him to inhabit and after a week or so of searching suggests Bruce Farnsworth, a multi-millionaire who is about to be killed by his scheming wife Julia and his secretary, Tony Abbott. Joe's not too keen on the choice until he meets Bette Logan and decides to become Farnsworth at least temporarily. He's a good man and reverses a swindle Farnswworth had committed but his time as Farnsworth was never meant to be permanent. He and Bette have fallen in love however and Mr. Jordan has plans for them.

High Noon (1952)  On the day he gets married and hangs up his badge, lawman Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller, is returning on the noon train to exact his revenge. Having initially decided to leave with his new spouse, Will decides he must go back and face Miller. However, when he seeks the help of the townspeople he has protected for so long, they turn their backs on him. It seems Kane may have to face Miller alone, as well as the rest of Miller's gang, who are waiting for him at the station.

One man alone against overwhelming odds struggling to do the right thing.  We all should be so brave.

High Plains Drifter (1973)  A mysterious gunfighter without a name rides across the desert landscape and arrives in the mining town beside the sea "Lago" to stay for the night. After gunning down three desperado's who tried to kill him, the town hires the gunfighter to help defend the town from three murderous outlaws, Stacey Bridges, Bill Borders and Cole Carlin who have been released from jail after they brutally whipped to death the town's local lawman Marshal Jim Duncan who is in his grave with a unmarked gravestone, the three outlaws set out to return to "Lago" to get their vengeance. Can the mysterious gunfighter without a name stop the three outlaws?

Universal Pictures wanted the film to be shot on the studio lot. Instead, Clint Eastwood had a whole town built in the desert near Mono Lake in the California Sierras. Many of the buildings were complete and three-dimensional, so that interiors could be shot on location.

Shortly after the film's release, Clint Eastwood wrote to John Wayne, suggesting that they make a western together. Wayne sent back an angry letter in reply, in which he denounced this film for its violence and revisionist portrayal of the Old West. Eastwood did not bother to answer his criticisms, and consequently they did not work together.   Wayne was more of an idealist, Eastwood a realist, both are good entertainers with very different senses of the "real west."

The town of Lago was built 300 miles away from Hollywood. A 46-man crew of technicians and 10 laborers worked 10-hours a day for 18 days constructing 14 houses and a two-story hotel. They were burned down at the film's completion.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)  Waking up one morning, a British man named Arthur Dent awakes and find his house is going to be demolished. But for Arthur, the demolition of his house is only the beginning, Arthur's friend eccentric Ford Prefect reveals to Earth that he is not human and he is a alien from a planet called Bettleguise and is a researcher of a electronic book called "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Ford saves Arthur when Earth is wiped out by the Vogons who have demolished the Earth to make way for a new intergalactic motorway. Embarking on a intergalactic adventure, Arthur and Ford are joined by two-headed former president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox, intelligent human woman Trillian and Marvin, a depressed android, travels across the galaxy on-board Zaphod's stolen spaceship "Heart of Gold". Where they set out to discover the meaning of life and travel to the newly constructed Earth II, where Slartibartfast reveals the truth about the original Earth, that was destroyed by the Vogons.

A fast paced surrelistic SciFi farce.  This is a good movie if you have read at least some of the books written by Douglas Adams.  Douglas was a contributor to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to Europe.  While sleeping out in a Paris city park and looking at the stars, he got the idea for the Guide to the Galaxy.  First done as a radio program, the book tends to have very short stories that end in two to three pages.  There is a somewhat of a theme that holds it all together but there is no real plot, just a lot of characters and experiences to enjoy.

Holiday Inn (1942)  Jim Hardy and Ted Hanover have been vaudeville partners for many years but when Ted announces that he and Jim's girlfriend, dancer Lila Dixon, are going to set off on their own, Jim decides the time has come to retire. He buys himself a farmhouse in New England and settles into the country life but soon realizes that he has an opportunity to do something special. He decides to open his inn to the public, but only on major holidays. Things are going well for him until his old partner Ted shows up and sets his sights on Jim's new friend, Linda Mason. The film introduced the song White Christmas.

