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The death of screen legend Gene Hackman, whose remains were discovered along with those of his wife and their dog at their New Mexico home, has stunned the film industry and the iconic actor’s fans around the world. He was 95.
Hackman retired from acting over 20 years ago – his final film credit being 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport – and spent his remaining years co-authoring novels and living reclusively in Santa Fe.
A former US Marine who stood 6’2”, the burly Hackman excelled at playing complicated men, often authority figures, of dubious morality. His performances were always richly textured and emotionally authentic, whether it was in quiet, intimate moments or blistering blowouts opposite some of cinema’s biggest stars.
Over his five decade-long career, Gene Hackman always told the truth on screen. Here are his 20 most memorable films in order of release:
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Director: Arthur Penn
This true crime classic was Gene Hackman’s breakthrough role as a film actor and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for his role as Clyde Barrow’s (Warren Beatty) older brother, Buck. While much of the film’s legacy is about its romanticization of criminals and its groundbreaking depiction of brutal violence – that gory as hell ending! – Hackman lends the film much needed humor and humanity in his portrayal of Buck, who is as gregarious and jokey as he is tough and ruthless when needed.
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
Director: Gilbert Cates
Based on the play of the same name, this drama follows the complicated relationship between college professor Gene Garrison (Gene Hackman) and his aging father Tom (Melvyn Douglas) whose hold over his son’s life comes to a head when Gene plans to move to California. Gene craves his father’s love and approval but grapples with the conclusion that he may never get it. I Never Sang for My Father landed Hackman his second Oscar nomination and reteamed him with actress Estelle Parsons, who played his sister here and his wife in Bonnie & Clyde.
The French Connection (1971)
Director: William Friedkin
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It's been over fifty years since this seminal police procedural was released but its influence on cop movies and shows remains strong. This fact-based tale follows NYPD narcs "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman, in his first Oscar-winning role) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) as they methodically hunt down a French crimelord (Fernando Rey) and his stateside Mafia accomplices (including movie mobster-for-life Tony Lo Bianco). This Best Picture winner boasts compelling characters, an engrossing story, and still-exciting action sequences (including that legendary car chase). This film remains a tribute to the hard-living street cops and their often lonely war against crime.
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Director: Ronald Neame
The granddaddy of modern disaster epics, this classic created the formula that would be used by subsequent disaster flicks: an all-star cast, high concept reason for the disaster, and a societal cross-section of characters’ desperate race to survive. The titular luxury ocean liner is on its final voyage when a tsunami overturns it on New Year’s Day. Revered Frank Scott (Gene Hackman), an unorthodox minister, becomes the de facto leader of the survivors. His final scene screaming to God is among the most memorable and human moments in the film. Hackman’s co-stars here included Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters (who scored an Oscar nom), Leslie Nielsen, and Roddy McDowall.
Prime Cut (1972)
Director: Michael Ritchie
The indomitable Lee Marvin plays Nick, an enforcer for the Irish mob in Chicago who arrives in the boonies of Kansas to investigate the disappearance of one of his associates. This gangster had been sent to Kansas City to deal with a mobbed-up farmer named Mary Ann (Gene Hackman). Mary Ann runs a slaughterhouse and, well, that missing associate ended up being ground into sausage! Mary Ann and his equally nasty brother also run a sex slave/prostitution ring out of this slaughterhouse, pimping out drugged-up runaways like Sissy Spacek (in her film debut). Naturally, Nick ends up in a violent conflict with Mary Ann and his rednecks, and tries to save Spacek's character along the way.
Scarecrow (1973)
Director: Jerry Schatzberg
This road dramedy brought together Al Pacino and Gene Hackman just as their stars began to shine brightest. It follows two ne’er-do-wells – ex-con Max (Hackman) and the simple “Lion” (Pacino) – who meet in California and eventually decide to open a car wash business together when they reach Pittsburgh. Along the way, both men undergo profound changes, with the gruff Max finding his kinder, gentler side even as Lion’s fate grows more tragic.
