Actor Gene Hackman Retires: A Look Back at His Career

He is not ruggedly handsome, suave or debonair yet every time Gene Hackman is on screen he commands your attention from the fiery, honest narcotics detective Popeye Doyle to the dedicated basketball coach Norman Dale to the vile and ugly Little Bill Daggett. In just over 40 years Hackman has made over seventy movies, some great and some not so, but all worthy of watching him on screen. Recently Hackman, 78, revealed that he had retired from film acting after not having worked in four years and being offered what he referred to as "grandpa" roles with no bite. This is truly a sad way for a remarkable career to come to an end. Hackman claims not to have any regrets however. The five time Academy Award nominee and two time winner now concentrates on writing novels and doing voiceovers for television commercials.

Hackman studied originally at the Pasadena Playhouse where he was one of two classmates voted "Least likely to succeed." The other classmate was Dustin Hoffman. Later the two would room together in New York while struggling to find work. 1967 would be the year that both men broke through and never looked back. Since then Hackman has been nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards while winning 3 plus receiving the lifetime achievement award. Hackman was won the L.A. Film Critics Award once (Unforgiven), the National Board of Review Award three times (The French Connection; The Conversation; Mississippi Burning), and the New York Film Critics Award twice (The French Connection; Unforgiven).

Hackman took an interesting career path that not many actors of his range and talent do, or admit to. Hackman took many roles in his career motivated by money and was less apt to take on either a risky role or one he felt would be in a more "artsy" type of movie. How else to explain Hackman turning down roles in "Jaws," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "Network," and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" to accept high salaried jobs in less distinguished films such as "Lucky Lady," "The Domino Principle," "March Or Die" and "A Bridge Too Far."

Hackman also turned down the now classic role of Hannibal Lechter in Silence of the Lambs because he didn't want to play such a violent role. It was this line of thinking that caused him to turn Clint Eastwood down several times when offered the part of Little Bill in Unforgiven. Hackman finally relented after Eastwood continued to persist but vowed never to play such an ugly character again.

Here is a look back at Hackman's storied career. With the somewhat recent announcements of Sean Connery and Paul Newman's retirements, Hackman's announcement is more of a blow then it would have been. We don't have many Gene Hackman's on the big screen anymore and a year wasted without seeing his talent utilized is truly a waste indeed.

After appearing in minor, forgettable films in the early and mid 60's, Hackman struck gold in 1967 when he was cast as Clyde Barrow's brother, Buck, in the landmark American film Bonnie and Clyde. The film changed movies as we knew them and catapulted everyone in the cast to great success (and Academy Award nominations of which Hackman would receive his first). In quick succession Hackman began his now familiar process of working, working, and working by appearing in The Split, Riot, The Gypsy Moths, Downhill Racer and Marooned, none of them particularly successful films.

In 1970 Hackman rose in the spotlight with his endearing role as a son trying to break away from his father after the death of his mother in I Never Sang For My Father. Hackman would receive his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 1971 was a pivotal year for Hackman as he locked down his most famous role and never looked back as his career skyrocketed. After turns in two bombs, Doctor's Wives and The Hunting Party, Hackman landed the role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection and an icon was born. Hackman, who would win his first Academy Award for Best Actor for this role, was so identified by it that he once complained that he wished he had another iconic role so people would stop calling him 'Popeye," even more then twenty years after its release.

1972 played much like the previous year having starred in two quickly forgotten bombs, Cisco Pike and Prime Cut, before starring as the Reverend Frank Scott in Irwin Allen's blockbuster disaster movie, The Poseidon Adventure. The next year came Scarecrow, a gem of a little film co-starring Al Pacino as drifters who meet up on the road. The film's failure bothered Hackman (who believes this to be one of his best performances) enough to shy away from its type of movie for most of the rest of his career. In 1974 came what Hackman, and many others including myself, claims to be the best role of his career as Harry Caul, surveillance expert, in Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation. The film was not a hit despite strong reviews and a Best Picture nomination but is seen today as one of the best films of the decade. Hackman followed this with the little seen Zandy's Bride with Liv Ullmann and followed that with a memorable cameo as the blind man in Mel Brooks' classic Young Frankenstein. Hackman's last line, "Where are you going? I was going to make Espresso" was completely adlibbed and Brooks loved it enough to keep it in the film.

In 1975 Hackman starred in four major movies and failed to connect with a mass audience with any of them. First up was his reprising of his Popeye Doyle role in French Connection II which was the biggest of the four films though it still underperformed and received mixed reviews. Both Night Moves and Bite The Bullet received some of Hackman's best reviews but neither film made a dime. Lastly was the big budgeted Lucky Lady co-starring Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli in an epic action comedy which proved that top stars, a big budget and an A-list director (in this case Singin In The Rain's Stanley Donen) can contribute to an awful movie. This was one of the bigger duds of the decade.

