Normally, I would spend the days leading up to the Academy Awards writing my annual Oscars post, in which I predict (often with uncanny accuracy) the winners in all 23 categories. However, my plans changed after I woke up yesterday to news that one of my favorite actors, undeniable master thespian Gene Hackman, had died. His body was discovered in the New Mexico home he shared with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog, both of whom were also found dead, the cause of death unknown as I write this.
Eugene Allen Hackman, who was 95 at the time of his passing, led a full life, but the suspicious manner in which he appears to have died delivered quite a gut punch to this long-time fan. Hackman retired from the Hollywood scene in 2004 and spent his later years fly fishing and writing Western novels, but his industry colleagues remember him fondly, tweeting tributes more generous than anything I can write here. If there is a silver lining to the legendary actor, ex-Marine, and Pasadena Playhouse alum’s passing, it is that he left behind a rich library of work.
Here are my favorites:
1) Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle – “The French Connection;” “The French Connection II” – Hackman won his first of two Oscars for playing the hard-charging “Popeye” Doyle, the real-life NYC detective whose single-minded pursuit of a French heroin smuggler left a trail of collateral damage in his wake and nearly undid the detective himself. When we first meet Doyle, he’s undercover, wearing a Santa suit as he busts a tavern filled with majority-Black clientele, doing so with such disregard for tact and nuance that he seems to be enjoying himself. Doyle goes on to survive a harrowing sniper attack, and the 1971 Oscar winner for Best Picture ends with Doyle shooting an innocent man in his zeal, only for his prime suspect (Fernando Rey) to slip away at the last second. The sequel, which deserved a bigger audience and should’ve garnered Hackman another Oscar nod as well, follows Doyle to Marseilles, where, in a bold, mid-film twist that drives the narrative momentum to a halt, he is kidnapped by his quarry and force-injected heroin, becoming a hopeless addict. Brave stuff, and the kind of filmmaking – and acting – we seldom see anymore.
2) “Little Bill” Daggett – “Unforgiven” – When Hackman was announced as one of five nominees for Best Supporting Actor for 1992’s “Unforgiven,” he became the instant front runner despite the fact that he had already won an Oscar (see my #1 entry). The momentum never shifted, and Hackman went on to win his second statuette. Small wonder; his performance as “Little Bill” Daggett, the vicious sheriff of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, who takes his commitment to keep guns out of his town to violent, hypocritical extremes, remains one of cinema’s greatest villainous turns. Bill has charm and smarm to spare, and while he may secretly tremble at the thought of facing down director-star Clint Eastwood’s legendary killer William Munny, he’ll never let you know it. (If only Little Bill was as good at carpentry as he was at talking tough.)
3) Lex Luthor – “Superman: The Movie;” “Superman II;” “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” – Of the numerous big and small screen interpretations of Lex Luthor, the Man of Steel’s pesky nemesis, it is Hackman’s that will forever endure. Hackman’s Luthor is charming, brilliant, and conniving, yet ultimately little more than a petty thief. If half of California sinks into the sea as a result of an earthquake he triggered to create new beachfront property he could buy up for cheap, well that’s just too bad. Side note: like costar Christopher Reeve, no matter how bad these films eventually became – and “Superman IV” is really, really, really bad – Hackman never gave less than 110% to every his appearance as Luthor.
4) Royal Tenenbaum – “The Royal Tenenbaums” – By appearing in this bittersweet Wes Anderson comedy, a look at one of New York’s most delightfully dysfunctional families, Hackman proved he is as adept at comedy as he is at drama. He clearly relished his meaty role as Royal, loutish husband to Angela Huston’s long-suffering matriarch and distant father to three brilliant children who didn’t quite live up to their childhood potential (they are played as adults by Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Luke Wilson). There is much to dislike about the lazy, lying Royal, and when he attempts to reenter their lives after learning he is dying, they aren’t exactly thrilled to see him. But damn it, while the movie doesn’t feature a sentimental, Hallmark Channel-style ending, the film – and Hackman in particular – may still evoke a tear or three.
