Things were pretty brutal for movie/TV fans this week. Over the course of a few days, we lost Lynne Marie Stewart (Miss Yvonne on Pee-wee’s Playhouse), Michelle Trachtenberg (Inspector Gadget and Harriet the Spy) and now Gene Hackman. Growing up obsessed with Superman: The Movie, I feel incredibly fortunate that I became a fan of Hackman very early in my life.
Much has been and will be written about him over the next weeks and months. Critics and academics surely will mention his classic films like The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, and Unforgiven. But I want to cite two lesser-known movies in which Hackman gave his usual stellar performances.
Night Moves
Night Moves ranks for me as my favorite of his films (apart from Superman). Hackman plays a football player-turned-private eye, hired to find the runaway daughter (a very young Melanie Griffith) of a has-been movie star. A brilliant neo-noir and underrated classic of 70s cinema, Hackman’s detective greatly differs from previous movie P.I.s. His predecessors always seemed several steps ahead of the mystery. Hackman’s, like the post-Watergate America in which the film was made and released, seems lost and overwhelmed by the duplicity and underhandedness surrounding him. Why this film isn’t better known escapes me.
Scarecrow
Yet another Hackman movie that seems partially lost to time. I recommended this on the podcast several years ago. I haven’t revisited it in some time but I must. Summarizing Scarecrow isn’t easy because there’s not much plot. This a character story. Hackman plays an angry ex-con his way to Pittsburgh to open up his own car wash. He meets a mild-mannered sailor (Al Pacino) and the two decide to travel together. I can’t say much more without robbing you of the experience. This film has been unfairly eclipsed by the other work in both Hackman’s and Pacino’s respective careers. More people need to see and advocate for this outstanding film. If you need more persuasion, here it is: Hackman ranked his performance in Scarecrow as his very best.
Other honorable mentions:
The Birdcage (“I could really use some candy.”)
The Quick and the Dead (Hackman plays a really, really evil bad guy in this Sam Raimi western starring Sharon Stone.)
Superman II (Though Hackman's Luthor is relegated to a supporting character, his interactions with Terence Stamp's General Zod remains one of my favorite villain team-ups.)
The Conversation (directed by Francis Ford Coppola and a great movie to pair with other 70s paranoia thrillers like Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View.)
French Connection II (not as good as the original, but Hackman’s performance is.)
The Poseidon Adventure (I bet you forgot Hackman was in this.)
Young Frankenstein (I bet you didn’t realize Hackman was in this.)
RIP Gene Hackman
No comments:
Post a Comment