The news of Gene Hackman’s passing was an undeniable tragedy.
This was, after all, a man who had contributed so much to the world of cinema through performances that seemed both challenging and extremely comfortable. While he had not performed in a movie since 2004’s “Welcome to Mooseport,” an inglorious final role if there ever was one, there was always the idea that he could come back – would come back – if the character was too good to pass up. (Famously, he was courted to be in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” in 2011, starring alongside his “The Firm” costar Tom Cruise, in a role that eventually went to an uncredited Tom Wilkinson.)
These are 11 performances that immediately sprang to mind when we heard of Hackman’s death. We could make it twice as long – maybe three times as long – without breaking a sweat. (Yes, we know that he was nominated for an Oscar for “Mississippi Burning.”) The list of sterling performances from the master goes on and on. This is just a sample. Use it as a guide or maybe a starting point. The worlds of Hackman are infinite.
“Bonnie and Clyde” (1967)
Gene Hackman’s first Oscar nomination came just six years after his first big screen credit. In Arthur Penn’s incendiary “Bonnie and Clyde,” Hackman played Buck Barrow – Clyde’s older brother and gets some of the very best scenes. It speaks to Hackman’s versatility and his ability to dazzle even that early in his career, in scenes where he could be funny and scary, switching back and forth in the blink of an eye. (He also gets a wonderful scene where he tells a very funny joke to Warren Beatty.) Hackman would be nominated once more in the supporting actor category (for “I Never Sang for My Father”).
“The French Connection” (1971)
“The time is right for an out-and-out thriller like this.” So read the original theatrical poster for William Friedkin’s masterpiece “The French Connection.” The lore behind the film suggests that Friedkin did not want to cast Hackman as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, which is insane in hindsight. Not only did Hackman bring the character to life in a way that is dynamic and unforgettable (he would reprise the role in the far iffier, more forgettable sequel), but his grizzled performance would win him the Oscar for Best Actor. Oddly, in recent years the performance had been tamed down on streaming. If you want the full, uncut Popeye Doyle you have to find an earlier Blu-ray release.
“The Conversation” (1974)
Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,” which he made in between the first and second “Godfather” films, might be his greatest accomplishment – a taut, tightly wound thriller with a powerhouse Hackman performance at the center. Hackman plays Harry Caul, a surveillance specialist who is hired by a mysterious client and soon realizes he is in very much in over his head. Almost unbearably tense, “The Conversation” is one of Coppola’s true masterpieces and it relies almost exclusively on Hackman’s capable shoulders. How this failed to net him another Oscar nomination is beyond us. (If you have not seen it, Lionsgate just put out a wonderful 4K box set.) What’s more – Hackman would revisit the character (sort of) years later in “Enemy of the State.” More on that in a minute…
“Hoosiers” (1986)
Another movie you could have sworn Hackman was at least nominated for was 1986’s basketball drama “Hoosiers.” Incredibly, he was not, but Dennis Hopper did get a nod as the town drunk (who obviously loves basketball). Hackman plays a high school basketball coach with a traumatic past, who whips a young team into shape in the 1950s. “Hoosiers” is full of inspirational sports movie drama, aided greatly by the sunny Jerry Goldsmith score (which earned an Oscar nomination too), but its Hackman’s performance that keeps it from ever going into schmaltzy territory. His character, so believable and so earthy, makes you root for him (and the team) without you ever feeling bad about it.
“Unforgiven” (1992)
The 1990s was another golden era for Hackman, who began the decade with a role in “Postcards from the Edge” and Peter Hyams’ underrated “Narrow Margin” remake and, of course, his dazzling performance in Clint Eastwood’s masterpiece “Unforgiven,” which would earn him an Oscar for supporting actor. Hackman played Sheriff “Little” Bill Daggett, a man who lets a couple of dangerous men off the hook after one of them disfigures a local prostitute. The prostitutes band together and hire an aging gunman (Eastwood) to make things right; he travels to the town and aims to hold them accountable. While Hackman’s character is not directly responsible for the attack, he allowed it to happen and for the men responsible to go largely unpunished. His final showdown with Eastwood is one of the great scenes of the decade. He earned that Academy Award.
