70 thoughts on “Gene Hackman Movies”

1. In my mid eighties now I don’t do a lot of posting these days as my fingers can start to hurt pretty quickly. So I usually only hit the keyboards when I have something I really, really want to say. Then I live with the discomfort for a while.

   Maybe my scaling-back is just as well: remember the guy in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray who was once the life and soul of every party or social gathering he attended (and those were in high society).

   At the age of 35 he suddenly withdrew into himself and was largely silent wherever he went. Lord Henry Wotton explains to Dorian: “At 35 he came to the conclusion that he had already said everything worth saying!”

   However I can rarely resist writing about a certain handful of screen performers when an occasion commends itself – Dirk Bogarde, Glenn Ford, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Alan Ladd and a guy named Al Leach from Bristol, England for example.

   And a few others: there are many good actors, many even greater actors – then there is Gene – a 5 star guy in a 0-4 star survey! I simply had to express my admiration of him a mark of respect in this time of his tragic passing. So this is my 4th post about him in the past 7 days (2 each at my favourite outlets: Cogerson on the internet and my local Amateur Film Buff’s club).

   Only 4 Hollywood movie greats are among the Time magazine’s100 Greatest People of the 20th Century, which comprises the cream from all walks of life – geniuses like Albert Einstein, sportsmen such as Muhammad Ali and politicians such as America’s JFK and FDR and Britain’s Margaret Thatcher.
   The 4 Hollywood Greats picked by Time are in rank-order Sinatra (as a singer) Brando (as an actor) Chaplin (as a comedian and silent star) and Monroe (as a sex symbol and who coincidentally was Brando’s one-time lover in real-life).

   In short the, the Time survey opined that in the 20th century Sinatra was Hollywood’s most impactful performer per se and Brando its greatest actor as such. Jack Nicholson concurs with the latter when he said “Brando gave us our freedom. Anyone who doesn’t see him as the greatest American actor ever knows nothing about acting!” (Possibly one such person will be mentioned by me shortly – and a professional critic at that!)

   Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon both agree with Jack; and Deborah Kerr said in an interview: “I don’t really bother much with writing fan letters. Indeed the only movie star I ever wrote one to is Marlon Brando – he was on the set of Sayonara (1957) at the time.”

   Martin Scorsese -himself just labelled “The Greatest filmmaker of all time” – has said openly “There is before Brando and there is after Brando. HE is the marker. At times I used to lie awake at night and wonder when he would next appear and in what role!”

   Indeed Martin and George Lucas spent two years and their own money restoring Brando’s only directorial effort – 1961’s One Eyed Jacks, in which Marlon also starred. Martin then took it on a tour of theatres, appearing on stage to talk about it.

   About 40 years ago Dustin Hoffman wrote a preface to a book about great actors and he said. “When I am asked to write or talk about our greatest of thespians there is one MUST for a mention – Marlon Brando: had there been no Brando the rest of us today probably would never have been fashionable, or even made it.”
   Hoffman’s comments on certain other actors in that preface were insightful in their analysis-unlike critical appraisals in some other books. One author for example didn’t seem to have the confidence that he personally had the greatest of powers of verbal expression as he relied on awarding gimmicky stars for performances.

   I forget HIS name now but if I recall it I’ll maybe mention it sometime on Cogerson if the old fingers feel up to it – it’s a strange long-winded name, I think.

   Anyway fast forward until today and Dustin is among other greats like Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood and Francis Coppola who have come out in tribute to Gene; so this is Hoffman’s very latest appraisal of where Gene falls in the parade of great actors who have graced our screens since movies were invented:

   “I saw him as an exceptional actor from the start. But even then it was a while before I recognised the actual GENUIS that he was. In that respect only Marlon Brando compares with him. Even the obvious greatness masked further hidden depths.”

