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. Whoa, Gene Hackman appeared with 57 other Oscar winners in films/

    A Bridge Too Far (1977) – Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery
    A Covenant with Death (1967) – Katy Jurado
    All Night Long (1981) – Barbra Streisand
    Another Woman (1988) – Sandy Dennis
    Antz (1998) – Christopher Walken, Anne Bancroft
    Bite the Bullet (1975) – James Coburn, Ben Johnson
    Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – Faye Dunaway
    Crimson Tide (1995) – Denzel Washington, Jason Robards
    Enemy of the State (1998) – Jason Robards, Jon Voight
    Eureka (1983) – Joe Pesci
    First to Fight (1967) – Dean Jagger
    Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) – Robert Duvall
    Hawaii (1966) – Julie Andrews
    Heartbreakers (2001) – Anne Bancroft
    I Never Sang for My Father (1970) – Melvyn Douglas
    Lilith (1964) – Olympia Dukakis, Kim Hunter
    Lucky Lady (1975) – Liza Minnelli
    Marooned (1969) – Gregory Peck, Lee Grant
    Mississippi Burning (1988) – Frances Mcdormand
    Postcards From the Edge (1990) – Meryl Streep, Richard Dreyfuss, Shirley Maclaine
    Power (1986) – Denzel Washington, Julie Christie
    Prime Cut (1972) – Lee Marvin, Sissy Spacek
    Reds (1981) – Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton
    Runaway Jury (2003) – Dustin Hoffman
    Scarecrow (1973) – Al Pacino
    Superman (1978) – Marlon Brando
    The Birdcage (1996) – Robin Williams, Dianne Wiest
    The Chamber (1996) – Faye Dunaway
    The Conversation (1974) – Robert Duvall
    The Gypsy Moths (1969) – Burt Lancaster
    The Mexican (2001) – Julia Roberts
    The Package (1989) – Tommy Lee Jones
    The Poseidon Adventure (1972) – Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons
    The Quick and the Dead (1995) – Russell Crowe, Leonardo Dicaprio
    The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) – Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston
    The Split (1968) – Ernest Borgnine
    Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) – Jim Broadbent
    Twice in a Lifetime (1985) – Ellen Burstyn
    Twilight (1998) – Susan Sarandon, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Newman
    Two of a Kind (1983) – Kathy Bates
    Under Suspicion (2000) – Morgan Freeman
    Welcome to Mooseport (2004) – Marcia Gay Harden
    Young Frankenstein (1974) – Cloris Leachman

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan….another stout total…but I do not see Laurence Olivier from A Bridge Too Far and Maureen Stapleton from Reds…..that would get him to 59. Let’s see if we can get him to 60. #60 would be Eileen Hackett in Zandy’s Bride. So he would be in second place….but still double digits behind Sir Caine.

      Reply

      1. Everyone is not in my database, I had limits because of length but I missed Olivier and Stapleto who are. Eileen Heckert is not in the base. There are others I don’t have, some supporting winners, people with short careers or too few credits. It was me trying to figure out the Oracle of Bacon by everyone they had on it, also using a book I had of 2000 leading people and numerous oddball character actors or people on the old IMDB lists of the best actors and actresses. They used to do a top 20 by ratings and I put in anyone who made it that starred in English speaking films. The IMDB does not do it anymore and I retrieved that from the Internet Archive. The people on the Oracle of Bacon lists should be complete for all films they have that over 5 people have rated. Some pictures have 100’s of thousands of votes and lots of say Lionel Barrymore shorts from the silent era make that grade. We will presume the others nobody has seen nor have been watched. I remember for instance watching a lot of Johnny Mack Brown westerns (I bought 79 of his pictures from Ioffer for $25) and most never had reached 5 at the time, but now they all have. I believe I missed Jim Broadbent on some other list I submitted but can’t figure out who he matched up with that I did.