“The Firm” (1993)
Here is a fun fact: Gene Hackman starred in three John Grisham adaptations. But his first (“The Firm”) is still the best. Hackman plays the villainous head of a Memphis law firm whose perks a young lawyer Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) finds out are too good to be true. (The firm is representing the Chicago mafia.) Oily and utterly charming, Hackman is clearly having the time of his life, as both the big bad and Mitch’s well-intentioned mentor. “The Firm” was released a few weeks after he won the Oscar for “Unforgiven.” This was not exactly a challenging role but he more than lived up to expectations, as part of a starry constellation of supporting performances (including Holly Hunter, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook and many, many more). And not to leave you hanging, the other two based-on-a-Grisham-book movies Hackman appeared in were 1996’s “The Chamber” and 2003’s “Runaway Jury,” one of his final performances.
“Crimson Tide” (1995)
Talk about a performance – and a movie – utterly elevated by the quality of the lead performances. In “Crimson Tide” Hackman plays a hardened Captain of a nuclear submarine who meets his match when a young Lieutenant Commander (Denzel Washington) challenges his authority during a particularly tense period. Movies like this have been made before (there is an entire section, likely written by uncredited script doctor Quentin Tarantino, about previous submarine movies) but Washington and Hackman’s performances, plus director Tony Scott’s muscular direction, really turn “Crimson Tide” into something of a modern classic. They just do not make movies like this anymore, and they definitely do not make movie stars like Hackman.
“The Birdcage” (1996)
Hackman was an underrated comedic performer – people forget that he was in “Young Frankenstein,” after all, and just a year before “The Birdcage” he was terrific in Barry Sonnenfeld’s “Get Shorty.” But “The Birdcage” is perhaps his best comedic performance. It helps that he reteamed with his “Postcards from the Edge” director Mike Nichols for the Americanized version of French farce “La Cage aux Folles,” with Hackman playing a straight-laced Republican senator who discovers that his daughter (Calista Flockhart) is marrying into a family that is run by two gay men (Robin Williams and Nathan Lane). “The Birdcage” is so over-the-top and so of-its-time, but it’s a testament to Nichols and his collaborators (including screenwriter Elaine May and, of course, Hackman) that it never devolves into gay panic. And the final scene, where Williams and Lane sneak Hackman out of the club that they own in drag, is an all-timer. Such joy!
“Enemy of the State” (1998)
Hackman reteamed with his “Crimson Tide” director Tony Scott for “Enemy of the State,” where he was allowed to play an older version of his character from “The Conversation.” This time he is attempting to help Will Smith, who plays a young lawyer under siege from the surveillance state. This is a much jazzier, more action-packed riff on “The Conversation,” and it’s lovely to see Hackman slip back into a very similar character’s shoes with ease. (Even if the casting decision only really registered for deep cut film nerds.) And, crucially, it gives the character a happy ending. It’s easy to overlook “Enemy of the State” in Hackman’s filmography and it speaks volumes to just how good he is that you might pass by it if scanning his IMDb page. It’s a wonderful performance, warm, funny and brickly all at the same time, and a testament to his effortless power as an actor.
“Antz” (1998)
Hackman’s lone vocal performance in an animated feature was for DreamWorks Animation’s inaugural feature – 1998’s “Antz.” And that alone gets it a spot on this list. Hackman voices General Mandible, a hardened general who is leading a war with the ants going up against the termites. He is doing his Hackman thing, calling on previous performances like “Hoosiers” and “Crimson Tide,” but it’s an absolute delight in any case. And the movie, which was largely seen as the redheaded stepchild to Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” (“Antz” was rushed into theaters, mostly to beat “A Bug’s Life”), holds up well today with its themes of authoritarianism and group think.
“The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001)
Hackman’s greatest final performance was in Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums,” playing the titular matriarch whose oddball children (Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller) return home later in life. Anderson joked that he had written the character for Hackman “against his wishes” and, once on set, Hackman infamously clashed with Anderson, often second guessing him. (One famous story involves a shot where Anderson had purposefully blocked Hackman to obscure the Statue of Liberty, which Hackman did not understand.) But all of that strife does not show up on screen. Hackman is larger than life, perfectly fitting into the oversized world that Anderson had meticulously crafted, but still warm and loving and understandable. He might be a bad dad. But what a performance.