The Conversation (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
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This haunting thriller features what is arguably Gene Hackman's finest screen performance. He brilliantly underplays his role as withdrawn, paranoid surveillance expert Harry Caul who is hired to tape a conversation between a seemingly benign couple (Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest) that soon sounds like a murder plot. Fearing that his enigmatic corporate benefactor, "The Director" (Robert Duvall), will kill this young couple, Caul becomes conflicted and refuses to hand over his tapes to the Director. The truth, however, is not quite what it seems.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Director: Mel Brooks
Gene Hackman is only in one scene but it’s a classic. He plays Harold, a blind old man who does his best to show hospitality to Peter Boyle’s creature only for it to all go hilariously awry. In a comedy full of iconic lines and gags brought to life by stellar performers like Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, and Madeline Kahn, Hackman made a meal – a nice bowl of soup! – out of every brief moment he got on screen here.
Night Moves (1975)
Director: Arthur Penn
Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a private eye who accepts the task of locating an aging Hollywood starlet's (Janet Ward) spoiled daughter (Melanie Griffith) who has run away. Harry takes this seemingly easy gig to escape marital strife (wife Susan Clark is two-timing him). Harry's investigation leads him to the Florida Keys and to the realization that there's far more going on here than some little rich girl who flew the coop. Harry soon finds himself ensnared in a web of murder and corruption. One of the most unappreciated films of the 1970s, Night Moves helped re-define the detective genre of the era along with Chinatown and The Long Goodbye.
Superman (1978)
Director: Richard Donner
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Along with Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman was the other "big name" in Warner Brothers' first big-screen take on the Man of Steel (Christopher Reeve). As Superman's diabolical yet droll nemesis, evil genius Lex Luthor, Hackman sneered, smirked and schemed his way through what would eventually be three Superman films. Purists may still be peeved that Hackman's Luthor wasn't quite like his comic book counterpart but for a generation of filmgoers Hackman IS Lex Luthor.
Hoosiers (1986)
Director: David Anspaugh
This fact-based drama about a small-town Indiana basketball team in the 1950s stars Gene Hackman as Norman Dale, who gets another shot when he's hired to coach a high school team. In the face of resistance from both his team and the town, Dale inspires his players and leads them to the state championship. While most of the press around the film was framed as a comeback for Dennis Hopper – who snagged an Oscar nom for his supporting role as the recovering alcoholic assistant coach – Hackman’s sincerity and commanding performance is key to making this feel-good but familiar story work so well.
No Way Out (1987)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, and Sean Young star in this loose remake of the Film Noir classic, The Big Clock. Costner, a Navy hero assigned to the Pentagon, is having a fling with an amorous D.C. socialite (Young). When she's killed by her other lover, who happens to be the Secretary of Defense (Hackman), Costner realizes he'll become the prime suspect in her murder if their affair is uncovered. Hackman and his insanely devoted aide (Will Patton) concoct an alibi that blames Young's murder on a near mythic Soviet mole allegedly operating within the Pentagon. What they set in motion, however, proves that this Soviet mole indeed exists and is much closer to them than they realize.
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Director: Alan Parker
This still-controversial Oscar-nominated film stars Gene Hackman as Anderson, a no-nonsense Southern career FBI agent, and Willem Dafoe as his by-the-book partner Ward. They're investigating the disappearance (and murder) of three Civil Rights activists in a brutally racist Mississippi town. It leads them to the KKK and to the town sheriff's wife (Frances McDormand) who knows more than she can reveal. Critics slammed Mississippi Burning for altering history and for making white FBI agents the heroes of the Civil Rights story, while admirers of the film credit the performances – Hackman earned a Best Actor nom – and its visceral depiction of the Deep South.
