'Hud'

Paul Newman died this year. Newman, it turns out, dealt with a lot of the same problem that Ray Charles did.

You see, when Newman died, everyone came out of the woodworks and started telling me just how great Newman was and how much of a genius actor and cool guy he was.

Mind you, the previous 20-odd years, no one's said a thing about Newman to me otherwise.

Same with Charles. The guy dies and suddenly I'm preached to about how great he was by people that hadn't mentioned him and who I would've guessed didn't give two bits for Newman or Charles.

I am enjoying these neo-westerns like "Giant," "The Last Picture Show," "Badlands" and "Hud." The music is great, the acting superb, loss of innocence. Generally, these films are about death, mostly the demise of the west and a simpler set of standards in terms of living. It's refreshing that this time existed and was so poignant to the point that we had to keep making movies about it.