To all her roles, good and indifferent, Patricia Neal brings a sense of quiet excitement that speeds the circulation of contemplative men. This year, for playing Alma, the housekeeper in Hud, she has been nominated for an Oscar as the best actress of 1963. It is a really fine performance, credibly raw, with a sense of inviolable worth beneath the rough skin of her hands and the drawn exhaustion of her face. As in her earlier films, she coolly suggests prodigious experience with few scars. Her mahogany voice manages to create an air of sex without regret. Her steady...
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