It can't be said that the news that actor Gene Hackman died yesterday at the age of 95 was a surprise. The circumstances of his death - he was found dead in his home along with his 65 year old wife of thirty-one years and their dog - may raise some eyebrows, but that is not what is of concern in this space. Rather it is the loss of an actor of extraordinary ability who was terrific in everything he ever did. He was a two time Oscar winner and a five time nominee, and when he was on screen, he dominated just about every scene he was in.
IMDB lists 101 acting credits dating back to 1961 for a movie called "Mad Dog Coll", and, no, I've never heard of it either. His last credit came in a 2004 movie "Welcome to Mooseport", a comedy that I vaguely remember seeing. In between those two gems was a career that would make Hackman, were he a baseball player, a first ballot Hall of Famer.
The first time that I remember seeing Hackman came when he played Buck Barrow, Clyde's brother, in "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967).
Then there was, of course, his Oscar winning role as Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection" (1971).
In 1986, he appeared as high school basketball coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers", which just may be the greatest sports movie ever.
Twenty-one years later, he won Oscar number two in Clint Eastwood's western "Unforgiven" (1992).
He could do comedy, too, as he showed when he played the blind hermit in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" (1974).
Just last week I saw an ad for Netflix announcing that on March 1, they would add the movie "Runaway Jury" (2003) to their streaming library. This was Hackman's second to last film. It is a legal thriller based on a John Grisham novel wherein Hackman plays a high powered NYC attorney defending an Evil Corporation in a civil suit. The attorney for the plaintiff is a folksy country bumpkin attorney played by Dustin Hoffman. It is not an all-time great movie, but it is an above average thriller worth seeing if only to watch two heavyweights like Hackman and Hoffman go up against each other.
(Fun Fact: when the filming of this movie was completed, the filmmakers realized that there was not one scene where Hackman and Hoffman were together in a one-on-one situation. So, a scene was quickly written wherein the two would confront each other alone in a courthouse washroom, and the two actors were called back to work to film the scene pictured above, and it turned to to be the best scene in the entire movie. You can watch that scene HERE.)
Of course, when you look at the list of Gene Hackman's entire filmography, you see so many movies that are absolute classics. I won't try to list them all. I'd run out of space, and I would probably leave out one of YOUR favorite Hackman movies. Looking for something to while away the evenings as winter turns not spring? Check out you DVD library or go to your various streaming services and have yourself a "Gene Hackman Film Festival" right there in your living room. It will be time well spent.
RIP Gene Hackman, a true giant.
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