The first public performance of the song "White Christmas" was by Bing Crosby on his NBC radio show "The Kraft Music Hall" on Christmas Day, 1941, during the middle of filming Holiday Inn (1942), which was released seven months later. The song went on to become one of the biggest selling songs in the history of music. This was the first of three films to feature Crosby singing "White Christmas".

Until 1997, "White Christmas" was the best selling music single ever. It was passed at that time by "Goodbye, England's Rose", the Elton John rework of "Candle in the Wind" done for Princess Diana's funeral. These two songs still rank #1-2.

Hollywood Ending (2002)   Val Waxman is a film director who was once big in the 1970's and 1980's, but has now has been reduced to directing TV commercials. Finally, he gets an offer to make a big film. But, disaster strikes, when Val goes temporarily blind, due to paranoia. So, he and a few friends, try to cover up his disability, without the studio executives or the producers knowing that he is directing the film blind.

Would have been better if Woody had cast someone other than himself in the lead.

Hombre (1967)  John 'Hombre' Russell is a white man raised by the Apaches on an Indian reservation and later by a white man in town. As an adult he prefers to live on the reservation. He is informed that he has inherited a lodging-house in the town. He goes to the town and decides to trade the place for a herd. He has to go to another city. The only stagecoach is one being hired for a special trip paid by Faver and his wife Audra. As there are several seats others join the stagecoach making seven very different passengers in all. During the journey they are robbed. With the leadership of John Russell they escape with little water and the money that the bandits want. They are pursued by the bandits. As they try to evade the bandits they reveal their true nature in a life threatening situation.

The photo in the closing credits of the film was taken in 1886 by Camillus Fly, the famous Tombstone (AZ) photographer. The white boy in the photo is Jimmy (Santiago) McKinn, captured by the Apaches in 1885. Like the Paul Newman character in the film, McKinn was totally assimilated in the tribe and was rescued against his will when Geronimo surrendered in 1886. 

Fly's studio was involved in "The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" since the real shootout took place on a vacant lot next to the studio.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)  Wayne Szalinski is a crazy scientist who invents a miniaturizing machine that is so powerful it only blows things up. When the kid next door hits a baseball through the window and it lands in the path of the machine's laser, it begins working. Wayne's two kids plus the two kids next door end up becoming tiny. Wayne accidentally sweeps them up and puts them out with the garbage, so the kids then have to travel through the thick grass back to the house, while braving giant bugs, sprinklers and a lawn mower.

Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)  On her deathbed, a mother makes her son promise never to get married, which scars him with psychological blocks to a commitment with his girlfriend. They finally decide to tie the knot in Vegas, but a wealthy gambler arranges for the man to lose $65K in a poker game and offers to clear the debt for a weekend with his fiancée. Suddenly the man is insanely jealous, and pursues his fiancée and her rich companion, but finds pitfalls in his path as the gambler tries to delay his interference.

Hoodwinked (2005)  The candy recipes of the goody shops have been stolen by the Goody Bandit, and many animals are out of business. While the police are chasing the criminal, there is a mess at Granny's house involving Little Red Hiding Hood, The Wolf, The Woodsman and Granny, disturbing the peace in the forest. They are all arrested by the impatient Chief Grizzly. Detective Nicky Flipper is in charge of the investigation, and each accused gives his/her own version of the incident. Flipper uses the information to disclose the identity of the evil Goody Bandit.

Novel idea but rather poor execution.  Funny in parts.

Hopscotch (1980)  CIA agent Miles Kendig decides to get out of 'the game' and to ensure he's left alone he threatens to send his memoirs to the world's intelligence agencies. When the CIA doesn't believe him, he calls their bluff and starts writing and sending out chapters one by one. Realizing that their operations would be compromised, the CIA (led by Myerson and Cutter) set out to put an end to Kendig's plan by whatever means necessary. The heart of the movie follows a game of cat and mouse between a fumbling CIA and an artful Kendig.

Funny, predictable but enjoyable.

Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)  A military comedy about a luckless army intelligence lieutenant who finds himself stationed on a remote island army outpost during World War II, where all the action is between the sheets.

I still think this is a damned funny movie of course I live on an island where most of the action is still between the sheets.

Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)  The promotion announced that this film was released in "Hypnovision" which gives an idea of the story. A frustrated thriller writer wants accurate crimes for his next book so he hypnotises his assistant to make him commit the required crimes.

I saw this movie when I was a senior in high school.  I didn't like it.  It was the first psychological horror movie I ever saw.  I was naive and hoping for a more civilized world.

Horse Feathers (1932)  Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff has just been installed as the new president of Huxley College. His cavalier attitude toward education is not reserved for his son Frank, who is seeing the college widow, Connie Bailey. Frank influences Wagstaff to recruit two football players who hang out in a speakeasy, in order to beat rival school Darwin. Unfortunately, Wagstaff mistakenly hires the misfits Baravelli and Pinky. Finding out that Darwin has beaten him to the "real" players, Wagstaff enlists Baravelli and Pinky to kidnap them, which leads to an anarchic football finale.

Outrageous zany slap stick.

Hot Shots! (1991)  Ace pilot Topper Harley is asked to come back to the Navy for a special assignment (he dropped out to go live with Native Americans after an incident made him doubt his abilities). He has personality conflicts with the other Top Gun, as they are both romantically interested in the same woman. An aerospace company's owner is trying to sabotage the mission so the current fighter jet will be scrapped in favor of his jets.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)  Sherlock Holmes is approached by Dr. Mortimer to assist in protecting the life of his best friend's nephew who is that very day returning to England from Canada. Mortimer's friend, Sir Charles Baskerville, recently died and although the coroner ruled it to be a natural death, the Doctor knows he was being chased by a legendary dog, the Hound of the Baskervilles, that has plagued the Baskerville family for years. Sir Henry Baskerville is Sir Charles' heir and Mortimer is convinced that he will not last long living on moors at Baskerville Hall. Already Sir Henry is facing odd happenings when a single boot is stolen at his hotel. Holmes dispatches his good friend Dr. Watson to accompany the young man to the family estate while he attends to other matters in London. Once there, Sir Henry meets the lovely Beryl Stapleton and her brother John. The servants are acting strangely and when Watson catches one of them signaling to someone on the moor, he thinks he knows who might be involved. Holmes, who has been masquerading as a tramp, has his own ideas however and the solution to the mystery lies in the Baskerville family history.

The House of the Spirits (1993)  Chile, second half of the 20th century. The poor Esteban marries Clara and they get a daughter, Blanca. Esteban works hard and eventually gets money to buy a hacienda, eventually to become a local patriarch. He becomes very conservative and is feared by his workers. When Blanca grows up, she falls in love with a young revolutionary, Pedro, who urges the workers to fight for socialism. It is unavoidable that Pedro and Esteban are pitted against each other. Esteban tries to stop the love affair between Pedro and his daughter by all means possible but soon Blanca becomes pregnant and has a daughter. The void between father and daughter seems unbridgeable when Blanca moves in with Pedro.

Better movie than the critics thought; outstanding book.

HouseSitter (1992)  Davis builds his dream house and presents it to Becky with a proposal of marriage. She turns him down. He leaves the house, still with a ribbon running around it and returns to the city, terribly smitten with Becky. He meets Gwen who has an interesting relationship with the truth. He spends the night with her, but leaves while she is sleeping. She takes his description of the house, searches it out, and moves in. The residents of Davis' home town become curious and she invents a marriage, a courtship, and and an entire history. Davis' parents meet Gwen and are immediately taken with her. By the time Davis finds out what has happened, 2 things have happened, the whole town thinks he's married, and Becky tells him that Gwen has made her see him in a whole new light. Gwen and Davis agree that she can pretend to be his wife and get free rent while Davis works on Becky until they can announce a divorce.

Fun but predictable.  Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn are fun to watch.  See the Out of Towners with them in lead roles again.

