Gene Hackman Movies

Gene Hackman in 1986's Hoosiers
Gene Hackman in 1986’s Hoosiers

Want to know the best Gene Hackman movies?  How about the worst Gene Hackman movies?  Curious about Gene Hackman’s box office grosses or which Gene Hackman movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Gene Hackman movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Do you realize that it has been sixteen years since we last saw a new Gene Hackman movie? Growing up it seemed like every movie either starred Hackman or Michael Caine. I find it sad that we might have seen the last new Gene Hackman movie. This page will look at all of Hackman’s 76 movies that he made over a forty year span….1964-2004.

Gene Hackman (1930-) he was nominated for five Oscars® for acting (winning twice) and eight Golden Globe® awards (winning three times). He first came to fame in 1967 with his Oscar® nominated performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde. He received his second Oscar® nomination for 1970’s I Never Sang for My Father. His role as Popeye Doyle, in The French Connection, won him his first Oscar® and solidified his status as a movie star. The rest of the 1970s would see him appear in the blockbuster hits…. The Poseidon Adventure, Young Frankenstein, A Bridge Too Far, and Superman. The 1980’s saw him return to his Lex Luthor role in Superman II, star in one of the best sports movie ever….. Hoosiers.  He earned his 4th Oscar® nomination for Mississippi Burning and play the bad guy in No Way Out.

By 1990 Hackman started appearing mostly in supporting roles. In 1992 he won his 2nd Oscar® for his role in Unforgiven. The rest of the 1990’s would see many box office hits for him, movies like…..The Firm, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Birdcage and Enemy of the State. In 2001 he appeared in The Royal Tenenbaums which looks like his last great role. He won the Golden Globe® award for Best Actor for the role, yet somehow did not get an Oscar® nomination. To date his last performance was 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport.

His IMDb page shows 101 acting credits from 1961-2004. This page will rank 76 Gene Hackman movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman in 1995's Crimson Tide
Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman in 1995’s Crimson Tide

Gene Hackman Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Gene Hackman Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Gene Hackman movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Gene Hackman movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Gene Hackman movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Gene Hackman movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Gene Hackman movie received.
  • Sort Gene Hackman movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

 

Gene Hackman in 1971's The French Connection
Gene Hackman in 1971’s The French Connection

The Best of Gene Hackman:

Young Frankenstein (1974) Mel Brooks was on a roll in 1974, as he had two movies finish in the Top 3 in box office grosses. Young Frankenstein finished 3rd for the year, while Blazing Saddles finished 2nd for the year. Young Frankenstein was a parody of classic horror films. Gene Wilder played Dr. Frankenstein and Peter Boyle played the monster.  The highlight of the film has to be Hackman’s blind hermit interacting with Boyle’s monster. Young Frankenstein ranks No. 28 on Total Film magazine’s “List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time”.

Superman (1978) Gene Hackman would play super criminal Lex Luther in three Superman movies. Superman 1 is his biggest box office hit with over 600 million in adjusted for inflation dollars. Superman 2 (best movie of the franchise) is his third biggest box office hit.  He would not appear in the third Superman movie, but he did come back for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Superman IV is probably the worst superhero movie ever made. But going back to Superman 1, it is also ranked as Hackman’s 6th highest rated movie according to critics and audiences.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Bonnie and Clyde was actually the second time Hackman worked with Warren Beatty. They first appeared in the 1964 movie Lilith. Bonnie and Clyde was a game changing movie. Its success motivated other filmmakers to be more forward about presenting sex and violence in their films. Bonnie and Clyde is Hackman’s 5th biggest box office hit, and earned him his first ever Oscar® nomination. Trivia….all five of the main actors in the movie would receive Oscar® nominations for their parts.  Those five were Warren Beatty, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard and Estelle Parsons (she won).

