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| Robert Ellis |
About a month ago we
were tossing around posts in a tribute to Jackie Gleason and Vincent Gardenia for
their extraordinary range as actors.
Over this past week I wound
up seeing two of my very favorite films, two very different films: ENEMY OF THE STATE, a thriller directed
by Tony Scott and starring Will Smith, Jon Voight, and Gene Hackman, and THE BIRDCAGE, a comedy classic directed
by Mike Nichols and starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, and Gene Hackman.
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| Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest in The Birdcage |
Is it me or is Gene
Hackman getting the biggest ride, the best roles and having the most fun, of
any actor in recent memory?
Gene Hackman's
filmography reads like a list of the best in American cinema: French Connection, The Conversation, Young
Frankenstein, A Bridge Too Far, Hoosiers, No Way Out, Mississippi Burning,
Unforgiven, The Firm, Get Shorty, Absolute Power, and Runaway Jury -- to name just a few.
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| Hackman as Sen. Kevin Keeley in The Birdcage |
Maybe the reason it
looks like Hackman's having so much fun is that somehow over all these years
he's never been typecast. How is this possible in a business where every other
actor I can think of is typed after their very first role?
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| Gene Hackman as Edward Lyle in Enemy of the State |
In Enemy of the State, a big time thriller that's never been more
relevant than it is today, Hackman plays an ex-CIA agent who doesn't trust the
system and is trying to live off the grid. In The Birdcage, he's an ultraconservative Senator with a daughter who
wants to marry the son of a gay nightclub owner and becomes trapped inside the
club by the media. His only way out is to dress up in drag and walk through the
front door. In Runaway Jury he's a
tough guy. (Warning ... The following sentence is a spoiler). In The Firm he's a man who sold his soul to
the devil, but in the end, dies as a martyr filled with kindness and wisdom.
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| Hackman bugging a corrupt politician's hotel room |
What a terrific week to
stumble into two such great films. And it underlines something I've been
thinking for a long time. Without Gene Hackman, a big chunk of great films
would no longer be considered so great. I just feel lucky to have seen him at
work.
Sleep Loose,
Robert
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