Hackman came back in 1977 with three more big budget duds. The Domino Principle, a star studded but thoroughly confusing CIA thriller, A Bridge Too Far, another star studded World War II film, and March Or Die, a foreign legion drama were all box office bombs and quickly forgotten. Hackman finished out the decade with his biggest hit in the star studded Superman in which Hackman chewed up the scenery as the villainous Lex Luthor.

Hackman began the decade of the 80's reprising his Lex Luthor in Superman II, another huge hit. Hackman followed this the next year starring with Barbra Streisand in the romantic comedy All Night Long, a critical and box office flop. Next was a small role in friend Warren Beatty's epic Reds. In 1983 Hackman came back with three more movies though only two of them did he actually appear in. First is the vastly underrated and quite powerful war drama Under Fire with Nick Nolte and Ed Harris in which Hackman has a supporting role. He then starred in the Vietnam War drama Uncommon Valor as a man looking for his son who was M.I.A. in the war. The first film was a disappointment while the latter was a surprise Christmas hit. He also lent his voice in the role of God in the John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John dud Two of a Kind. The next two years saw Hackman in films that barely saw an audience when you combine their grosses. Misunderstood, Eureka, Twice in a Lifetime, Target and Power all came and went with little notice though Lifetime did receive some strong critical notice.

In 1986 came a Hackman classic, Hoosiers. The story of a small Indiana town's basketball team trying to bond with their unorthodox coach won the hearts of millions and was a smash hit. Hackman followed that up with a strictly for the money return to his Lex Luthor role in Superman 4: The Quest For Peace but then came back with a nice turn as a villainous politician in the Kevin Costner thriller No Way Out. 1988 brought Hackman in five major movies. Bat 21 was another Vietnam film that proved we had our fill of Vietnam films. Another Woman was Hackman's foray into a Woody Allen film. Split Decisions was about amateur boxing and easily one of Hackman's worst films. Full Moon In Blue Water was a romantic comedy with Teri Garr that barely saw the light of day. And then came Mississippi Burning, one of Hackman's most acclaimed films and performances which garnered Hackman his fourth Academy Award nomination. He finished out the decade in the well received thriller The Package but the film failed to find a big audience.

Hackman continued his hectic work schedule as 1990 rolled around. That year he appeared in three movies. First up was a comedy dud, Loose Cannons, co-starring Dan Aykroyd. Next was a supporting role opposite Meryl Streep in Postcards From The Edge. Last came the thriller Narrow Margin. All three films flopped. 1991 continued his bad streak with two more box office failures. First came the crime thriller Class Action followed by an action comedy, Company Business.

In 1992 Hackman would win his second Academy Award as the vicious lawman Little Bill Daggett, who was building a house, in Clint Eastwood's western masterpiece Unforgiven. His career seemed to be born yet again but he continued working at a frantic pace, spreading himself thin. In 1993 he took an effective supporting role in The Firm. Interestingly he followed that up with three more westerns one right after the other. Geronimo: An American Legend, Wyatt Earp and The Quick and the Dead all came and went. Hackman then began a run of strong hits starting with the submarine thriller Crimson Tide, continuing with a co-starring role in the action-comedy Get Shorty and finishing his trifecta co-starring with Robin Williams in The Bird Cage. Then Hackman fell back again as he appeared in four consecutive disappointments, Extreme Measures, The Chamber, Absolute Power (reuniting with Clint Eastwood) and Twilight co-starring Paul Newman. In 1998 his voice lent him to his next hit in the comedy Antz followed by the thriller Enemy of the State, a box office smash which teamed him with Will Smith.

The new decade has not been overly kind to Gene Hackman. He started it in a thriller called Under Suspicion, a fairly interesting film which was never released theatrically and went straight to video. Next was the Keanu Reeves comedy The Replacements which was a mild hit. Heartbreakers was also a mild hit and showcased Hackman as the rich, chain smoking set up for a con for Sigourney Weaver. He followed those up with two of his best reviewed films in a decade, David Mamet's Heist and The Royal Tenenbaums but neither film found the audience it deserved.

Hackman's last three movies were all disappointing that underperformed at the box office as well. Behind Enemy Lines was a flat thriller co-starring Owen Wilson. Runaway Jury was Hackman's third John Grisham film and first time to co-star with old pal Dustin Hoffman but they provided the few sparks the film had. Welcome To Mooseport was supposed to be television star Ray Romano's big foray from the small to the big screen but is most likely going to be remembered only as a footnote in film history as the last film Gene Hackman ever appeared in.

While true movie lovers hope that isn't the case we can all take heart in the fact that Gene Hackman has left us a plethora of terrific performances in some fine films while still keeping their fingers crossed that there is one more terrific script, one more moment of weakness for want to be on a film set that will lure Gene Hackman back to the big screen and give us one more film to talk about.