I was looking through his filmography the other day to see which of his movies I’ve missed so I could track them down and realized that he retired 20 years ago! It feels like he hasn’t been out of the public eye that long. But then again, seeing those most recent pics of him, where he’s unrecognizable, I guess time just crept up on me.

His penultimate movie was Runaway Jury and it was made in the John Grisham legal thrillers heyday, which DOES feel like a long time ago.

It looks like Runaway Jury is on Paramount+ now so I think I’ll give it a watch in the next few days when I have a chance.

All joking aside, he was a weird choice to dub Chow Yun-fat. Made me think Green Destiny was made of Kryptonite.

I’ve done a dive into Hackman the last few days too. So many great roles.

I Never Sang For My Father (1970) is a terrible title for a great melodrama about a repressed son and his overbearing father. It’s one of Hackman’s most normal roles but he (and Melvyn Douglas as the dad) is absolutely terrific here. Slightly sappy maybe but some excellent acting pushes it up several notches and the themes of aging parents really hits home for me these days.

Prime Cut (1972) is a complete tonal opposite, a sleazy noir with an awesomely cool Lee Marvin and Hackman as a vile slaughterhouse owner who also dabbles in sex slavery on the side, also starring a frequently naked young Sissy Spacek. Hackman isn’t in it enough but this one is a twisted and weird trashy blast.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was a HUGE hit but somehow I’ve never seen it, and I loved it, Titanic without all the boring romance. All star disaster movie cast that keeps moving fast and Hackman as a genuine action hero. For 50+ years old the effects hold up and it’s just a great entertainment.

Bat-21 (1988) I saw this years ago but felt like revisiting- it got kind of lost in the Vietnam movie flood of the time but Hackman as a career desk soldier who gets stuck behind enemy lines is great and Danny Glover as the determined pilot who tries to rescue him is also good. A solid little war movie that is worth a look.

Looks like the Santa Fe police are a bunch of Simple Jacks and made a lot of errors and mistakes and don't know what they are doing.

Nonsense! I’m sure chargers will be brought against Alec Baldwin any day now.

Was there something besides mis-identifying a breed of dog?

Did he kill yet another person?

I just realized that I've never seen Mississippi Burning. I know that's considered one of Hackman's best films. I see it's on Hoopla. Going to have to quickly remedy that soon.

Has anyone seen one of Hackman's 80s movies called "Twice in a Lifetime"? It's about Hackman cheating on his wife Ellen Burstyn with Ann-Margaret. It's not any form of home video, streaming or digital and the DVD is long out of print. I've always wanted to see it.

I remember watching Mississippi Burning in school. It’s a great movie!

Just put in my newly bought Poseidon Adventure for next viewing. Looking forward to this.

I watched The Conversation and The French Connection the other night. Had fun seeing Gene in the early 70s.

I remember ABC broadcasted Mississippi Burning for 3 hours but I assume a lot of the footage was edited out to run in the time allotted and watched it again when it was on the premium channels.

He was in a deleted scene where he reprises his Little Bill character from Unforgiven who builds a poorly constructed mudroom
for Liu Mu Bai. Ang Lee left him in the credits out of respect.

So does the "Superman curse" apply here?

I wouldn't mind that curse if I can live to 95 with a wife more than 30 years younger than me.

Looks like Hackman died of cardiovascular disease

His wife died from Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/s...wa-1236331489/

He apparently died a week after his wife.

BBC:Gene Hackman was on his own in the home for several days, or even an entire week, after his wife died - and medical examiner Dr Heather Jarrell says it is unclear whether he was able to survive on his own without her help.

Hackman "showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease," she says, adding that she is "not aware of his normal daily functioning capability".

He had "significant heart disease, and ultimately that's what resulted in his death", Jarrell says. He had not eaten anything recently, but showed no indications of dehydration, she adds.

"Its quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased."


Damn it, check on your elder relatives, people. I don’t know a thing about how close Hackman’s children were to him but it’s shameful he died this way. They may have been private people but someone should have cared enough to be checking in.

Yeah due to his advanced age and poor overall health, it seems like he was really unaware of what happened and without the help of his wife, his body just gave out.

Terrible way to go. Also awful that his wife was sick with that disease from rodents and may not have been aware that it was killing her.

Damn, that’s sad. He was probably so confused for those last few days of his life.

Sad and terrible news.

This news is heartbreaking. But a reminder for those of us that are able to make sure to check in often with elderly/sick family members (probably more regularly than we do).

I saw it a few years ago. It was either Showtime, TCM, or MGM+ (may have still been Epix). Warner Bros. has it. Keep an eye on TCM schedule in case they show it on a tribute day. It'll show up eventually, not like it's completely out of distribution.
Interestingly, the song Paul McCartney wrote for it was never available on CD for years. It was tacked onto the reissue of another CD as a bonus track.

Basically, Hackman is a middle age factory worker, married with grown kids. After shift he and his work buddies hang out in this bar. Ann-Margaret is a waitress there. They fall for each other. He leaves his wife for her. Nobody understands and he loses friends, kids don't want anything to do with him, etc.
What do you do when you meet the true love of your life after you've already established relationships. Do you go for true happiness? Or sacrifice your happiness because of commitment.
The end of Castaway is the opposite. Instead of running off with Tom Hanks for true happiness, Helen Hunt. stays because of commitment.

Sad though the people that were cleaning and taking care of the house did not notice the rats or bother to take them out?

That is just shocking and awful. Carbon monoxide poisoning would've been so much better. Hard to believe he was in that bad a state and nobody seemed to know and his kids not even checking in on them.

For him to be that much in decline he must have needed round the clock care. For her to have been doing that by herself with no regular nurse visits? For people with limited resources I can understand. And if she's the only one looking after him get a Life Alert or something. A terrible tragic situation.