From Unforgiven to The Firm: Guardian writers pick their favourite Gene Hackman movies
After the death of the esteemed actor, writers highlight their favourite movies from a long and varied career
Almost five minutes go by in The French Connection before we get a good look at Gene Hackman. Various other operators come and go in William Friedkin’s gritty and unsettling procedural – based on a real heroin sting – before Hackman’s Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle emerges from behind an ill-fitting undercover Santa Claus outfit, like a background player busting into his first lead role. It’s as fitting an entrance as ever for Hackman, leveling up after his supporting work on TV and films like Bonnie and Clyde. And he gives a performance that sets the tone for his whole career, playing the brutal and racist cop, a morally murky figure who just doesn’t sit right as the hero of the story. Many of the qualities that made Hackman so great in later villainous roles – the way he moves like a menace with a devilishly charming grin, slipping so easily from comforting to antagonizing – are in Doyle. That detective’s infamous query, repeatedly grilling suspects about picking their feet in Poughkeepsie, is as mischievously disorienting as Hackman’s onscreen presence. Radheyan Simonpillai
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