Unforgiven (1992)
Director: Clint Eastwood
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This Best Picture-winning Western ponders the consequences of violence and serves as a somber reflection on its director-star’s bloodsoaked cinematic legacy. William Munny (Eastwood) was a murderous outlaw until his late wife cured him "of drink and wickedness." Now an unsuccessful farmer caring for two children, Will reluctantly agrees to pick up his guns again to collect a bounty on a pair of cowpokes who disfigured a prostitute in the town of Big Whiskey. In the end, Will returns to his ultra-violent ways after the nasty sheriff of Big Whiskey, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), kills Will’s old saddlepal Ned (Morgan Freeman). William Munny proceeds to show Big Whiskey why he was such a feared man when he finally confronts Little Bill and his goons. Unforgiven won Hackman – who initially turned down the film because of its violence – his second and final Oscar.
The Firm (1993)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Tom Cruise stars in this hit adaptation of the John Grishman bestseller as Mitch McDeere, a Harvard Law hotshot recruited into a Memphis firm he discovers is mobbed up. Gene Hackman plays Avery Tolar, Mitch’s mentor whose personal corruption epitomizes the moral rot eating away at the Firm. Hackman could find humanity even in the murkiest of characters. Case in point: his final scene with Abby, Mitch’s wife, where gets a chance to maybe do at least one good thing.
Crimson Tide (1995)
Director: Tony Scott
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Essentially Mutiny on the Bounty set aboard a nuclear sub, Denzel Washington plays Lt. Commander Hunter, the stalwart first officer of the USS Alabama, which the stern Captain Ramsey (Gene Hackman) commands. Their relationship deteriorates to the point where Hunter is forced to try and take over the vessel from Ramsey after it appears that Russian rebels are preparing to nuke the U.S. (Look for young Viggo Mortensen and James Gandolfini in supporting roles.) Quentin Tarantino did a rewrite of the script, which explains why there’s a Silver Surfer speech in an otherwise straightforward Cold War thriller.
Get Shorty (1995)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, John Travolta stars as Chili Palmer, a mobster and film buff who comes to L.A. to collect a debt from schlock movie director Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) only to end up becoming a natural born Hollywood producer. Hackman usually played the toughest guy in the room so part of the humor and charm here is seeing his character be roughed up and vulnerable. The hit comedy – which also starred Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Denis Farina, and James Gandolfini – later spawned a sequel and TV series.
The Birdcage (1996)
Director: Mike Nichols
A retelling of the French comedy La Cage aux Folles, Robin Williams and Nathan Lane star here as Armand and Albert Goldman, a gay couple who feign being heterosexual when meeting their son’s conservative future in-laws, Senator Keeley (Hackman) and Louise (Diane Wiest). The moralizing Keeley is perplexed when he learns the truth that these two men are gay and married – although he hopes it doesn’t affect their votes. In the end, the Goldmans are able to save Keeley from the hounding media by dressing him in drag and escorting him through their club, the titular Birdcage. If you ever wanted to see Robin Williams and Gene Hackman dance to “We Are Family” then The Birdcage has got you covered.
Enemy of the State (1998)
Director: Tony Scott
Gene Hackman reunited with Crimson Tide’s Tony Scott for this thriller, with Hackman essentially reprising his paranoid surveillance expert role from Coppola's The Conversation. Will Smith stars as labor attorney Robert Clayton Dean who teams with "Brill" (Hackman) after being framed by a crooked government agent (Jon Voight) and his goons (including Barry Pepper, Scott Caan, and Jack Black). Dean and Brill must outwit the shady Feds as they piece together the truth.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Director: Wes Anderson
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A family of geniuses, the Tenenbaums, reunite to deal with the return of their patriarch, the obnoxious (disbarred) attorney Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman). Having long been shunned by his family for his callous and patronizing manner, Royal returns home with tragic news: he's been diagnosed with stomach cancer and has only six weeks to live. With his time running out, Royal tries atoning for his past failings as a husband and father and hopes to forge new friendships with his family. But will the other Tenenbaums bury the hatchet? And is there more to Royal's return than just illness? The cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Luke and Owen Wilson, and Bill Murray.
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