I tend to doubt it. The boat's path was frustratingly circular and his frustration was growing. But we'll never really know.
I've got roughly the same number, but I can't claim that they are only his best movies. Gene was always good, even when the movie wasn't. My collection contains both good and bad.
I'll bet that's true for me also, with all the varying mileages. I should have said my
favorite 32.But 31's more accurate as I bought DOMINO PRINCIPLE in order to get THE CASSANDRA CROSSING combo. I've yet to see SCARECROW, HOOSIERS or much of his output. He got about 100 out or more. The Hackman 44 I'll now unleash includes a few I only saw at theaters, plus many video roles I've virtually memorized. Call it a sliding scale of Hackman, with a dynamic final 22. So I recommend many of the following 44.
THE DOMINO PRINCIPLE (with Widmark, Rooney and Candy Bergen)
BEHIND ENEMY LINES (better to risk thousands of lives than to allow Owen Wilson to.....nah, cheap shot.)
SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (no comment)
THE HUNTING PARTY (Bergen again, with Oliver Reed versus Gene. Reed's the antihero.)
THE CHAMBER (Hackman's a killer bigot on death row.)
TARGET with Matt Dillon
WYATT EARP (Hackman is Costner's dad, with a wife stolen from LITTLE HOUSE)
PRIME CUT with Lee Marvin and Sissy Spacek. Marvin's the hero.)
ENEMY OF THE STATE (an unofficial sequel, with many notable actors, plus early Jack Black)
EXTREME MEASURES (Hugh Grant vs. Dr. Gene)
FRENCH CONNECTION II (so different in tone and approach than the first, and--to me----mostly unsatisfying until the last 20 seconds or so.)
ABSOLUTE POWER (President Gene vs. Eastwood, again, with Judy Davis and Scott Glenn)
BAT 21 with Danny Glover
REDS (a single-scene cameo for Warren Beatty)
MAROONED (a guilty pleasure with occasional dullness mixed with tension, 80 percent of it from Hackman. Gregory Peck unfortunately delivers much of the dullness. Richard Crenna and James Franciscus share the space capsule with Hackman. Three men enter, one man leaves. Trust me, it's cold. This would be the final time (in 1969) a Hackman character declared himself the weakest.)
ANTZ (an animated insect Hackman-villain battling heroic Woody Allen to the bitter end. Stallone sounds off, as does Danny Glover. I believe Hackman bought it, as most bugs tend to do.)
POWER (his first film with Denzel, though Richard Gere and Julie Christie are higher-billed.)
RIOT (his second film with Jim Brown. Hackman calls most of the shots. Mostly, until another hotheaded character actor acts up at the finish.)
HEIST (with Danny Devito, Sam Rockwell and Delroy Lindo. Great David Mamet tough-talk)
MISSISSIPPI BURNING (teamed with nice-guy Willem Dafoe. When threatened by Henry the serial killer, Hackman finds two balls under the table and satisfaction ensues.)
SUPERMAN (I loved most of it as a kid like almost everyone else, and the opening credit sequence will always be magnificent. For Hackman it was a money job, not his first or last, and perhaps it MIGHT have been more Luthory without the hair at all. In my current opinion, Gene's not menacing enough. He's generic despite playing against type. I welcome any rebuttals, as long as Otisberg is not mentioned.)
UNDER FIRE (Gene's a journalist working with Nick Nolte. Ed Harris and Joanna Cassidy also appear. Gene is eliminated before his co-stars. A good topical drama, though it never truly grew on me like the next 22 films did.)
INTERMISSION
ANOTHER WOMAN (seriously directed by Woody Allen. Gena Rowlands is married to Ian Holm. Hackman's character wants Gena to ditch the Holm and get with the Hack. Holm and Hackman are best friends. Only Hackman could be so bold. No fistfights. This is Woody Allen.)
RUNAWAY JURY (Hackman and Dustin Hoffman spar as opposing courtroom lawyers. There is a memorable HEAT-like scene with solely those two. Lest we forget, John Cusack officially stars here.)
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (Not the Barney Fife story. Sam Raimi directs an incredible cast and proves he's not plucking around by having Hackman waste national treasure Lance Henriksen 30 minutes in!
