♪♪ ♪♪ -Hello, Norma?

It's Gene.

-Hackman was kind of iconic, so every time you put him in a film, it was this kind of glorious sense of Hackman-ness we'd be going to the cinema for.

-Angry, rebellious, critical, a renegade.

-A lot of people regard him as the best American actor of his era.

-He's an actor's actor.

He is the screen actor that all other screen actors want to work with.

-[ Chuckles ] I know it sounds outrageous, but think about it.

-He could do a villain like Lex Luthor.

He could do conflicted surveillance officer in the conversation.

-Oh, no, no.

That's, uh, dog's blood.

-While he may not have been a leading man in his sort of bone structure, there was something very dynamic about him.

-This is tricky.

[ Chuckles ] -Gene Hackman is a mystery, and that's why he's a great actor.

He never gives you the whole story.

You want to keep coming back.

You want to see him again and again so that you can crack the mystery of Gene Hackman.

[ Both laughing ] ♪♪ -Eugene Hackman was born January 30th, 1930, in San Bernardino, California.

His dad ran a printing press for newspapers, so the family moved around a little bit to various newspaper outlets, and finally they settled in Illinois.

-Hackman was quite a serious and retiring young boy and was obviously quite close to his mother.

They had moved in with, in fact, his grandmother in Danville, who was, in fact, English.

So he found himself quite often looking after his grandmother when his parents were out working, and they sort of babysat each other.

-When Gene Hackman was just 13, his dad left the family, and he was quite devastated, not only by his father leaving, but how he did it.

Gene Hackman remembered that he was out playing in the street one day as a 13-year-old boy, and he saw his dad driving off and just sort of casually waved to him.

And he said that sort of casual wave sort of tormented enough, and that was one reason he wanted to explore human emotions as an actor.

-Probably the breakup made him decide to go into the Marines, where he was a radio field operator.

He was there for about four years.

He was there during the Chinese Revolution.

He was in China at that time, and then he moved from China to Hawaii and Japan.

-You get that sense of someone who has explored the world and seen things, you know, already, and it's coming ingrained into who he was as an actor.

-Gene was very shy as a kid, and first he went to dancing classes, and but really his sort of métier, the place he went to sort of run away and be with himself was at the movies.

-It was when he saw Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" that triggered something in him that made him think, "God, you don't have to look like Errol Flynn, or you don't have to act like James Cagney to make a splash on the film.

I could do that."

-So he went to the Pasadena Playhouse, and at age about 30, he was a rather late starter for acting, and his cohorts there sort of made fun of him.

They said -- alongside Dustin Hoffman, who they thought was too short -- they said, "These two guys are the least likely to succeed."

Of course, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman would have the last laugh about that.

-Throughout the early '60s, Hackman continued to live and work in New York and landed various small roles in television and on stage.

-He was doing odd jobs trying to make it as an actor, also studying acting a bit more with Sanford Meisner.

And in Sanford Meisner's class where he met Robert Duvall.

So alongside Dustin Hoffman, they all were roommates and friends trying to make it together in New York.

-All of them had kind of come through acting school with the kind of ringing sort of anti-endorsement in the ears that they didn't have what it took to be stars.

They didn't look right.

They didn't have the right kind of style about them.

But they were keen on the kind of the style that had come out of Marlon Brando, that kind of naturalism.

And they were excited about maybe the way movies were changing, becoming more realistic.

And a sort of determination was born into all of them, but especially Hackman.

-He was in a film called "Lilith," where he met Warren Beatty, who became another of this young group in New York.

And from there, it was Warren Beatty who suggested that Gene Hackman join the cast of "Bonnie and Clyde."

[ Both laughing ] -Hey.

-Hey.

Hey.

-Hey, hey, how's Mama?

-Fine, fine.

-Sister?

Sister?

-Sent her best to you.

-Filling up there.

Must be that prison food.

-No, no, no, that's, uh... That's a married life, yeah.

You know what they say -- it's the face powder that gets a man interested... -Yeah.

-...but it's the baking powder that keeps him home.

Huh?

-[ Laughs ] -He plays Buck, who is kind of the older brother but lesser soul to the kind of bright-burning, sort of -- Warren Beatty's bright-burning Clyde.