        Reply

        1. Also as I think about it, you know the AFI top 25 actors and actresses of the golden age list and then you did a modern one. The AFI website used to list all the nominees if you wanted to see them. So if they did 100 movies I believe 400 were nominated. I believe they nominated 250 each for the actors and actresses, I kid you not. I believe I included all [people they had nominated. If you want to see the 500 actors and actresses there is the link below.

          http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/stars500.pdf

          Reply

          1. Great list….thanks for sharing….Bob and I were just discussing that AFI list the other day…and we were wondering who the people were that just missed the cut. Too bad this list does not tell that information….but it is a great list for me to work from. After many days dealing with websited tech issues…I am more than ready to get some new stuff out. Thanks again for this list.

        2. Got it….my database does not have co-stars other than the ones I put in….and then I usually only pick one or two of the stars….with people I have UMR pages for getting the edge to be listed. The amount of work you have collected is very impressive. Sounds like a good deal on the Johnny Mack Brown movies. Too bad IMDb stop doing the Top 20. Hopefully you are not having anymore issues with getting your comments posted. Things should be like they have been since March 2015. As always thanks for your contribution.

          Reply

  2. This Friday night on TCM Star of the Month look at Gene Hackman in order:

    The Conversation (love this intricate conspiracy film) which is Coppola’s favourite according to the featurette Robert Duvall does on Gene for Star of the Month

    The Scarecrow – new to me Duvall says it is Gene’s favourites of his own films.

    Young Frankenstein then airs again.

    Reply

  3. A reminder to Bruce’s readers that TCM Star of the Month is Gene Hackman and it that starts tonight at 8pm/5pm with f Bonnie and Clyde.

    I’m excited about this Star of the Month.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora…thanks for sharing that information on Hackman and that he is the star of the month on TCM. Maybe Downhill Racer is one of the movies they are going to show….I have never caught up with that Redford/Hackman movie.

      Reply

      1. Yes, Downhil racer was the second film shown.

        They were:

        Bonnie and Clyde
        Downhill Racer
        The Gypsy Moths
        lilith
        Marooned – NOT my favourite Gregory Peck movie – LOL.

        Reply

        1. Hey Flora….missed it again. One day I will track that one down. Thanks for the information on the Hackman schedule.

          Reply

  4. 1 Gene’s top films were the likes of Mississippi Burning Poseidon Adventure and French Connection but my own favourites were:

    HOOSIERS (1986) about basketball in Indiana in the early 50s. Rolling Stone Magazine voted it one of the 30 greatest sports movies of all time and the opening write-up above agrees that it is “one of the best sports movies ever.”

    CLASS ACTION (1991) Another ‘little’ film that I like re-watching from time to time as for me it nostalgically reflects America and the American Cinema in the final decade of the last century.

    PRIME CUT (1972) Gene is a local crime boss who is known by the feminine names of Mary Ann and who falls foul of the Mob. As the Mob enforcer sent to sort out Mary Ann Lee Marvin blends well with Gene.

    2 Clint Eastwood categorised Gene as one of those actors who had earned good starring roles in important Films.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob….in your absence…I did not update any classic actors….Hackman and Hoffman were the two oldest ones…but I did update many of the younger stars. Hoosiers is a classic indeed…to me it is the greatest sports movie ever made. I enjoyed Class Action as well…though I have only seen it once. Somehow I have managed to not see Prime Cut. I agree with Clint’s thoughts on Hackman. I find it sad that there will be no more Gene Hackman movies…when I was growing up I could count on a new Gene Hackman movie every few months….I can’t believe it has been 12 years since his last movie. Thanks for the Gene Hackman movie thoughts.

      Reply

  5. I have always thought Gene Hackman was an excellent actor. Your review of all his wonderful movies and with such diverse roles makes him one of the greats in my eyes. This is a great review and I enjoyed reading it very much.

    Reply

    1. Hey Pamela99…I agree with you 100%….Hackman is missed at the theaters…..I can not believe it has been 8 years since his last movie. Thanks for checking out my Hackman page….which is one of my worst viewed hubs ever…which makes no sense considering how great an actor he was….not to mention so many great movies.

      Reply

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