Hackman's Leonardo DiCaprio's father and he refuses to take Leo's traditional guff. Gene then duels against Keith David, and when it's over you can see right through David's dilemma. But wait, there's more....Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, and an extra-hellish Hackman. Not even Lieutenant Dan is safe from his wrath. I just wish Hackman had attempted a ''Bugsy Malone'' style ending with Henriksen at least. Damn.)
I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER (Hackman and Melvyn Douglas have a very strained father-son relationship. Have you ever seen AFFLICTION? This is the PG-rated but equally grim version.)
A BRIDGE TOO FAR (the accent is heavy, but Gene is in the same room with Anthony Hopkins and Sean Connery for ten minutes. How cool is that?)
NARROW MARGIN (Hackman continues his recurring mission to take down Justice League character actors by battling James Sikking to the death on top of a high-speed train. Whoever wins, we lose. It's almost like watching a talented version of Steven Seagal, isn't it? Gene has to protect Anne Archer from assassination. It's a fun thriller even if she's locked in permanent simper-mode. Gene admits to her he's scared, briefly. At the end of the final battle, he delivers a fittingly hilarious line.
SUPERMAN 2 (I prefer the sequel in part because casting off Luthor's helpers helps raise the stakes. His lines are arguably better as he plays off Terence Stamp's threatening Zod brilliantly. This time the baldness is definitely not an issue.)
TWICE IN A LIFETIME (Hackman leaves Ellen Burstyn and their marriage to romance Ann-Margret. But he's never hateable but relatable. You will still identify with Burstyn, and his first daughter (Amy Madigan) will give him justified hell for it. His younger daughter is Ally Sheedy.)
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (Damn good expresso cameo. And damn hot to boot.)
THE PACKAGE (Tommy Lee Jones is going to eliminate a late-80s celebrity, while Hackman teams with Dennis Franz to stop him. Joanna Cassidy's back. I must warn you, however, Hackman is driving again.)
BONNIE AND CLYDE (My mom thought it too brutal and new-fashioned, and while it is not my favorite by any means, Arthur Penn's direction is unforgettable. Hackman plays Warren Beatty's older brother in their second film togther after LILITH. Estelle Parsons (Gene's sister in I NEVER SANG) plays his nutjob wife.)
UNCOMMON VALOR (MISSING IN ACTION with realism and accountability. Hackman teams up with Patrick Swayze in his first and only classic to rescue Hackman's son and other Vietnam POWs, with help from Fred Ward and Tex Cobb, among others. And national treasure pre-DOLLMAN Tim Thomerson actually gets to survive! YES!!!!)
NIGHT MOVES (Another great eclectic cast, including Melanie Griffith, James Woods and many more. It's also directed by Arthur Penn and has at least one shockingly brutal moment. Gene is an ex-football player turned private eye, with a mid-'70s moustache.)
THE SPLIT (Hackman's only in the last half hour, which might be a liability, BUT here's who's in the first hour: Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Sutherland, Warren Oates, Diahann Carroll, Brooks from SHAWSHANK, and Quincy ME. Now THAT is an all-star line-up for the ages in the very first R-rated movie ever released in 1968. This film's so tough one of the guys gets killed by a bowl of steam.)
GET SHORTY (Forget BE COOL except for The Rock, but remember this one as the finest movie starring a character named Chili. Hackman is at his funniest. Travolta is the chili. Then there's Rene Russo, Lindo, DeVito and James Gandolfini...)
THE FIRM (Another all-star cast. Cruise, Hackman, Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook. Ed Harris, Wilford Brimley, Tobin Bell and so many more. This was during Gene's 90s period when he gravitated to second-lead, and NOBODY did it better. His name was conspicuously left off the posters, probably due to Cruise's detesting sharing top-billing with obviously superior thespians who don't have better things to do than run endlessly while pretending to risk their lives during CGI stunts.)