And what is great is that he is the kind of counterpoint to what we see.

And it's what you see in -- that Hackman can bring.

He brings a kind of... a vulnerability and a life to quite a small role, and a great deal of humor.

I think people often miss the humor that Hackman often brings to it.

[ Bang ] -Take a good look, Pop.

I'm Buck Barrow.

[ Alarm ringing ] We're the Barrow Boys!

-[ Screams ] -He really caught the attention of Hollywood and the public with this role in "Bonnie and Clyde."

-And obviously it's now held up as a classic.

And it got him his first Oscar nomination.

And it's quite interesting that, for a man who -- and an actor who became known for such forceful roles, such kind of domineering personalities, would kind of make his first mark as kind of a little bit of a violet, a little bit of a sort of shrewish character.

-That's it, huh?

Yeah, you ski fast.

You race.

But you're reckless.

You rack up a lot.

No consistency.

That's what Creech has.

-Doesn't win a medal.

-It counts for a lot.

It comes from a certain consideration for the sport, a desire to learn.

That's something you never had.

-His next film of note was "Downhill Racer," in which he played a veteran coach of the -- of these famous skiers, Robert Redford and co. And it was one of those sports films which really hit the mark.

Usually sports films don't do terribly well, but "Downhill Racer" was one of the first and one of the best to really do well, and one of the reasons was Gene Hackman's very good performance.

-Nobody races unless I say so.

That's why I'm here.

That's why they made me the coach.

-It was a role that he was -- he really, really wanted to play.

And he's made several films, sporting films, in which he's played coaches, as opposed to sportsmen.

I don't know if this goes back to his childhood, but maybe it's some dream that he's always wanted to be a sportsman.

So, in other words, in order to play the guys who actually train the sportsmen is kind of the next best thing.

-What do you want us to do?

Get out a white paper?

Let it be known that we, Alice and Gene, have done all we can do to help this old man in his old age and make him happy without inconveniencing ourselves, of course, and he's refused our help, so if he falls down and hits his head, he lies there and rot it's not our fault.

-I don't think anyone expects either of us to ruin our lives for an unreasonable old man.

-It's not gonna ruin my life!

-It is.

-It's a week or a month!

-Forever.

-When he sort of took "I Never Sang for My Father," I think it was a real statement of intent that that period where he'd sort of studied with Hofmann and Duval and that period where they kind of set their kind of agenda almost, their kind of -- their manifesto that they were gonna be actors and they were gonna bring that kind of acting to Hollywood, they were sort of changing the rules.

-But you get the feeling -- and he said -- that if his mother had been alive at the time, this was the picture he would have wanted to show her.

And so, in a sense, it's kind of a homage to his mother, to his family.

It's another performance that none of the audience was prepared for it, moving from all the sort of not violent but very, very visceral performances that he'd given before.

And this one's very nuanced, it's very interior, it's very melancholy, and it was a surprise to everyone.

-If I lived here the rest of my life, it wouldn't be enough for you.

I've tried, goddamn it!

I've tried to be the dutiful son, commanded into your presence on every conceivable occasion.

Easter.

Birthdays.

Christmas.

Thanksgiving.

Even at Thanksgiving when Carol was dying, I was staying with her in the hospital.

"We miss you so our day is nothing without you.

Couldn't you come up for an hour or two after you leave Carol?"

You had no regard for what was really going on.

My wife was dying!

-Is it so terrible to want to see your own son?

-It's terrible to want to possess him entirely and completely, yes.

-It is, I think, probably of -- that era Hackman is probably one of his most underrated roles.

It's an extraordinary character study.

-We'd seen him in other films that he was good.

But this was magnificent work, and he should have won the Oscar.

-I came so close to loving you tonight.

I've never felt so open to you.

You don't know what it cost me to ask you to come with me.

But I've never even been able to sit in the same room alone with you.

You really think your door was always open to me?

-It's not my fault if you never came through it!

-All right.

Popeye's here.

Get your hands on your heads, get off the bar, and get on the wall!

Come on.

Move, move!

-I suppose the kind of the key film, certainly early career, and for many, the key film in Hackman's entire career.

Certainly the one that springs easiest to mind is "The French Connection."