5) Harry Caul – “The Conversation” – Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola is responsible for four of the greatest films of the 1970s, and this 1974 film – one of two by Coppola that year, alongside “The Godfather Part II” – is one of them. I can’t readily think of character more driven by mundane obsession, more deluded by paranoia, than that of Harry Caul, the fastidious surveillance expert played by Hackman. The film opens with him recording a couple as they stroll around a San Francisco city park, and follows his descent into madness as, when he edits the recording to boost the sound quality, he realizes the couple’s conversation may involve a murder plot. Of unusual note is how quiet the film is – the score is as minimalist as the dialogue. As for Hackman, his terrific performance is a study in tics, mannerisms, and self-loathing.
6) Agent Rupert Anderson – “Mississippi Burning” – This blistering film, a highly-fictionalized retelling of the 1964 FBI investigation into the murders of three civil rights workers in rural Mississippi, is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Filmmaker Alan Parker directed Hackman to his fourth Oscar nomination for playing Rupert Anderson, one of two lead investigators into the disappearances. His superior officer, the younger, by-the-book, northern-born Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) wants to bring in more and more men and interrogate by force, while the southern-born Anderson knows how to ruffle feathers and produce results with just the right combination of off-the-books menace and good ol’ boy charm. Hackman’s hero roles are seldom the stalwart, squeaky-clean Jimmy Stewart types, and his Rupert Anderson is no exception. Best scene: the close shave he gives Brad Dourif’s racist deputy.
7) Coach Norman Dale – “Hoosiers” – “Hoosiers” – named after the Indiana University men’s basketball team famously coached by Bobby Knight – is actually about a small-town high school boys’ team, the Hickory Huskers. While a work of fiction, the film is said to be inspired by the Milan High School Indians, the state’s underdog championship team from 1954. Frankly, “Hoosiers” feels like a true story, and Hackman, who plays controversial coach Norman Dale, deserves more than a fair share of the credit. So do Dennis Hopper, as the alcoholic assistant coach; Jerry Goldsmith, the film’s Oscar-nominated composer; and co-writer-director David Anspaugh. All the inspirational sports film tropes are present, yet they work in the film’s favor, rather than against it. Like the Huskers themselves, this one’s a winner.
8) Avery Tolar – “The Firm” – The first – and to many fans, best – John Grisham adaptation, director Sydney Pollack’s “The Firm” is stacked with an A-list cast of movie stars, Oscar nominees, and Hollywood legends. A pre-“Mission: Impossible” Tom Cruise gets top billing as upstart tax lawyer Mitch McDeere, but as good as Cruise is, Gene Hackman acts circles around him. Hackman plays McDeere’s mentor, a hard-drinking, morally-bankrupt senior partner in the law firm who realizes, after it’s too late, that he should protect his ambitious protégé from the firm’s secret, criminal clientele – and from the FBI agents who are swiftly closing in.
9) David Brice – “No Way Out” – Hackman is perfectly cast as United States Secretary of Defense David Brice, working out of the Pentagon alongside an overzealous aide (Will Patton) and a cocky Naval hero (Kevin Costner) to uncover a possible Russian mole in their midst. The political thriller becomes a romantic one as well when Hackman and Costner fall for the same woman (Sean Young), and she comes to a bad end at one of their hands. A loose adaptation of the 1946 novel “The Big Clock,” “No Way Out” crackles with suspense and a brilliant twist ending. The top-billed Costner makes an appealing lead, but the real fun is watching Hackman’s career politician slowly unravel.
10) Sam Cayhall – “The Chamber” – The second John Grisham novel to appear on this list, and to many an unexpected entry, I suspect. Unlike my #8 entry, which was an international smash, the legal drama “The Chamber” didn’t find much of an audience despite the chart-topping success of the novel upon which it was based. Hackman is thoroughly unlikable here, playing a murderous racist about to be sent to the gas chamber. This is a ballsy performance that illustrates the difference between a movie star and an actor. Gene Hackman is an actor’s actor, and while his many villainous turns are usually charismatic and even funny (see my #3 in this post), his role as the aging, unrepentant Sam Cayhall features a performance of raw anger and simmering rage, sins of the father and all of that. Oh, Chris O’Donnell is in this, too (he plays Cayhall’s grandson), but make no mistake: Hackman owns this film.
Runners up: Captain Frank Ramsey (“Crimson Tide”); Buck Barrow (“Bonnie and Clyde”); Jedediah Tucker Ward (“Class Action”), Harold the Blind Man (“Young Frankenstein”).
Godspeed, Mr. Hackman. May your work outlive us all.
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