One of the great character actors of his generation and a bona fide superstar when he was at his peak. An actor whose grace, precision, and steely nature led to him having a storied career through four decades of work. Gene Hackman was revered by actors from the generation that came after him. Often, if you read about why other actors joined a film, it’s because they heard Hackman would be in it. Considered a master by all the greats and anyone in the industry, Hackman commanded respect. Part of the new school of acting that came after Marlon Brando struck the screen with a performative realism, Hackman found his way just as the new wave of American cinema was underway. After making a few stone-cold classics — Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, and The Conversation — he settled into doing more character work in mainstream Hollywood movies. Hackman never lost the respectability of a great actor. He’s been retired since the 2004 film Welcome To Mooseport and the movies dearly miss one of their greatest actors. Here are his best performances of all time.
10 French Connection II
20th Century Fox
While the sequel doesn’t live up to the legacy of the original The French Connection and its breakneck pace in the gritty streets of New York, John Frankenheimer took his modern sensibilities and the psychedelic milieu of the 70s to create an unnerving psychological experience in The French Connection II. Gene Hackman reprises his role as the tough-as-nails cop Popeye Doyle, but finds it hard to assimilate when he takes his penchant for rage to Marseilles. The performance and script see Hackman taken to the depths of hell as he battles the sadistic kingpin Carnier (Fernando Rey) and the expectations of the policemen who’re suspicious of his New York toughness.
9 The Royal Tenenbaums
Buena Vista Pictures
Wes Anderson is a director who often tells stories of dysfunctional families, but none got to the emotional core of its awful patriarch quite as Gene Hackman did as Royal Tenenbaum. A distant father whose years away created psychological damage is seen across the film through his large family. Hackman’s intense persona also bled through tension on the set of The Royal Tenenbaums, as, per The Thing, numerous reports recounted Hackman borderline bullying Anderson and getting into many arguments. The dysfunction on-screen became palpable off it, but none more so than the son Richie (Luke Wilson) in one of Anderson’s most emotional set pieces to date, in a stunning slow-motion, blue-tinted shot where Richie attempts to take his own life. Even still, the portrayal of a father figure lacking self-awareness for the damage he caused his family was the glue somehow holding the large Anderson ensemble together.
8 Bonnie and Clyde
Warner Bros.
The first Oscar nomination for Gene Hackman just as the new era for Hollywood was underway. The shot of adrenaline for the industry was Bonnie and Clyde, a major moment in film history and Gene Hackman’s career. Having the trouble of playing what should be the least likable of the bunch, getting picked up in the middle of the gang’s crime spree, Hackman plays the trash talker who no one is impressed by. Showing a knack early, for bringing some sense of charisma, swagger, and obnoxious shit-heel behavior. Hackman set a precedent that would follow a career of incredible performances.
7 Crimson Tide
Only a director like the late Tony Scott could create such a dizzying, energetic, and rollicking film inside the confines of a submarine. With nuclear annihilation on the brink and war seemingly on the surface, a naval captain and a young officer fight for the loyalty of their crew before their fates are met. Crimson Tide sees two generational talents go to verbal war. Gene Hackman plays opposite Denzel Washington in the tightly crafted war-thriller. The two go to philosophical and moral war with each other before the attempted mutiny begins; Denzel pins Hackman as a trigger-happy military hack whose jingoism could put their lives in danger. Scott’s ability to move the camera at rapid speed while keeping the verbal daggers punch as bullets make for an electrifying performance from its two leads. The intensity of Hackman’s delivery is matched by the audacious approach of his director, constantly shifting the volume and stakes to their highest degree.
6 Scarecrow
An underrated gem from the new wave of American cinema in the early 70s, Scarecrow teamed Al Pacino with director Jerry Schatzberg after their success with Panic In Needle Park. Schatzberg captured that same hot-blooded energy with gleeful abandon, and Gene Hackman was the perfect companion for the budding superstar. The two played off each other as drifters who needlessly argued and chased their desires on an endless road trip. Hackman was perfect as he improvises reactions, playing loosely with the character as he and Pacino find each other on-screen. His audacious approach to acting imbues the character with the classic Hackman sheen of grit, but also, as his love for Pacino’s character grows, the heart and soul of the picture become imbued with Hackman’s uncanny ability to bring humanity to every role.
5 Night Moves
Night Moves is a film that would shape the rest of Gene Hackman’s career. An initial commercial failure led Hackman to take fewer chances and opt to make more mainstream films. Albeit with the high success rate, Hackman strayed from making the lean character work he did in Night Moves. Hackman plays a hardened private eye, looking to wrestle with what he has left of his personal life as he navigates the shoddy waters of Hollywood before being transported to the muddy swamps of Florida. Hackman does incredible work as the mystery all but appears to be background noise for him to discover himself and then concludes with an earth-shattering finale: a death-defying plane chase on par with Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. Night Moves takes the trappings of noir and flips them inside out.
4 Eureka
United Artists
Nicolas Roeg’s Eureka unfolds in surreal, hyperbolic, and profound ways. Gene Hackman takes the lead as a gold prospector whose desires and fate align in seismic proportions. Churning through the snows of Alaska, he bargains more than his body to find the gold that will give him wealth for life. It’s a tricky performance as Hackman has to battle the rage of fending off a couple of gangsters — Mickey Rourke and Joe Pesci, a dynamic duo — and the greed and paranoia of his inner life. It is a performance that yields all the power of the universe as it feels like everyone in the film only exists in relation to his wealth. The film was a failure upon release, but worth checking out as it plays to all of Hackman’s strengths as an actor
3 The French Connection
Another role that went hand in hand with the new breed of American films making waves in Hollywood, anti-hero cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle is a linchpin of the1970s and earned Gene Hackman his first Oscar. Hackman’s intensity went head-to-head with newfound auteur William Freidkin’s renegade direction. The two formed a perfect alchemy that bought the gritty streets of New York to life. Having to handle the criminals and nasty gangster life, The French Connection is an American classic.
2 Unforgiven
Clint Eastwood’s revisionist western Unforgiven, where he takes apart the lone gun persona he played across decades, was a staggering career work of genius. However, Gene Hackman’s performance as the abusive sheriff stole the show. Hackman bought his seasoned grit and hardness to the role that helped win him his second Oscar. Hackman was at his most sadistic playing the nasty sheriff Bill Daggett. Banning guns from his town and dishing out daily beatings, his violence as a sheriff brings in the retired killer of Eastwood to a memorable final showdown. Hackman always has the tough-as-nails persona in his roles, but this was him at his villainous worst.
1 The Conversation
Paramount Pictures
Gene Hackman’s run in the 1970s hit a peak in 1974. Francis Ford Coppola casually made another masterpiece in the middle of making the first two Godfathers, with Hackman at the center, The Conversation sits atop the mountain of his long, storied career. Playing Henry Caul, a surveillance expert caught up in a mystery that brings up memories of his past, Caul begins to unravel. In a performance riddled with guilt, paranoia, and anxiety, Hackman matches Coppola’s direction at every pitch and frequency. Hackman succumbs to the weight of destroying a sense of privacy within a relationship, but also losing any sense of privacy within himself, as his past destroys his psyche. Hackman captured the embrace of these technologies that made it possible to listen to and observe from a distance with a tragically human performance.