-One of Gene Hackman's most iconic roles is as "Popeye" Doyle, this hard-boiled detective.

It's a great thriller crime story directed by William Friedkin.

Gene Hackman really seems to relish this more violent, rude kind of role.

But actually, he said later that it was Friedkin who had to push him to make this character even more violent, make him really nasty.

One of the great roles in this era of cinema.

-Have you ever been to Poughkeepsie?

You've been to Poughkeepsie, haven't you?

I want to hear it!

Come on!

-Yes, yes, yes, I-I... -Yeah.

-You sat on the edge of the bed, didn't you?

You took off your shoes, put your finger between your toes, and picked your feet, didn't you?!

Now say it!

-Yes!

-It's the story of identity.

It's the story of, you know, the differences between, or the lack of differences between the criminal and the cop, how like-minded they are.

And it's really a story of what Hackman can do with a character.

-Hackman was a great researcher.

He really liked to get everything right.

And, in fact, to this extent, he actually hung out with the real cops, the cops for the role, Doyle and the crew, in which they are -- in which he's actually playing.

[ Train rumbling ] -Once we saw him as Popeye Doyle, something erupted.

You know, the new Gene Hackman arrived, and he was so exciting to watch and so vital.

And the whole film breaks every rule that you would expect of a thriller.

It just -- it's full of character beats.

It's full of, you know, unusual textures, this unbelievable car chase through the New York traffic, which reputedly they shot through the real traffic with a sort of camera guy in the back seat.

-The car chase was unheard of before.

It's amazing.

You know, you're sitting there in the movies of the time, movie theater, and you're in the driving seat with Gene Hackman, and he's under the subway.

He's chasing this guy above him.

Gene Hackman is in his car.

And then this baby and a lady with a pram crosses in front of him.

And it's just like he's screaming.

You're screaming.

And it's one of these things that you just remember about this movie, which was full of those kind of moments.

[ Tires screech, horn honks ] -It's got him not only a nomination, but he won the Oscar that year and the Golden Globe.

Quite rightly.

It is -- It is a vibrant, vicious, bull-headed, human performance of a dogged cop doing his job.

-L-Listen, uh... you got a, um, a middle name?

-Why?

-Well...

I got a little trouble with Francis, you know.

I... -Lionel.

-Lionel.

-Francis Lionel Delbuchi.

-Okay, Lionel.

From now on, you are "Lion."

Okay?

-Okay.

-[ Chuckles ] -One of Hackman's favorite films from this period of his life was "Scarecrow," which was about two drifters who went from California to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

-They actually hitchhiked in California, and they lived rough.

And there's a moment where Hackman asked the waitress, "Is this your first time?"

And that's kind of an insult to an actor, because basically what he's saying is, "Have you ever acted before?"

So he starts now to get a reputation of being maybe a difficult genius.

-Okay.

-For every car, there's dirt.

-So we're partners.

I think -- I get this.

-Huh.

This your first day?

-There's some very good things in it.

And Hackman himself had a variety of emotions to display.

He was sweet.

He was gentle.

He was violent.

He had a kind of misery in him, which he brought out terribly well.

-In 1972, Hackman reaffirmed his reputation as a difficult actor to work with when he starred in "The Poseidon Adventure."

-God wants brave souls.

He wants winners, not quitters.

And if you can't win, at least try to win!

God loves triers.

Isn't that right, Robin?

-Right.

-I love "The Poseidon Adventure."

I think it's great because Hackman is such a contradictory force to what you expect from a disaster movie.

He is playing this character with kind of this intensity.

He's this kind of failed priest who's sort of wrestling with God while trying to rescue the survivors of this kind of upturned sort of ocean liner.

For Hackman, the whole thing becomes this great metaphor for man's struggle for survival, which could be completely over the top and completely sink the film, no kind of pun intended.

But yet it kind of gives it this kind of tragic air of flawed heroism and kind of intensity.

And he nearly broke the director, and he nearly broke the kind of -- the fun that could come with that kind of film.

Yet what you remember about "Poseidon Adventure" is Hackman.

-One!

Two!

-For God's sake, Reverend, what you're doing is suicide!

-We're cut off from the rest of the world.

They can't get to us.

Maybe we can get to them.

You've said enough.

Now get out of the way.

