GENE HACKMAN R.I.P. – SOME OF HIS BEST 1970s ROLES

As we bid farewell to the incredibly talented Gene Hackman, Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of my personal favorites from his lead performances in 1970s films, both well-known and obscure.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)

Role: Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle

Comment: I know, this is an obvious choice, but what can I say? Hackman was brilliant as this police detective based on the real-life Eddie Egan. Yes, I know the film heavily distorted the events of this true crime story but Gene was masterful in the role.

Without the benefit of screen idol looks Hackman carried this movie on sheer screen presence as the unorthodox, horny but dogged cop investigating a drug smuggling ring. Many films would try to recapture the grittiness of The French Connection and the charisma of Hackman’s Doyle but few succeeded.

PRIME CUT (1972)

Comment: I reviewed this gangster movie starring Gene and Lee Marvin at length HERE.

SCARECROW (1973)

Role: Max Millan

Comment: If made today this film would be done purely as an indie, because I don’t think most studios or distributors would bother with it and only the Coen Brothers could probably do it right. Gene Hackman plays ex-con Max Millan, who befriends former sailor Lionel “Lion” Delbuchi (Al Pacino) on a journey from California to Pittsburgh, PA.

Max winds up protecting the brassy but ineffective Lion. The poverty-stricken men make their way on foot across the country, ultimately planning to open a carwash in Pittsburgh. Circumstances constantly thwart them in this comedy-drama that compellingly presents existential despair.

THE CONVERSATION (1974)

Role: Harry Caul

Comment: Another obvious choice, I know. Under Francis Ford Coppola’s direction Hackman proved what a chameleon he could be in his performance as an introverted, twitchy electronic surveillance expert who comes to suspect that the latest targets of his illegal operations are set to be murdered.

The Conversation deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it over the years and so does Hackman in a role that possibly no one else but James Woods could have pulled off.

NIGHT MOVES (1975)

Role: Harry Moseby

Comment: And speaking of James Woods he has a supporting role under Gene Hackman in this neo-noir mystery. Hackman stars as a former pro football player turned private investigator whose career is causing his marriage to fall apart.

Harry tries to revive his bond with his wife at the worst possible time as his current case sucks him into a labyrinth involving smuggled Aztec artifacts, mother-daughter rivalry, multiple murders and the missing daughter (Melanie Griffith in her film debut) of a former starlet. Gene’s private detective is realistically beleaguered and out of his depth no matter how much the audience may root for him as it all goes sideways.

FRENCH CONNECTION II (1975)

Role: Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle

Comment: From a virtually defeated man like Harry Moseby back to the supercharged character of Jimmy Doyle for Hackman this time. Any pretense of real events is abandoned from the very beginning as Doyle pursues the French Connection mastermind to France.

An uneasy alliance with French police led by Detective Barthelemy (Bernard Fresson) plays out as the original film’s kingpin plots a particularly ugly revenge against our hero. Hackman is pretty much the whole film this time around without Roy Scheider sharing the screen with him.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR (1977)

Role: Major General Sosabowski

Comment: Okay, I’m cheating a bit since Hackman is not THE lead character here, but he is easily one of the most memorable, especially in a very late scene he shares with Michael Caine, Ryan O’Neal and Dirk Bogarde. Plus, for people of Polish descent Sosabowski is a well-known figure.

Gene as General Sosabowski leads some of the pitifully few free Polish troops still alive as the Allies launch Operation Market Garden late in World War Two. Hackman perfectly portrays an intelligent man who speaks in broken English only because it’s not his native language. He also delivers some appropriately cynical lines as the ultimately disastrous operation falls apart.

MARCH OR DIE (1977)

Role: Major William Foster

Comment: Only an actor of Hackman’s skill could make viewers not completely hate the bastard of a commanding officer that he plays in this French Foreign Legion film. Gene leads a typical menagerie of Foreign Legionnaires with dark, sometimes criminal pasts that they are fleeing.

Terence Hill portrays the soldier in love with Hackman’s woman Catherine Deneuve. That drama and others play out during the Rif War of the 1920s with an unexpected archeological discovery thrown in for good measure.

FOR MY LOOK AT TWENTY JAMES GARNER FILMS CLICK HERE.