THE CONVERSATION (Coppola's second great film, released between the GODFATHERs. I'm amused/embarrassed to say when ABC aired this on TV to capitalize on Harrison Ford's Han Solo breakout, it never occurred to my brother and I that the nebbsihy man with the glasses was
Gene Plucking Hackman! (Blame it on STAR WARS?) John Cazale is Gene's co-worker. Cindy Williams seems to be in danger. Harrison Ford is gay. Robert Duvall is HIS boss in a surprise cameo, and we see Hackman, Duvall and Ford in the same quiet room for five minutes. I wish that could happen today. It's hard enough to get TWO at a time. This is one of the whitest color schemes in a film I've ever seen, scene for scene, until the toilet is flushed. Fred Flintstone cameos as well.)
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (Another money job, and in my opinion, his very best. While disparaging the movie, he was offended by Ernest Borgnine basically replying ''That's what we're here for,'' and never talked with Borgnine out of character again. Both actors previously appeared in THE SPLIT. I like Reverend Gene's rapport with Eric Shea (one of the earlier Linus voices of PEANUTS TV-specials.) I like his respect for Shelley Winters, and their final moment together. I like his tenderness with Pamela Sue Martin. We all no doubt like his shouting matches with Borgnine. But before the tidal wave turns everything into hell, I especially like how Hackman dances with two women at once, then bobs his head in close-up borderline drunkeness. Even Borgnine's wife Stella Stevens seems to be visually seducing him many times.)
NO WAY OUT (the fantastic remake of THE BIG CLOCK with Kevin Costner, Sean Young, Iman, yadda yadda yadda. Hackman's misbehavior sets the story in motion, but his protector Will Patton becomes the steadiest antagonist and steals the movie. When things go extra-South, the erratic weakened Hackman finally intecedes between Costner and Patton with catastrophic results. No spoIlers from me...except to comment there's a ton of misplaced loyalty in the end.)
CRIMSON TIDE (Denzel and Gene together again, plus extra Gandolfini with a dash of Viggo AND George Dzundza from NO WAY OUT. What's not to love? A fanatastic thriller with a surprising resolution IMO. There's a relatively low body count yet Tony Scott ratches up the excitement with offbeat humor as Denzel and Gene keep relieving each other of command. (All right, twice each.) The argument at the exact halfpoint is brilliantly scripted and edited, and no doubt Gene and Denzel rehearsed it to perfection, so he could ''RELIEVE, YOU, OF COMMAND, CAPTAIN!!!!'' I had the pleasure of first seeing this at a college preview. When Denzel took charge the first time, a voice on my left called out ''I'm with you, Gene!!!'' Viggo betrays Denzel, Dzundza goes against Hackman.......it's the ultimate American sub movie. Isn't it? Isn't Gene Hackman great in water?
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (with Roy Scheider. Playing two real-life cops with changed names, they soon realize that one surefire way to win Best Picture is to allow the villain to get away at the end (Hannibal Lecter, Anton Chigurh). But before that, Popeye Doyle goes solo, narrowly misses nabbing Charnier at the subway in a Spielberg-worthy moment, THEN chases Marcel Bozzuffi all over New York City while coming within two seconds of massacring a stroller baby. Holllllllleeeeee......God. There's a semi-famous movie critic visible during the scene between Deveraux and the reporters.
UNFORGIVEN (I had convinced myself that Jaye Davidson from THE CRYING GAME was sure to win Best Supporting Actor for 1992, though Hackman's portrayal of 70-percent-evil Bill Daggett ultimately took home the prize. Few of Clint Eastwood's films tended to have caliber actors like Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris's Duck of Death all in the same movie. It's still awesome. Hackman and Saul Rubinek play off amusingly in the first half. Despite Gene's violent actions, UNFORGIVEN confirms that pretty much all of us, for good or ill, might be considered heroes in our own minds.
Gene Hackman had several mostly excellent exceptionally violent hits, which in reality gave him mixed feelings and made him uncomfortable. During a run-in with obnoxious California teens he unfortunately lost in a three-against-one fistfight caused by a rear-end collision. One reason he retired in 2004 was his doctor said it'd be far better for his heart. Which in all his 100 or so movies he unfailingly put into it.
Lunchtime. I've written quite enough, and I probably didn't dwell on Hackman's actual acting as I should have, but what a body of work from Hackman and the company he kept.
,