The world was saddened. 78 films. This was a herculean task, but if any actor deserved the effort, it's Hackman.
78. The worst film that Gene Hackman ever appeared in
Gene has a brief voice role in this ill-fated "Grease" reunion for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. He's the voice of God at least, but the film is god-awful.
Roeg
Gene Hackman loved acting. His blue-collar approach to the profession led to appearances in several two-star movies, and we're going to start running through them. This flat-footed thriller from his "Bonnie Clyde" director Arthur Penn
Another one for the totally-forgotten file. Gene couldn't muster much energy for this drab drama about a Texas bar owner with a dead wife and a wheelchair-bound father(Burgess Meredith). Teri Garr, as his new love interest, must have known that her "Tootsie" goodwill was gone when "Water" barely cracked the top-twenty at the box office.
With Sidney Lumet directing Gene, Richard Gere, Julie Christie, and Denzel Washington, this political thriller should be remembered. It isn't. Ironically, "Power" has none, and quickly disappeared during the popcorn-movie craze of the mid-to-late '80s. NYT critic Vincent Canby called it "well-meaning but witless and insufferably smug".
The CIA and the KGB collide in Nicholas Meyer's tiresome thriller that the "Star Trek" writer-director himself described as a "catastrophe". An exhausted Hackman tried to back out of the film over an unfinished script, and only stayed to avoid a lawsuit with MGM. The result was a $1.5 million gross on an $18 million budget.
Gene appears briefly(minutes, to be exact) in this Brad Pitt-Julia Roberts romcom, in with the superstar pair spend most of the film apart. I vaguely remember a plot about the mob and an antique gun. It isn't very good.
The fourth and final film in the Christopher Reeve-led series isn't respected, but Hackman gives the silly story his all(Nucleur Man?), and there's guilty pleasure to be had for fans of both men, in watching Lex Luthor plot against our hero one last time.
Speaking of guilty pleasures, Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt(wow) were the stars of this con-artist comedy. The supporting cast includes Ray Liotta and Gene, as an unhealthy widowed tycoon, in a year in which he appeared in four films.
Gene's Lt. Colonel is trapped behind enemy lines, waiting for a rescue from Danny Glover's heroic helicopter pilot in 1972. An unremarkable director(Peter Markle) couldn't make a classic out of this fact-based tale, even with two big-time talents. "Bat" was part of the Vietnam cycle, but failed to impress critics and audiences already satiated on the subject by "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket".
become a cult film
Tommy Lee Jones went on to play many Hackman-type roles in the '90s, most notably in "The Fugitive"(his relationship with director Andrew Davis started here). This is one of those 2.5 star movies that my Dad rented at our mom-and-pop video store, and liked well enough, but never thought about again.
The penultimate Gene Hackman movie is mostly a predictable John Grisham legal thriller, led by juror-hero John Cusack, the last in a long cycle. A three-minute restroom rumble with longtime pal Dustin Hoffman isn't exactly De Niro vs. Pacino in "Heat", but it's a neat meeting of 'New Hollywood' legends that had never shared the screen before. Gene wins the unfriendly face-off. He doesn't give a shit!
Costner
Margaret
sequel
The Kevin Costner-Lawrence Kasdan version of the legendary lawman is better than it's box office and reputation. Forget about "Tombstone" for a few hours and give it a chance on a lazy Sunday. The sprawling three-hour story includes Hackman in it's opening scenes, as Wyatt's hard-ass pop.
Robin Williams
Travolta
Streep
Sean Connery,
best of the disaster cycle
Beatty
can now be considered a passing of the tough-guy torch.
Gene got top billing in the super sequel that was either directed by Richard Donner or Richard Lester, depending on where you stand on that. It's still a blast, even after a million Marvel movies. Luthor's White House meeting(pictured above) with Terence Stamp's iconic General Zod may be the funniest moment in the franchise.
Parker
sports movie
Douglas
kryptonite
Coppola
Beatty
Doyle
.
Alabama- You probably thinking about Forrest Gump who grew up in the fictional town of Greenbow- but Bob Zemeckis actually filmed Tom Hanks primarily in South Carolina.
Alaska-
Arizona- It's right there in the title
Arkansas-
California- Here we go. I could have devoted this entire blog to the Golden state. Most movies are at least partially filmed there. Here's an incomplete list of every great California movie- "Sunset Boulevard", "Singin' in the Rain", "Rebel Without a Cause", "Vertigo", "The Graduate", "Dirty Harry"(all five), "American Graffiti", "Chinatown", "The Conversation", "Coming Home", "Grease", "48 Hrs."(1982,1990), "Beverly Hills Cop"(all four), "Into the Night", "Fletch", the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon"(all four), "Colors", "Pretty Woman", "L.A. Story", "Boyz 'n' the Hood", "The Player", "Reservoir Dogs", "Falling Down", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Pulp Fiction", "Clueless", "Heat", "Boogie Nights", "L.A. Confidential", "Jackie Brown", "Magnolia", "Training Day", "Collateral", "Sideways", "La La Land", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Whew
Colorado- Hands down, it's "Here's at Elstree Studios, England.
Connecticut-
Delaware-
Florida-
Georgia-
Hawaii-
Idaho-
Illinois-
Indiana- Congratulations to director David Anspaugh for his entry into the sports movie HOF AND for receiving Indiana's highest civilian honor(Sagamore of the Wabash). He's retired and now lives there, hopefully secure in the knowledge that "Hoosiers" and "Rudy" are uflifting all-timers. Shout-out to Ralpie
Iowa- Speaking of sports movies, there was only one choice for
