Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Nicholson's a great showman and can be awfully fun to watch at times, but Hackman's a great actor. He doesn't play himself all the time. He plays characters. Think THE FRENCH CONNECTION, I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER, and CISCO PIKE. Later work worth noting: UNDER FIRE, UNCOMMON VALOR, UNFORGIVEN, GERONIMO, WYATT EARP, GET SHORTY.

P.S. (2 days later) I forgot to put in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE CONVERSATION.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Nicholson for me. THOUGH....I know GH is underrated by most. Hackman hasn't done much for me from the 90s onward. Nicholson kept getting all these good roles..BUT they were easy for him. He hasn't been challenged by a role for years. The man is so meta actor by now that he's playing himself cuz well...it's a good role for him.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Ditto.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I would take The Conversation over every film Nicholson has ever made.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Voted for Nicholson because I find his films are the ones I most go to for repeat viewings and his performances are always electrifying (admittedly, especially his earlier ones). Love Gene Hackman, too, though. I find them to be such different actors with such different styles that it's hard to really choose one as being "better", since they're both at the top of their respective games. But, since it's just a subjective choice, I went with my gut.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

True. In fact, the only two Hackman films I can think of where his performance was severely lacking were the horrible Loose Cannons and The Domino Pinciple.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Nicholson.. easy.

Here's the problem. Nicholson USUALLY picks better films, so right off the bat he has an upper hand.

Also, Hackman sometimes went for the quantity not quality picture. I.E.- Runaway Jury, Behind Enemy Lines, Heartbreakers, The Replacements, Under Suspicion, The Chamber, Extreme Measures, Class Action, Narrow Margin, No Way Out, etc.

On the Other hand Nicholson, although having his cash films, usually took on better pictures to start with.
Since Hackman is, sadly, retired now and as of right now ending his career with Welcome To Mooseport, I would say that alone holds him under Nicholson.

I have seen people saying things like Nicholson's grandstanding, being an 'Actor' etc. Toshiro Mifune did the same things. Sometimes, people are that way, therefore you need characters to be the same. Simply because a character is loud, or bigger than life doesn't necessarily mean they are overacting.

Hackman greats- Royal Tennenbaums, Get Shorty, Unforgiven, Mississippi Burning, Hoosiers, The Conversation, The French Connection, Bonnie and Clyde.

Nicholson greats- About Schmidt, The Pledge, As Good As It Gets, Batman, Prizzi's Honor, Terms of Endearment, Reds, The Shining, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, The Passenger, Chinatown, The Last Detail, King of Marvin Gardens, Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider.

Decision- Nicholson but Hackman is a great Actor who needs to figure out another movie to end on other than Welcome To Mooseport.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Hackman. No contest.

I would add the overlooked and underrated "Night Moves" to this list.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

A really underrated Hackman performance is Scarecrow, a film he did with Pacino in 73. Both of them have tremendous chemistry together

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I'm sorry but Hackman is nowhere near as diverse in his acting as Nicholson. He never pulled off something as good as Nicholson's turn in About Schmidt or earlier work such as Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens. He's a good actor but he never goes inside a character to make you forget that he's Gene Hackman. I never felt invested in his acting method.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

JACK:thumbsup:

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I agree 100%.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Jack Nicholson

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

That's a good way to put it and both actors didn't tarnish their 70's legacy unlike Pacino and DeNiro.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I would add THE POSIDEN ADVENTURE.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I love Nicholson tremendously, but Hackman is a fucking powerhouse on screen. He commands attention.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I have a difficult time imagining an audience ignoring Nicholson.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I'm not saying he gets ignored, but there's just something extremely powerful about Hackman on screen.

The real answer, though, is that they're both cinematic legends and I can watch almost anything they're in.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Hackman has my full attention when he's on screen, but I find myself almost anxious when Nicholson isn't.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

He was easily ignored before he found his nitch. The early to mid-1960's audiences found Nicholson easily ignorable.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I wasn't there, but I have to ask how much of it was that Nicholson was ignorable and how much of it was Nicholson was in movies that were ignorable? I thought him strangely captivating in the original Little Shop of Horrors, and felt he outshone Karloff in The Terror, but I freely admit this is anecdotal and well after the fact.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

I don't get this comment. Isn't almost everyone "ignored" before they find their niche? Regarding acting - you're usually ignored until you find that right role. Nicholson starred in a bunch of B grade films that didn't get his name out there until 1969 when he starred in the critcally acclaimed and audience favorite Easy Rider. With that momentum he was finally accepted like most would.

Re: Who do you prefer: Gene Hackman or Jack Nicholson?
 

Wow, I thought Nicholson would win by far =/

I don't mind Gene Hackman, but I haven't seen him in anything that he's made me go :jawdrop:

Whereas, Nicholson does that to me almost every time.