-Pray for us, but don't do this.

Gliding to another deck will kill you all!

-And sitting on our butts is not gonna help us either.

Maybe by climbing out of here, we can save ourselves.

You got any sense, you'll come along with us.

Grab ahold.

On three!

-He changed the character.

He developed the character.

He was probably, in terms of being on the set with a director and if there was a screenwriter on, he was probably a real pain, actually.

But 9 times out of 10, the decisions that he wanted to change or the choices he made turned out to be right.

-I told you I was gonna get everybody out of here, and Goddamn it, I'm gonna do it!

-Mr. Scott, all those other people, where were they going?

-They're going toward the bow.

But they're wrong.

The bow is underwater!

-How do you know?!

-It's probably one of his showiest performances.

You could even say it teeters on melodramatic, this film, but he gives it an emotional anchor.

And you believe him.

You want him to save the day.

He later said it wasn't the favorite kind of film he liked to work on, but he wanted to see what it was really like working on one of these huge, big-budget, big-cast films.

-He was a major star already, but "The Poseidon Adventure" proved that he could actually be in a huge box-office attraction after the rather dim box-office returns of "Scarecrow."

-In 1974, acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola approached Gene Hackman to star in his next masterpiece.

-...I always think.

-How's he doing up there?

-I always think how when they had the newspaper strike... -Well, we're getting better than 40%.

-How about the second position?

[ Switch clicking ] [ Feedback ] -It's not so good.

[ Feedback continues ] -There was a kind of inevitability that Coppola and Hackman would cross sort of paths, and "The Conversation" was a stunning piece for him.

It was Coppola at almost the height of his brilliance.

You know, as much as we look at "Apocalypse Now" and "The Godfather" as naturally these sort of signal moments in American cinema, on the quiet, "The Conversation" does something else.

-Hey, you should have seen it.

These new microphones are just incredible.

They really -- I couldn't hardly believe it myself.

We were over 200 yards away.

And it was absolutely readable.

E-Everything.

I broke in a couple newsreel cameraman, and, uh, look, you should have been there, Bernie.

It was really -- -What did they do?

-Well, they -- they took the crosshairs of the telescope, and they lined it up on the mouths of the -- -No.

The boy and the girl.

What did they do?

-Oh, I don't know.

But it was really beautiful.

-Gene Hackman is playing Harry Caul, this surveillance expert.

And again, it's an iconic role throughout his career.

It's a complicated character.

He's not very showy.

He's quite quiet.

He's got a guilty conscience.

And I think Gene Hackman does so much without making this a sort of showy performance.

It's quite a restrained performance, but that's the most effective way to show us inside this mind of Harry Caul.

-It was about eavesdropping, and it was about all the things we're concerned about now, but at that time, it was pretty fresh.

It was in the midst of the Cold War.

It was a magnificent film in many ways, quite a difficult one to understand in parts, because it wasn't an orthodox narrative.

-I can't see why a couple of questions about what the hell's going on can get you so out of joint.

'Cause I can't sit here and explain the personal problems of my clients.

-It was a film of the moment.

It was spot-on.

It was what we were feeling.

That he could deliver that kind of performance was incredible to people, that Coppola could make that kind of film after coming off of a big box office mainstream monster like "The Godfather," that he could actually make this tiny, precise, almost European film.

And it's one of the great jewels of that era of cinema.

-In 1975, Gene Hackman decided to reprise one of his most famous characters in the sequel to "The French Connection."

-I'm Doyle.

-Ah, Doyle.

-Doyle.

-Henri Barthélémy.

-Barthélémy.

-We're expecting you.

-Yes.

A little spare-time work, huh?

-Narcotics.

-In the fish?

-In the fish.

Unfortunately, this is our information, Monsieur Doyle.

-"French Connection II" was -- I think why he was drawn to it was this idea of flipping the character into a world where he is now the drug addict.

And it's one of those films, you know, that almost tips over the edge into it's kind of -- it's kind of claustrophobia.

It's very different from the first film in the sense that it's much more localized to single rooms.

Directed by John Frankenheimer.

But it really is a tour de force of Hackman's talent for just kind of being raw.

-They sent me over here because I was the only one who could recognize you.

That's all.

