Nobody can lose their shit and start yelling quite like Gene Hackman. The actor, who was discovered dead in his home at the age of 95 this week (under bizarre-sounding circumstances), appeared in dozens of movies and won two Oscars. He did comedies, thrillers, and at least one kids movie. He was also the best Lex Luthor we’ve ever had.
We took the occasion of his passing to look back at some of his best movies. There are of course the all-time classics like French Connection and The Conversation in which Hackman showed his range, subtlety, and fierceness. But there’s also the more obscure thrillers like No Way Out in which he plays a Secretary of Defense caught up in a murder plot investigated by Kevin Costner. I watched it last night and my interest ebbed and flowed until the last 30 minutes cemented it as one of my favorite political thrillers from the era.
Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead, a Western in which Hackman plays a diabolical sheriff opposite an all-star cast that includes Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio, also comes highly recommended. I’m putting it on this weekend. Here are seven of our other favorite Hackman movies.
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