How the West Was Won (1962)  Sprawling epic which follows the Prescotts, an emigrant family through four generations, from the Erie Canal in the 1830's to their settled home in the West a half a century later. On the way they encounter river pirates, and escape with the help of fur trapper Linus Rawlings, who subsequently marries one of their daughters, Eve. The parents are drowned on a foundering raft, and the other daughter Lilith becomes a riverboat singer and catches the eye of a genteel adventurer Cleve Van Valen. They cross the plains together in a wagon train and make and lose a fortune in California; meanwhile Linus has turned farmer and, comes the Civil War, joins the Union Army and is killed at the Battle of Shiloh. One of his sons Zeb also joins the army and stays after the war as a cavalry officer and is sent to Colorado to help guard the pioneering railroad against the Indians, whose land they are crossing. By this time Lilith is the elderly lady of the family, having survived long enough to see the dream of settlement realized, but not, mercifully, the aerial shots of the Los Angeles freeway traffic with which the film ends.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)  Benjamin an ad exec is trying to land a big account only his boss thinks that it needs a feminine touch so he considers giving it to a couple of female execs. Benjamin makes a wager with them that he can get a woman to fall in love with him he gets the account and he lets them choose the girl. They choose Andie, a writer for Composure magazine whom they had met earlier whom they learn is doing an article called How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Knowing that she's going to be impossible, they don't tell him that. So Ben tries his best to woo her while does her best to drive him away.

Two classic "bet" stories on a collision course.  Fun to watch.

How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)  Three New York models, Shatze, Pola and Loco set-up in an exclusive appartment with a plan: tired of cheap men and a lack of money they intend to use all their talents to trap and marry three millionaires. The trouble is that's it's not so easy to tell the rich men from the huxters and even when they can, is the money really worth it?

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)  Twenty-seven year old New York window washer J. Pierpont Finch believes he can be a success in the corporate world after he impulsively picks up the book "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". The book promises its reader that he can climb the corporate ladder simply and quickly. The Worldwide Wicket Corporation, the business in the office building whose windows he washes, is, according to the book, the perfect type of business. There, he meets secretary Rosemary Pilkington, who sees in Ponty, as she calls him, an unassuming man whom she believes the corporate world will eat alive. But Ponty, memorizing what the book tells him, does quickly climb the corporate ladder, but not by doing any real work. But Ponty has a few obstacles along the way, such as: Bud Frump, the nephew by marriage of the company president J.B. Biggley, Bud who sees Ponty as a rival; Hedy La Rue.

The play and movie revolve around Finch and how he uses the book.  A book was written that is very, very funny in its own right.

Hud (1963)  Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."

Paul Newman played the part of Hud as a villain. He was later stunned that so many young moviegoers had a poster of Hud and viewed him as their hero.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)  When Waring Hudsucker, head of hugely successful Hudsucker Industries, commits suicide, his board of directors, led by Sidney Mussberger, comes up with a brilliant plan to make a lot of money: appoint a moron to run the company. When the stock falls low enough, Sidney and friends can buy it up for pennies on the dollar, take over the company, and restore its fortunes. They choose idealistic Norville Barnes, who just started in the mail room. Norville is whacky enough to drive any company to ruin, but soon, tough reporter Amy Archer smells a rat and begins an undercover investigation of Hudsucker Industries.

In Barton Fink (also by the Coens) John Goodman played a character who used the alias "Karl Mundt". In this film, John Goodman appears in a cameo as the announcer during the newsreel, and is credited as "Karl Mundt".

The death of Waring Hudsucker was inspired by a real-life incident. On February 3, 1975, Eli Black, the CEO of the United Fruit Company, smashed an office window with his briefcase and jumped to his death from the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building in New York City.

Husbands and Wives (1992)  When Jack and Sally announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe and Judy. Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people.

Hoping to piggyback on the scandal surrounding Woody Allen's break-up with Mia Farrow, TriStar opened the film on 865 screens, the largest amount ever given over to a Woody Allen picture. They were rewarded with an opening weekend of $3.52 million, the biggest ever for an Allen film.

The Hustler (1961)  "Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself?