Gene Hackman gets a much-deserved retrospective at the Coolidge

Boston Globe

26-03-2025

Superman, portrayed by Christopher Reeve, and Gene Hackman, right, are shown in a scene from "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace."
AP Photo
'I think it's important to note that this series was programmed in the fall of 2024,' says Mark Anastasio, program director at the Coolidge. 'We really wanted to honor Mr. Hackman with a retrospective while he was still with us. This is now incredibly bittersweet.'
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Here's the lineup, along with my two cents about each film. Since I love a good double feature, I'm adding a second movie you can watch at home once you leave the theater.
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'The French Connection'
Both of the films Ernest Tidyman co-wrote in 1971, 'Shaft' and 'The French Connection,' were huge hits, essentially saving their respective studios from bankruptcy. This film also cleaned up at the Academy Awards, winning five Oscars including best picture, director, adapted screenplay, and actor for Hackman; it was his third Oscar nomination in four years.
The film's protagonist is Popeye Doyle, a corrupt and racist New York City detective who'll stop at nothing to get his man. Hackman's barroom scene inspired Eddie Murphy's parody in '48 Hrs.,' the scene that made the comedian a star.
While I admit Hackman is fantastic, I've never been a fan of this movie. Besides the famous car chase (which director William Friedkin surpassed in his superior 1985 film, 'To Live and Die in L.A.'), I never understood why it's so revered. I guess you just had to be there. (
April 1, 7 p.m.
)
Double feature:
Watch Hackman expertly reprise Popeye Doyle in 1975's 'French Connection II.'
(Available on Prime)
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Gene Hackman in "The Conversation."
The Boston Globe/Boston Globe
'The Conversation'
If there's a role that encapsulates the essence of a Gene Hackman performance, it's surveillance expert Harry Caul in Francis Ford Coppola's terrifying masterpiece. And Hackman didn't even earn an Oscar nomination for it! The best of the batch of Watergate-era paranoid thrillers features a villainous Harrison Ford and Hackman's bespectacled antihero slowly succumbing to his obsessive desire to hear what he wants to hear. This movie will haunt you for days. Features the most sinister saxophone in cinema history.
(April 6, 2 p.m.)
Double feature:
Tony Scott's Hackman-Will Smith paranoid thriller 'Enemy of the State' (1998) is a pseudo-sequel where Hackman's character may or may not be Harry Caul.
(Available on Prime)
Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers."
Orion Pictures/Handout
'Hoosiers'
Widely considered one of the best sports movies ever made, 'Hoosiers' showcases Hackman's softer side. Set at an Indiana high school in the 1950s, this film is an uplifting tale of second chances. Hackman plays the coach who inspires his team, and Oscar-nominee Dennis Hopper is the drunk he hires as his assistant coach. You will cheer.
(April 8, 7 p.m., 35mm)
Double feature:
NFL coach Hackman + QB Keanu Reeves + sports comedy + misfit players = the enjoyable hot mess from 2000 called 'The Replacements.'
(Available on AppleTV+)
'Night Moves'
Who doesn't love a bleak-as-hell 1970s neo-noir? This is Hackman's 'Chinatown,' helmed by his 'Bonnie and Clyde' director Arthur Penn and featuring the debut of Melanie Griffith. Susan Clark ('Ma'am' to all you 'Webster' fans) plays Hackman's adulterous wife (a role originally offered to Faye Dunaway); Griffith is the missing teen who sets the plot in motion. An underseen, bitter little gem well worth experiencing in a theater.
(April 13, 2 p.m., 35mm)
Double feature:
The only logical pairing is 1972's controversial, unflinchingly nasty Hackman-Lee Marvin mob movie 'Prime Cut.' Alas, it's not streaming anywhere, as far as I can tell. I substitute 1987's Kevin Costner thriller, 'No Way Out.' It's dumb as hell, and it has an infuriating ending, but Hackman's great in it.
(Available on MGM+)
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Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe play FBI agents investigating the disappearance of three civil rights workers in "Mississippi Burning."
Orion Pictures
'Mississippi Burning'
Hackman is excellent here (so is Frances McDormand), but I don't have enough space to express my utter hatred of this movie. It's a bright, shining lie that gives the FBI credit for civil rights advancements. Meanwhile, director Alan Parker reduces the Black people who actually fought these battles to cowering victims whose sole purpose is to be brutally murdered. The film was so controversial in its initial release that critics including Roger Ebert wrote articles defending their positive reviews. I just watched it again and still think it's repugnant, racist trash. Decide for yourself.
(April 15, 7 p.m., 35mm)
Double feature:
'Under Fire,' the 1983 movie about journalists in a war zone, where Hackman teams up with Nick Nolte and Joanna Cassidy in Nicaragua.
(Available on Prime)
Gene Hackman, winner of the best supporting actor award at the Academy Awards in March 1993.
AP Photo, File
'Unforgiven'
'I don't deserve this … to die like this. I was building a house.'
With those words, Hackman gives one of the all-time great line readings. (That entire scene is dynamite.) Clint Eastwood's revisionist western — his masterpiece — gifts Hackman with Little Bill Daggett, the vicious yet charming and funny sheriff who rules with an iron fist. Of his two Oscars, this is the one Hackman deserved without question. It's my favorite performance of his.
(April 22, 7 p.m., 35mm)
Double feature:
Clint and Hackman reteam in 1997's conspiracy thriller 'Absolute Power.' Hackman plays the president!
(Available on AppleTV+, Prime)
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Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, and Calista Flockhart in "The Birdcage."'The Birdcage'
Hackman rarely got to flex his impressive comedy muscles, but director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May turn him loose in this remake of 'La Cage Aux Folles.' It's a big ask to endure a homophobic, conservative senator character nowadays, but Hackman is no caricature. His scenes with Nathan Lane are hilarious examples of misplaced empathy. He also isn't a bad-looking drag queen. Kudos to Robin Williams, whose superb performance deserved more credit.
(
April 27,
2p.m.)
Double feature:
Mel Brooks's 'Young Frankenstein.' Hackman's only in it for one scene, but it's the funniest one in the movie.
(Just buy it!)
'The Royal Tenenbaums'
Only Gene Hackman could get me to like a Wes Anderson movie. As the patriarch of the dysfunctional Tenenbaum clan, Hackman gives an Oscar-worthy performance. His prickliness cuts through Anderson's usual annoying whimsy, and he brings out the best in the ensemble cast. Anderson's best movie, which isn't saying much.
(April 29, 7 p.m., 35mm)
Double feature:
In 1970's 'I Never Sang for my Father,' the shoe is on the other foot: This time, Hackman is the son seeking approval from his hardened father. That 'French Connection' Oscar may be a consolation prize for him losing the Oscar for this film.
(Available on Prime)
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Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.