Ten Old Gene Hackman Movies I Really Want To See

Gene Hackman. For a guy who didn't give us a single movie to enjoy over the last twenty years of his life, he left us a lot of movies to enjoy. Looking over his filmography today, I quickly realized sharing some titles I hadn't seen was more noteworthy than anything I could say about the classics I had. You probably know about The Royal Tenenbaums, Bonnie & Clyde, The Conversation, Unforgiven, The French Connection, The Birdcage. Maybe you've even seen rare stinkers like Under Suspicion or Loose Cannons. Maybe you've long adored cult favorites like Night Moves or Heist. If you can stomach the idea of Gene Hackman and Dennis Quaid as a father and son both in love with a wigged Barbra Streisand, All Night Long is a pretty cute comedy I'd recommend. But if you've also seen all ten of the movies below...I tip my hat.

Cisco Pike (1972) - available on Freevee, Pluto, Prime and Roku

Speaking of the recently, sadly departed, Cisco Pike was Kris Kristofferson’s first movie (not counting his appearance as The Minstrel Wrangler in Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie). Kris plays the titular, down-on-his-luck singer/songwriter, with Gene as a hot-headed pig forcing him to move 10k of marijuana stolen from the Mexicans. Most of the movie is Cisco wandering around L.A., trying to get rid of the dang marijuana, though still finding time for a three-way. Doug Sahm, Karen Black and Harry Dean Stanton play some of the pals Cisco encounters during this wild week. Featuring Antonio Fargas as Brother Buffalo.

Eureka (1983) - available on MGM, Pluto, Prime and for rent

Nicolas Roeg directs Gene as one Jack McCann, a former prospector with an evil blonde dyejob who owns a Caribbean Island. Some of the people making Jack’s life miserable are Rutger Hauer as Claude Maillot Van Horn, Mickey Rourke as Aurelio D’Amato, and Joe Pesci as Mayakofsky. It was kept on the shelf for two years after earning an X for violence. Sold.

Extreme Measures (1996) - available for rent

Hugh Grant is a young doctor who thinks Gene Hackman's respected surgeon might be experimenting on patients. Directed by Michael “7 Up” Apted and produced by Grant’s then-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley, with the goal to make Hugh Grant more of an everyman actor and less of a fop. Reviews suggest it’s either stylish, silly, smart or all of the above. Honestly surprised I haven’t seen this. Featuring J.K. Simmons as Dr. Mingus.

Full Moon In Blue Water (1988) - available on MGM

Peter Masterson’s follow-up to A Trip To Bountiful, in which Gene plays a bar owner too depressed to function after his wife disappears. Then Teri Garr (another recent loss) shows up, determined to rock this man’s world. It can’t be good, or I would have heard about it before 2025, but how can I deny myself this Young Frankenstein reunion? One that has Burgess Meredith and Elias Koteas respectively playing intellectually disabled men named “The General” and “Jimmy”? Easily, you might say. But I'm intrigued.

The Hunting Party (1971) - available on Pluto, Prime, Tubi and for rent

The first of three movies Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen made together in the ‘70s, none of which look particularly good. But this one looks really trashy, with Hackman as a cattle baron leading a group of rich rapists in the old west, and Oliver Reed leading a downtrodden group of cattle rustling rapists. Bergen’s character is married to Hackman’s and kidnapped by Reed’s, who mistook her for a teacher. You see, Reed's vagabond just wanted to…learn how to read. Trashy, trashy, trashy, but if there’s a movie where Gene Hackman is supposed to be more evil than Oliver Reed, I’m there. Featuring L.Q. Jones as “Hog.”

Narrow Margin (1990) - available for rent

A Peter Hyams adaptation of a ‘50s train thriller, in which Anne Archer accidentally witnesses a mob murder, with ADA Gene Hackman soon racing to keep her alive. Not everyone loved it, but J.T. Walsh and M. Emmet Walsh are among those who die before a climactic sequence on the roof of the train, adored by fans of practical effects. 

The Package (1989) - available on MGM, Tubi, Pluto and for rent

Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones play cat-and-mouse with guns…which should be enough reason to see it, but anyway…because someone wants to stop nuclear disarmament. The first of three thrillers Tommy Lee Jones made with Andrew Davis, followed by Under Siege and The Fugitive. Joanna Cassidy plays Hackman’s ultimately supportive ex-wife, with Dennis Franz and Pam Grier also trying to help the guy out. Featuring John Heard as Colonel Glen Whitacre.

The Split (1968) - available for rent

Six people pull off a heist of half a million from the L.A. Coliseum…only no one can find the money. The leader is Jim Brown, the backer is Julie Harris, and the other four are Jack Klugman, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates and Donald Sutherland. Gene Hackman is the cop chasing them down while they chase each other. This was the very first “R”-rated movie, and Brown’s first time leading a movie. Hence one stacked ensemble!

Uncommon Valor (1983) - available for rent

What if Rambo, instead of being one man, was a POW-rescuing team led by Gene Hackman? A team that includes Patrick Swayze, Fred Ward, Randall “Tex” Cobb, the guy from Trancers, and the guy from MST3K’s Space Mutiny? While acknowledging the film’s dubious politics, Pauline Kael praised Hackman’s “business-like” concept of soldiering. I’m very curious how this tonally meshes with the beefcake business around him. The original script was written by Wings “Tough Guys Don’t Dance” Hauser, who said of producer John Milius: “John Milius is a scumbag right-wing bastard and I can't wait for his day to die!” Both are still alive, and may have patched things up in the decades since that quote. Either way, I have to see this.

Under Fire (1983) - available on MGM, Pluto, Prime and for rent

1983 - a big year for Gene Hackman war movies that start with the letter "U"! Journalists Gene Hackman, Nick Nolte and (hey!) Joanna Cassidy are in the midst of a love triangle when the rebels take Nicaragua. If that’s not enough man heat for ya, Ed Harris plays a mercenary named Oates. Kael, who loved the movie, said this was one of Hackman’s “wonderfully expansive performances.” Featuring Richard Masur as Hub Kittle.

Confession, despite spending four years in southern Indiana, I've also never seen Hoosiers. But lots of people are going to bring up Hoosiers. RIP, Mr. Hackman.

If you want to tell me one of the above movies isn't worth giving Apple 4 bucks to see...eh, let me find out for myself. All other correspondence can go to anthonyisright at gmail dot com.