Flickchart Road Trip: Hud – flickchart: the blog

Hitch up the wagons once more as Flickchart heads up to the northern panhandle of Texas for the Flickchart BBQ Road Trip. It’s a decent drive from the western Panhandle as we’re hoping to make Amarillo by morning and chow down on Tyler’s Barbecue!

Aside from being mentioned in a fairly famous George Strait song, Amarillo is one of the larger cities in Texas, and certainly the largest of the Panhandle. It’s got several nicknames related to the various industries that have taken home there, including Helium Capital of the World, Rotor City, and the Yellow Rose of Texas. The city sprung up in the middle of a multitude of ranches to serve as a cattle-trading center. Originally called Oneida, its name changed due to the yellow wildflowers nearby. The town then switched places after Henry Sanborn bought land higher up to avoid flooding and the town’s residents all moved to the new spot.

The late 1890s turned Amarillo into one of the world’s busiest cattle-shipping points, and the resulting boom in population soon brought other industries. The oil and natural gas found in the area in the early 20th century continued to boost the city’s growth, and the discovery of helium in the 1920s established Amarillo’s unique spot in the Texan economy. Amarillo would be hit hard by the Dust Bowl, though, and then a deadly tornado in the 1940s.

Despite these hardships, Amarillo carried on and became host to an Air Force base. Being in the prairie, the weather in Amarillo is unpredictable, but the city has revitalized its downtown and become fairly prosperous. Tyler’s Barbeque joined the Texas BBQ craze, opening in 2010. While the Panhandle hadn’t previously had any big-name BBQ places, Tyler Frazer has filled the gap. Observant readers may note that Frazer was the pit-master I met back in Jefferson, and I was able to meet and speak with him again here. He spent an hour talking about BBQ with me, and his love for it has made its way into his food as well.

The shining glory of Tyler’s Barbecue is the pork ribs. With a delicious and flavorful glaze, these pork ribs are the best I’ve had in Texas. The meat was succulent and tender, and the layers of flavor made it an excellent morsel. The green beans were a strong side as well, sporting some excellent flavor. I also tried the brisket and sausage. The sausage was decent, nice and springy, thought not a standout compared to some of the other sausages I’ve had. The brisket also sported a nice bark, but lacked a noticeable smoke ring. Still, this was an excellent collection of food.

I award the brisket 4 slices out of 5, the sausage 4 links out of 5, and the pork ribs 5 oinks out of 5! I award Tyler’s Barbecue 4.5 smokers out of 5!

Films set in West Texas (of which the Northern Panhandle is considered a part) all seem to have a running theme of land ownership, times changing, and commentary on those left behind. Like Giant, Hud is set around Texan ranchers as a battle of principles plays out between the old guard and the new. Filmed just 30 miles east of Amarillo in the small town of Claude, it is a perfect fit for Tyler’s Barbeque.

The young guard is portrayed similarly and differently from Giant, here symbolized by Paul Newman‘s Hud. Hud is a rascally fellow, determined to make his mark no matter the harm to others. His father is a deeply principled man, played wonderfully by Melvyn Douglas, and he symbolize an older way of doing things. Caught up in the middle is the Hud’s nephew Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde), who admires both men but soon has to contend with the deep differences the two characters exemplify.

Shot in a stark, yet gorgeous, black-and-white, Hud is almost noir-like at points with it use of shadows and contrasting positive and negative space. This film is perhaps under-discussed about when it comes to great black-and-white cinematography. This becomes a visual symbol of sorts for character conflict that runs throughout the picture.

Two different characters viewpoints are examined throughout, with the film not necessarily siding fully with either view. It helps that you can like both characters, with Newman and Douglas both bringing their own unique charismatic energy. As the film develops and you get further insights into their characters, Hud reveals brilliant depths as we draw towards a tough conclusion.

A lesser film would have been reductionist or one-sided in its portrayal of the ostensibly “honorable” character. Yet the cost of Douglas’s honor is displayed multiple times. Right when you sympathize with Hud, though, he goes and does something thoroughly dishonorable. It’s a film that knows just how to write human beings and hits a sweet spot of nuance. Of course, it ends in a perfectly tragic way that you can see coming, and yet it still leaves you surprised when credits roll.

As an examination of Texan culture, its aims are less ambitious than Giant. All the same, Hud is perhaps an even stronger encapsulation of West Texas, and its simplicity allows it to speak more specifically to the character of man. Interestingly, Paul Newman used the same voice coach that James Dean used in Giant. Hud is a wonderfully Texan film and a perfect fit for this series.

Does anyone eat barbecue in the film?

No BBQ lunches in this one.

Texas Film Chart

1. The Last Picture Show
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Rushmore
4. A Ghost Story
5. Hud
6. Blood Simple
7. The Tree of Life
8. Boyhood
9. Paris, Texas
10. The Right Stuff
11. Lone Star
12. Chef
13. Bernie
14. Giant
15. Apollo 13
16. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
17. Leadbelly
18. Krisha
19. Tender Mercies
20. Dazed and Confused
21. Dallas Buyer’s Club
22. JFK
23. The Sugarland Express
24. Terms of Endearment
25. Urban Cowboy
26. American Violet
27. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
28. Planet Terror
29. Frank
30. Whip It
31. Natural Selection
32. This is Where We Live
33. The Junction Boys
34. The Alamo
35. Song to Song
36. Outlaw Blues
37. Selena
38. Nadine

Texas BBQ Chart

1. Franklin Barbecue
2. Pinkerton’s Barbecue
3. Killen’s Barbecue
4. Terry Black’s Barbecue
5. Pecan Lodge
6. Stiles Switch BBQ
7. Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ
8. Hutchins Barbeque
9. Joseph’s Riverport Bar-B-Que
10. Pody’s BBQ
11. Tyler’s Barbeque
12. Blue Moon BBQ
13. Corkscrew BBQ
14. 2M Smokehouse
15. Vera’s Backyard Bar-B-Que
16. La Barbecue
17. Hays Co. Bar-B-Que
18. Roegels Barbecue
19. Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue
20. Smolik’s Smokehouse
21. Louie Mueller Barbecue
22. Miller’s Smokehouse
23. Lockhart Smokehouse
24. Heim Barbecue
25. Truth Barbeque
26. Fargo’s Pit BBQ
27. Gatlin’s BBQ
28. City Market
29. Baker Boys BBQ
30. Kreuz Meat Market
31. Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ
32. Micklethwait Craft Meats
33. Payne’s Bar-B-Q Shak
34. The Pit Room
35. Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
36. The Smoking Oak
37. Heavy’s BBQ
38. Harris Bar-B-Que