I didn't find out anything.

-I think he balked at the idea of a sequel.

But then he read the script, and he realized that this was a really, really -- if not as good as the first one, then probably better.

-Tell me something, Lex.

Why do so many people have to die for the crime of the century?

-Why?

You ask why?

Why does the phone always ring when you're in the bathtub?

[ Lights click off ] Why is the most brilliantly diabolical leader of our time surrounding himself with total nincompoops?

-I'm back, Mr. Luthor.

-Yes, I was, uh, just talking about you.

You were followed again.

-If we'd sort of come out of the early '70s with an impression that Gene Hackman was a very serious actor, very serious about his craft and capable of astonishing performances, Oscar-winning performances, you'd be entirely right.

But yet you'd miss a whole side to him in that he had a huge sense of humor, and he loved fun and could bring to the screen a kind of conviviality and charm that could take a piece of nonsense like "Superman" and fill it with laughter and fun.

His Lex Luthor is silly and over the top, but unforgettable.

[ Sliding and scraping ] -He's definitely coming, Mr. Luthor.

[ Metal clanging and squeaking ] -It's open.

Come in.

My attorney will be in touch with you about the damage to the door.

Otis, take the gentleman's cape.

-Wouldn't have necessarily thought he would be the perfect villain for these films, but he plays it with a little twinkle in his eye that makes Lex Luthor quite charming.

He's not just a one-note villain up against the hero, Christopher Reeve.

And I think that makes these films much more interesting to watch.

-This is a comic book.

This is about a comic-book character.

Everybody who goes to see "Superman" knows about Lex Luthor.

You take your own Lex Luthor in there with you when you see it, and he knows you're doing that, which is his intelligence.

So he plays with it, and it's -- he's very funny and deeply menacing.

-Is that how a warped brain like yours gets its kicks?

By planning the death of innocent people?

-No.

By causing the death of innocent people.

-Lex Luthor is a villain who, if anybody knows their "Superman," is, of course, completely bald.

The first thing he said is, "I'm not shaving my head."

He refused to wear a bald wig even.

So what they did -- they got around it by combing his hair in different ways for many scenes to look as if he was wearing a succession of toupees, rather bad toupees.

Weirdly enough, it works rather well, actually.

And it's only until the very, very final scene when Superman dumps him in the prison, that you see him take his wig off, or his toupee off, and that he's bald, he is Lex Luthor.

And even that is a bald wig.

He didn't actually go that far.

-Good evening, Warden.

I think these two men should be safe here with you now so they can get a fair trial.

-Who is it, Superman?

-Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mind of our time.

-It's almost like a sort of bow to the camera.

It's kind of like.

"Yeah, I know, I know."

And off comes the wig and it's great because he just looks even more ridiculous.

And that's kind of why he's lovable, because, you know, he's sending himself up as well.

-Look, it's bad enough we gotta play in this cage you call a gym, your players are playing like a bunch of gorillas!

-Who are you calling a gorilla?

-You, for one.

-Bust up.

[ Grunts ] -Hey.

Come on now, would you?

-"Hoosiers" was the film that gave Gene Hackman popular appeal, I suppose, because it was such an all-American story.

You know, it's the story of a kind of grizzled coach, down-beaten, unsuccessful, who comes to take on the college team who are the losers and turn them around.

You know, it's the classic sports-movie scenario.

But imagine that with Gene Hackman at the helm of it.

-"Hoosiers" is one of the best sports films ever made, extraordinarily enough, and not only that, he did very, very well and people absolutely loved it.

-Don't get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game.

If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game.

In my book, we're gonna be winners.

Okay?!

All right!

-It's a feel-good film.

He brings a realism to it.

You can see this guy on the sidelines of the court just itching for his team to win, trying to inspire them.

-All right, listen up, listen up!

Here's what we're gonna do.

Jimmy, they're gonna be expecting you to take the last shot.

We're gonna use you as a decoy.

Buddy, you get the ball.

Give it to Merle on the picket fence.

He's gonna take the last shot.

All right, let's go.

-"Hoosiers" is just a kind of classic, really, because it does everything you want it to do, but does it with intelligence and does it in a Hackman way.

-He was amazed that it did so well.

And he'll be remembered for that as much as almost any other film he made.

-Well, what y'all gonna do?

Wait or leave?

-We're gonna wait 'cause we want to be near you.

-There's some empty seats down there.

-Uh, Mr. Ward.

Uh, that's a colored down there.

Don't even think about it.

There's some people over here getting ready to leave right now.

-Aren't you hungry, Mr. Anderson?

-If you're looking for the signal performance in the second half of his career, I think you turn to "Mississippi Burning."

-Now you know what you're getting into.

-I'm gonna call Washington.

I need more agents.

-Would it make any difference if I told you that's exactly the wrong thing to do?

-No.

-Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning" is based on the true story of civil-rights workers who were murdered in the Deep South.

Gene Hackman is playing an FBI agent who goes down south to investigate these crimes.

A really strong performance from Gene Hackman brought a certain gravitas to it, a warmth that's really needed because there's some really violent acts that we see on screen.

-It's stinging with kind of emotional power.

It's stinging with the kind of violence of America.

It's very political.

You can see why Hackman wanted to do it.

But it locates the political in the human, in the personal.

It's about people.

-How about you, Deputy?

Is that gun just for show, or do you get to shoot people once in a while?

-[ Groans ] Aah!

Oh.

[ Grunts ] -Thanks for the beer.

-He saw a clip of it, of the movie, at the Academy Awards ceremony that he attended because he'd been nominated.

And he says, "That's when I decided I wasn't going to make any more violent movies anymore."

"Mississippi Burning" is not only violent literally, it shows the violence of racism in America.

-Now, Ned... them whores are gonna tell different lies than you.

And when their lies ain't the same as your lies... ...well, I ain't gonna hurt no woman.

But I'm gonna hurt you.

And not gentle like before.

-In Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven," Gene Hackman is playing the sheriff, Little Bill, quite a pragmatic man.

Again, this film has quite a bit of violence, and Gene Hackman later said he wasn't that comfortable with the level of violence in it, even when he read the script the first time.

But he wanted to work with Clint Eastwood.

He also thought it was a unique take on the Western.

-Eastwood persuaded him because he said, "Look, this is a film that is about the effects of violence on human beings, on men, even in the West and that, you know, nobody wins out of this."

-All right, gentlemen.

He's got one barrel left.

When he fires that, take out your pistols and shoot him down like the mangy scoundrel he is.

[ Thunder rumbles ] -What is tremendous is Hackman's performance because he never lets it get out of control.

He makes him charming.

He makes him kind of despicable.

And Hackman would rightly win an Oscar for it because he's so dynamic and interesting in it, and the film is a masterpiece.

You know, it's kind of the great sort of modern Western.

-I don't deserve this.

To die like this.

[ Thunder rumbles ] I was building a house.

-Deserve's got nothing to do with it.

-I'll see you in hell, William Munny.

[ Thunder crashes ] -[ Cocks gun ] -What about you?

What led you to law school?

-[ Chuckles ] It's so far back, I don't think I can remember.

-Sure you can, Counselor.

-I used to caddy for young lawyers off of work on weekdays, and their wives.

I'd look at those long, tan legs and just knew I had to be a lawyer.

The wives had long, tan legs, too.

-In "The Firm," which is a really strong John Grisham adaptation, Gene Hackman is playing a corrupt lawyer who's showing the ropes to Tom Cruise, and it's another theme of justice in Gene Hackman's work.

Again, a very solid performance that helps elevate this film from a simple courtroom thriller.

-What do you mean by anything?

-What do you think I mean?

-Well, I don't know.

You're the risk taker.

-You think I'm talking about breaking the law?

-No, I'm just trying to figure out how far you want it bent.

-As far as you can without breaking it.

-In other words, don't risk an IRS audit.

-I don't give a damn about an audit.

They just better not win.

-Hackman brings all of his kind of loquacious charm to it and all his kind of slipperiness.

And there's certain sort of jolt when you realize he is corrupt and he is kind of wicked.

-He brings to it a kind of casual menace.

You suspect that and you feel that there are literally bodies somewhere because of Hackman.

-I heard this was your last day Was I misinformed?

-I'll be gone for a while.

-Well, I just stopped off to say goodbye.

Just in case.

-In case what?

-In case it's more than a while.