   Within the context of what I have said above it should be clear that Dustin – and indeed probably no actor from HIS generation – could have paid Gene a higher compliment. Certainly it would have pleased Gene because he confessed that the reason HE did 1978’s Superman The Movie was because Marlon was in it.

   Apart from great dramatic range and depth Gene had also a flair for comedy and even some of his routine utterances could be said in a disarmingly delicious funny style of delivery.

   For example in the Superman movie just mentioned Gene as evil Lex Luther has devised a scheme to use explosives to blow a fault-line in California to make a fortune from land speculation.

   He sets off on his mission leaving Superman imprisoned in a pool of Kryptonite and as he goes out the door Gene says “Sorry to leave you like this, but everybody does have their faults: mine’s in California!” and then of course we get that unique devilish and sarcastic Hackman signature chuckle!

   However, whilst 1986’s Best Shot (US title Hoosiers) is my all time fave Hackman movie, my personal single greatest Hackman SCENE was in a probably long-forgotten little movie 1977’s The Domino Principle. That’s because Gene shares the scene with Richard Widmark, another great actor but my own personal top favourite for sheer entertainment value (sorry Duke, apologies Archie!)

   Hackman is a hit man for a shady criminal cabal and Widmark is its front man. Hackman, Widmark and others in the plot have a number of meeting in which one of their clique , a snooty pompous and patronising individual keeps rubbing Gene up the wrong way.

   After one clash Widmark takes Gene aside and says “Look, I know he’s a pain in the *** and we all feel that way. But he’s such an intellectual genius that we don’t tangle with him.”

   To which tough guy killer Hackman replies “Well keep him away from me because I don’t care how clever he is – I’ll squash him like a bug if he keeps trying to put me down with his comments!” Boy how those words from Gene have always stayed with me in the way he made them leap out of the screen – vintage Hackman!”

   AFTERTHOUGHTS
   1/Widmark along with Burt Lancaster and Brando are the only great stars from the OLD DAYS that I can immediately recall swearing on the big screen (in later movies of course-“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” -L P Hartley, The Go Between 1953). )

   In 1991’s Other People’s Money, Danny DeVito’s lines virtually consisted of 4-letter words; and even the dainty heroine, the young then 27 year old Penelope Ann Miller, turned the air blue at times.

   Indeed virtually the only two who didn’t swear were the golden oldies and soulmates in the movie Greg Peck and Piper Laurie.** Piper did let her hair down in that respect on TV in certainly a 1999 episode of the sitcom Frasier called “Dr Nora”; but it would not have done for Greg’s female soulmate in a movie to swear; and clearly he didn’t go to the same school as Willis, DeNiro and Pesci later went to.

   **Greg and Piper in the movie were great fans of former US President Harry Truman and his wife Bess, so Peck and Laurie’s characters in the movie nicknamed each other Bess and Harry!

   Come on guys – Greg Peck cursing on screen would not have been the Greg we knew- so leave us connoisseurs of the classic era some hallowed ground that you don’t desecrate. The movies would have been a poorer place without the Gregory Peck that we grew up with. Other’s People’s Money was Greg’ last significant performance in a big screen movie and him spewing out a lot of Willis-speak would have been a sad swan song. You old guys and gals – hold the line as long as you can!

   2/Gene and Dustin Hoffman appeared together in 2003’s Runaway Jury. Very enjoyable. It was Gene’s penultimate movie

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2. RIP Gene Hackman. One of the greats.

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3. Super sad news. I loved him as hardboiled Popeye Doyle and the outrageous scoundrel Royal Tenenbaum. What an actor.

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4. Great actor. So Sad
   RIP

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5. February 27th 6 AM. Ouch. The passing of Gene Hackman is hitting me hard. WoC woke me up this morning and said you need to wake up and update UMR. Then she told me the tragic news of Hackman, his wife and his dog dying. Rest in peace Mr. Hackman. Your movies have meant so much to me. Sad sad news.

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   1. Sorry, Cogerson. You have responsibilities.

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