A Few Words About Gene Hackman

Last year I got really depressed about Gene Hackman.
I was watching a lot of his movies for no particular reason (according to Letterboxd he was my most watched actor for 2024) and the fact that he hadn’t made a movie since 2004 started to just bum me out.

Growing in the 80s and 90s Hackman was one of those guys who was ALWAYS there. You’d go to a video store and you might see a new movie of his you hadn’t even heard of. “Split Decisions? Was this in theaters?” And the thing was, the guy was always so damn solid. Even if the movie wasn’t.

It’s a cliché to say but it’s true, Hackman never felt like he was giving a performance. He was so natural it was easy to almost take him for granted. He’d always be around, giving you a rock solid performance in whatever movie it was. Whether the movie was good or not, Hackman always was.
And so, last year after watching Narrow Margin, it hit me how he was gone. This absence in my life that I didn’t necessarily register until then. And yes, I could take some comfort in knowing that he was out there somewhere. Either writing novels I will probably never read or riding his bicycle somewhere in New Mexico or whatever he was doing, at least he was doing something. He was still around. Enjoying himself.

Now he’s gone. Again. It’s as though he died twice and this time for good. And damn, this time around it really hurts.