-The critics who thought that John Grisham was just a popular novelist who brought up a little bit by "The Firm" because they realized that it was about something important, about corruption in America, and that it had something to say.

And it was certainly well made and very well acted by Hackman.

-What do you think?

-I think there's nothing on this.

-Yes, sir.

It, uh, got cut off during the attack.

-Then it's meaningless.

-Sir, this is an EAM pertaining to nuclear missile.

-No, Mr. Hunter, that's a message fragment.

-Because it got cut off during the attack, so the message could mean anything.

It could be a message to abort.

It could be a message -- -It could be a fake Russian transmission.

-Which is exactly why we need to confirm, sir.

All I'm asking for is the time we need to get back online.

-Calm down, Mr. Hunter.

-I am calm.

-You don't appear to be calm.

-Comm, weapons, missile systems ready to launch in four minutes.

-Step aside, Seaman.

-Yes, sir.

-"Crimson Tide" again played on that idea of Gene Hackman as authority figure, as a kind of American, upright, upstanding kind of -- he's the coach again, but now he's the kind of captain.

-Gene Hackman admitted that he and Denzel didn't always see eye to eye after Gene Hackman had accidentally punched him on the set, and it was very much an accident.

But he did say they went on to make up after that little incident.

-I think rather than this kind of myth that they didn't like one another, I think it was very much about part of how they were playing the roles that they kept apart and they sort of they played up this kind of intense rivalry.

And it's great.

It works on screen.

You can see two sort of acting forces kind of coming up against each other in this kind of claustrophobic submarine.

-Repeat my command.

-Sir, we don't know what this message means.

Our target package could have changed.

-You repeat this order, or I'll find somebody who will!

-It's a very, very tense movie.

It's a classic of its kind.

I mean, it is, to a certain extent, popcorn.

But because of the caliber of the actors and because of the way the thing is actually structured, you get a real sense of tension.

I mean, it's claustrophobic in the extreme.

[ Beeping ] -God help you if you're wrong.

-If I'm wrong, then we're at war.

God help us all.

-And it brings about, you know, one of those great kind of early-'90s thrillers that are corny in some senses, but exciting because you're in the hands of these kind of -- these kind of great boxers who will just kind of duke it out with one another.

-So you make movies, huh?

-I produce feature motion pictures.

No TV.

You mentioned "Grotesque" before?

That happens to be "Grotesque Part 2" that Karen Flores was in.

She also starred in three of my "Slime Creatures" releases.

You may have seen them.

-I got an idea for a movie.

-Hackman never thought of himself as a comedy actor.

So when he was asked to accept the role in "Get Shorty," which was a comedy performance, he was a little bit worried about it.

-But the director told him, "When you're in a comedy, what makes it funny is that the characters don't know it's a comedy.

That's what's funny.

So just play it straight.

And then you're playing comedy."

-I hate being alone.

The house is so quiet, so lonely.

[ Sighs ] It needs... a man's touch.

-Nice necklace, Doris.

-He obviously got a taste for comedy again.

So he took on "The Birdcage."

-Bless them.

That's the way nature made them.

Maybe I'm just an old-fashioned girl, but I pity the woman who's too busy to stay home and take care of her man.

-Hear, hear!

God, it's just so nice to meet people like you.

[ Chuckles ] -"The Birdcage" is just a terrifically funny film.

And, of course, that's down in part to Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, two famous funnymen who are just fantastically funny in the film.

But also, critics really singled out Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest playing this couple.

They're more of the straight characters, but someone like Roger Ebert said, "Gosh, Gene Hackman's the funniest thing in this film."

And I think it shows how good he was in comedy, sometimes without the biggest laughs or the showiest lines.

-Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, this is a man!

-What?

-Don't you understand?

They're gay.

They own the drag club downstairs.

They're two men.

-When he ends up actually dressed in drag in a platinum wig in a gay nightclub, first of all, you don't recognize him until he opens his mouth.

And then when you do, when he does open his mouth, you say, "That is never Gene Hackman."

But it is, and it is hysterically funny.

-No one will dance with me.

Look at this dress.

I told him white would make me look fat.

-What about me?

I'm just as pretty as the rest of these guys.

-Dance?

N-Not you.

