“Long live The Hud” is what the grey suited, morose, chairmen of Hudsucker industries chant after they witness their President, Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning) fall to his death by jumping off the top floor of their building (“Not counting the mezzanine”). Meanwhile, down below, a naive young man named Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), fresh off the turnip truck enters the very same building, as soon as Hudsucker’s falling body reaches the pavement. Just like that, Norville’s climb to success will be almost as fast as Waring Hudsucker’s fateful fall.
The Hudsucker Proxy is a film that should be put in a shrine with other unfortunate gems of cinema that have been overlooked and underwatched . It is a part of that long line of cult movies which are worshipped and adored by the few who truly understand its greatness. Since 1994, the cult of The Hudsucker Proxy have been waiting patiently for people to come around to see the film for what it is: A masterpiece. I, as the leader of this cult must plead the case for it is important that the word of The Hud must be heard.
The Hudsucker Proxy doesn’t mince words to tell us what it’s all about. It’s a simple fable about the rise and fall of an opportunist, a man with a dream, and how he is exploited, framed, and ultimately redeemed. It’s the type of story that has been done many times, both in comedy, and in dramas throughout movie history. It doesn’t get old because the idea of a man coming from nothing and becoming a success is always great fodder for feel good movie making.
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Yet The Hudsucker Proxy almost perverses this idea by maximizing its tropes and exaggerating it to the tenth degree. It borrows from sentimental Frank Capra plots like Mr Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe, yet piles on a dose of cynicism those films fought against. The hero is no longer a naive, noble hero, but a dimwitted simpleton who gets lucky.
This simpleton is Norville, a recent graduate of Muncie Indiana business school and he’s a man with ideas. He gets his job at Hudsucker Industries hoping to work his way up from the mailroom. One such idea he shares that will revolutionize the company is a hand drawn sketch of a circle, to which every time he shows it to someone he says, “You know, for kids”.
It’s a baffling idea which makes Norville look like a buffoon, especially to the company’s Vice President, Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman). Mussburger makes Norville the President as a way for the company to lose confidence from his investors. Sidney’s scheme is hoping the stocks for the company will drop, and he’ll be able to buy it cheap when it goes public.
Yet things don’t really work out as planned, for the little circle drawing of Norville’s actually turns out to be something that is hilariously simple yet profitable for the company. He is deemed a genius overnight and soon becomes a liability for Mussberger.
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There is also a love story as most of these films don’t often exist without one. This one is taken straight out of the screwball comedy playbook with a Pulitzer prize winning reporter named Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who goes undercover as Norville’s secretary to get the full scoop on the boy wonder to expose him as a fraud. Naturally, Amy falls in love with his hometown sensibilities, and she starts having second thoughts about the story. She also becomes the voice of reason once Norville’s success gets to his head.
The Hudsucker Proxy is a film that really wants to show off. It seems like it’s in love with its own filmmaking, and it wants you to appreciate it too. Everything is meant to look brilliant and sound brilliant, and the joke is how it’s not afraid to act stupid. It’s probably no coincidence that this film was created by the Coen Brothers, who act like charlatans when it comes to sincerity. People have accused them of sacrificing any emotional connection with gag filled scenes and cinematic flare.
The Hudsucker Proxy may be the hardest film of theirs to crack since everything is heightened to such a ridiculous degree, it’s hard to take anything seriously. There isn’t a sane person to be found in this film, yet that is the style. Everything from the acting, to the production design, and the madcap pacing points less towards anything that smacks of realism, and more to a live action cartoon.
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The cast is game to follow suit. Tim Robbins got his start playing a not so bright pitcher in Bull Durham, but he cranks it up a notch here. As Norville, Robbins plays it sweet, naive, and clumsy. He remains likable to us since he has an incorruptible spirit. As Mussburger, Paul Newman is having a ball. In a legendary career full of iconic characters, Newman was never the cigar chomping villain, but his older and grizzled voice works wonders here.
While Robbins and Newman are terrific, I want to take a moment and shine a light on Jennifer Jason Leigh who, in my opinion walks away with the film. As Amy Archer, Leigh goes all in and somehow evokes Katherine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Arthur, and Rosalind Russell all in one. Not only that but Amy Archer also works as a deconstruction of those gal Friday types, women who are tough on the outside, but insecure about losing their femininity. She is trying to be a woman in a man’s world, which means she has to be ten times tougher and stronger than the rest of them.
The dialogue of the film sings. The Coens’ script (co-written along with Sam Raimi), has their actors move in a rhythm in an effortless ballet. Watch any Coen Brothers film, and you will see why they are the best dialogue writers in the business. It isn’t enough that every word captures the essence of the period, but the mood of the piece as well. They can pump it up, or tone it down to their heart’s content. It’s enough to watch more than once just so you can catch every joke, double entendre, or zing in the film.
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The production design pulls out all the stops. This was the first film The Coens received a decent budget with a large studio behind them, and they made sure to put it all on the screen. The New York city scape feels dreamlike, particularly the Hudsucker building which hangs like a beacon throughout the film. Add to that, a playful, yet haunting score by composer Carter Burwell, and ravishing cinematography, you have one of the Brothers’ best looking and sounding films.
But you may ask, does this all work? I say it does all work in spite of itself. There are certain films that reach the apex of idiocy that become brilliant. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the Coens are natural born storytellers. They can make reading the phone book feel like American myth, and so they have with the fateful story of Norville Barnes and his circular invention. This is an American story told through the lens that all Americans are crazy and they crave the next big thing to buy. That’s how capitalism works, and the Coens show with their film that people often underestimate the idiot in the room. But maybe they’re all idiots.
The Hudsucker Proxy proved to be a folly when it was released in 1994. Not many people cared about it. The title is admittedly a bit of an anomaly. I can imagine theatre goers perplexed by the name Hudsucker, let alone the film itself, if they got that far. Yet the film has remained a cult favorite for people who bother with it. That’s what you might say with practically every Coen Brothers film, each one with their own group of supporters and detractors.
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For me, The Hudsucker Proxy remains special. Looking back at the year 1994, I put it as the top film of that year. I would also claim it to be one of my very favourite comedies, which never ceases to astonish and tickle me to no end. It’s furious pace reminds one of the Marx Brothers movies, which also had a side of subversion, lunacy, and anarchy. That’s what this film feels like.
It’s in your face, it makes you pay attention, it shoves cinema down your throat, but it’s never pretentious in doing so. It is a film made by people who love the movies, and they want you to love them as much as they do.
The Hudsucker Proxy is available to stream now on Amazon.
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