Unforgiven (1992) Unforgiven is ranked #97 on IMDB’s greatest movie poll. Hackman won his second Oscar® for playing Sheriff Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s classic western. Unforgiven was nominated for nine Oscars®, winning four times, including the Best Picture Oscar®.  Unforgiven is Hackman’s 10th biggest box office hit, but it is his highest rated film according to critics and audiences. Trivia…Hackman initially refused the part because he felt his character was too violent….Eastwood eventually talked him into playing the role, which turned out to be one of his best parts.  Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood would work together again when they both starred in Absolute Power (1997).  Absolute Power was not as successful as Unforgiven but it is still a pretty good movie.

The French Connection (1971)  Gene Hackman won the Oscar® for Best Actor in The French Connection. His role as Popeye Doyle is one of his most memorable roles. The movie was also nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning 5 Oscars®, including the Best Picture Oscar®.  It is Hackman’s 7th biggest box office hit with over 248 million in adjusted for inflation dollars. The movie is well known for one of the most spectacular car chase scenes to ever be filmed. Hackman would return as Popeye Doyle in the very disappointing sequel, The French Connection 2.

Check out Gene Hackman’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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64 thoughts on “Gene Hackman Movies”

  1. Great page. I have always enjoyed his movies. I had not noticed that he had stopped making movies. I did do a quick google search, glad to see he is still alive. My favorite Hackman movies would be No Way Out and The Firm.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for stopping by AlabamaGirl….he is very alive….he is now a novelist and voice over spokesman for United Airlines…..No Way Out is a great movie….the type of movie you can watch over and over….with a decent trick ending that makes you want to watch the movie again…thanks for the compliment

      Reply

  2. Very nice article, I have liked Gene Hackman for as long as I can rember. My favorites would be Superman2, and Narrow Margin. Very well put together.

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    1. Thank you Mary….Narrow Margin is an underrated movie…..I appreciate your compliment and appreciate you reading my Hackman movie page

      Reply

  3. Finally Mr. Gene Hackman, thank you for doing my suggestion. Looking at his list you can see just how many great movies he has appeared in, when Hoosiers can not crack the Top 20, that is alot of good movies. I jokingly stopped following you, and now it will not let me follow anybody because I deleted the e-mail address I originally used when setting up my account. I guess you should have done Mr. Hackman sooner….lol

    Reply

    1. So I finally do your requested page finished….and you stopped following me….that is just not right….it sounds like you need to get your account fixed and get back on the bandwagon…..I hope you enjoyed your Hackman page.

      Reply

  4. Very cool movie page, I had not even realized that Hackman had not been in a movie for close to a decade. This is a great list of movies, and the fact that it spans so many years is even more impressive. I think I have seen almost all the movies after 1980. My favorite is easily Crimson Tide. Thanks for the movie page.

    Reply

    1. Hey Shaun….I saw Crimson Tide at the theater years ago, he had Denzel made a good team on screen, even if they were fighting each other for control….yep hard to believe Hackman’s swan song might be Welcome to Mooseport….thanks for the comments

      Reply

  5. Gene Hackman is probably the greatest living actor. This guy has great acting range–drama, comedy, action; he can be the good guy or the bad guy…He’s incredibly versitile! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him give a bad performance, even if he was in a really bad movie (Like “the Quick & the Dead”). It’s so hard to pick his best performance because he’s so consistantly excellent. My personal favorite Hackman roles are as Little Bill in “Unforgiven” and as Lex Luthor in “Superman” and “Superman 2” (I won’t mention 4.)

    He’s one of the greatest of all time, and I think she should have more than two oscars. (He should have won for “Mississippi Burning” but they gave it to Hoffman for “Rainman”.) I also give him credit for being one of those classy guys who knows when to step off the stage and bow out gracefully.

    A great movie page on a great talent.

    Reply

    1. Hey Rob great comments as always…I would say my favorite Hackman movies are Unforgiven, The Royal Tenenbaums and Get Shorty. When looking at his entire career he comes up at #40…but that includes his entire career…..when I only look at his Top Ten Movies….he moves all the way up to 5th….which seems a more accurate place for him. I agree it is probably best for him to bow out gracefully versus watching him struggle at the end….but I still miss new Hackman movies…as always thanks for stopping by and reading my page

      Reply

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