Barbara.

-Don't leave me.

Don't leave me here.

I don't want to be the only girl not dancing.

-Again, Hackman sort of allows himself to be sent up.

I think he enjoys that side of it.

-You know how many federal agents you had following you on that ferry?

-I-I don't -- -Who are you working for?

-What are you talking about?

I'm not working -- -Is this about me?

Am I a target here?

Do they know me?

-Who is they?

-Do they know me?!

-I don't know what you're talking about!

-"Enemy of the State" is interesting because it's seeing Gene Hackman take on another surveillance expert, sort of a nod to "The Conversation" many decades before.

This is a Will Smith vehicle, but it's great to see Gene Hackman pop up, sort of the spiritual successor of Harry caul.

-Hackman's character is this kind of undercover surveillance operative who's gone rogue, who's aging, but who knows all the games.

And he's the only ally for Will Smith's character who's been framed, who has to go on the run.

-Why are they after me?

-I don't know, and I don't want to know.

-Here they come.

I thought these sat dishes would scramble their signals.

-Control, this is Air One.

Repeat coordinates.

-105 Chambers Avenue.

-You're transmitting.

They still have a signal on you.

Your collar, your belt, your zipper.

Get rid of your clothes -- all of them.

-Well, and then what am I supposed to do?

-Nothing.

You live another day, I'll be very impressed.

-He plays fantastically well opposite Will Smith, who got sort of just -- is just an innocent who gets caught up in it.

And then Hackman is, of course, the guy who's actually -- he knows everything about everything.

But he's also, because of Will Smith's interference, finds himself on the run.

He has to blow up his entire facility in order to be able to sort of escape.

-He didn't mind if he played the hero or a villain, as long as he played it properly.

-Got a minute?

-[ Gasps ] What are you doing here?

-Uh, I need a favor.

I want to spend some time with you and the children.

-Are you crazy?

-Well, wait a minute, damn it.

-Stop following me!

-Well, I want my family back.

-Well, you can't have it.

I'm sorry for you, but it's too late.

-Well, listen... Baby, I'm dying.

Yeah, I-I'm sick as a dog.

I'll be dead in six weeks.

I'm dying.

-When Wes Anderson came to make "The Royal Tenenbaums," you just know because of the kind of filmmaker Wes Anderson is, that he cast Gene Hackman to eke out as much sort of Gene-Hackman-ness he could out of this character.

-I've missed the hell out of you, my darlings.

Well, you know that, though, don't you?

-I hear you're dying.

-So they tell me.

-I'm sorry.

-Well, I've had a good run.

-You don't look so sick, Dad.

-Thank you.

-Gene Hackman is the glue that holds this whole film together.

And I think it shows a new generation what a fine actor he is and how his timing is so perfect, whether it's drama or comedy.

-You stay away from my children.

Do you understand?

-My God, I haven't been in here for years.

-Hey!

Are you listening to me?!

-Yes, I am!

I think you're having a nervous breakdown!

-I guess maybe Mr. Hackman would disagree with me, but this is his swan song.

It's a film that, I think, because of his performance will be played over and over again in the years to come.

It is the signature of a great career.

-Look, I know I'm gonna be the bad guy on this one, but I just want to say the last six days have been the best six days of probably my whole life.

-It's amazing, even after he's retired from acting, he's been very busy, written something like four books that have been published.

-Whoo-hoo!

We're gonna have ourselves a time, boy!

-Gene Hackman, to me, is the -- You know, he's the great modern American actor.

-You don't just fight battles when everything is hunky dory.

-Gene Hackman could have been a great character actor and left at that.

But he was rather more than that.

He became a big star.

-This is -- [ Coughs ] It's really good.

-Gene Hackman has to be one of the most reliable actors who has made as many great films as he has.

I can't think of a single bad performance he's ever given.

-Did you smile that same stupid smile, huh?!

Did you?!

-He knows that movies matter, that going to the movies, you see a performance can affect your entire life.

And he's conscious of that all the time.

-I'm asking you to be strong.

Come with us.

-He proved that, yes, no, you don't have to look like Errol Flynn to be a major Hollywood star.

He's a major Hollywood star without being starry.

-Wrap!

It's a wrap.

Come back tomorrow.

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