The 15 best Gene Hackman movies ranked, from his acclaimed turn in ‘The Conversation’ to a side-splitting cameo in ‘Young Frankenstein’

15. Reds (1981)

For years, Hackman thought he “disappointed” Beatty with his performance as magazine editor Pete Van Wherry in the director’s Reds, a three-hour epic about the American Communist movement. “After repeated takes on one scene — how many, I lost count — (Beatty) calmly moved on, saying, ‘Print numbers seven and 12.’ The fact that I hadn’t solved the character well enough to get it even close was never brought up,” Hackman said.

But after EW’s writer read that quote to Beatty in 2016, the actor and director began to tear up. “Gene said that? He’s wrong! He got it,” Beatty retorted. “He had a temperature of 102 and he flew all the way over to London to do this one scene where he just talks his ass off. He said, ‘I’m not getting this’. And I said, ‘No, you are!’ With Hackman, you just do more takes because who knows? Let’s see what might happen here. But I knew I had it. I’ve never worked with a better actor.”

Where to watch Reds: PlutoTV

14. Hoosiers (1986)

Hoosiers doesn’t have the jagged edges of The French Connection or the gee-golly whimsy of The Royal Tenenbaums, but David Anspaugh’s 1986 drama is a must-watch for anyone with a soft spot for small-town sports. Hackman plays Norman Dale, the new coach of an Indiana high school basketball team with the hutzpah to take them to the state finals.

It’s a low-stakes film that feels much bigger, which is due in no small part to Hackman’s deceptively straightforward performance, which reveals more and more layers as the story unfolds.

Where to watch Hooisers: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

13. No Way Out (1987)

In 1987, Hackman starred opposite Kevin Costner and Sean Young in Roger Donaldson’s No Way Out, which finds his desperate government bigwig David Brice with blood on his hands after the accidental murder of his mistress. It’s a vicious and two-faced performance that sees the actor sweatily posturing to great effect as the walls close in. In their review, The New York Times declared Hackman to be “leaner, sharper, (and) better than he’s been in years.”

Where to watch No Way Out: Tubi

12. Young Frankenstein (1974)

One of the best unbilled movie performances of all time is Hackman’s surprising and hilarious appearance in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. With long, grey hair and a Nostradamus beard, the actor is nearly unrecognizable as a bumbling, blind weirdo who treats Peter Boyle’s escaped monster to some hot soup.

Hackman did his fair share of comedy, but he was rarely able to get this silly. “These days, the short scene is one of the most widely remembered moments and routinely garners some of the movie’s biggest laughs, thanks to a combination of Hackman’s brilliant comedic timing and Brooks’ memorable dialogue,” EW’s writer remarked.

Where to watch Young Frankenstein: Not available to stream

11. Mississippi Burning (1988)

Mississippi Burning, Alan Parker’s 1988 film about FBI agents investigating the disappearance of civil rights workers in Mississippi, certainly has its critics — EW called the film “infuriating and fraudulent” in 1991.

No matter your thoughts on the film itself, though, it’s hard to deny the power and subtlety of Hackman’s Oscar-nominated performance as Rupert Anderson, an FBI agent and former Mississippi sheriff unafraid to deviate from protocol. The New York Times described Hackman’s Anderson as the movie’s “remarkable dramatic core,” calling his performance “achingly plausible and persuasive.”

Where to watch Mississippi Burning: Tubi

10. Crimson Tide (1995)

There are many reasons to watch Crimson Tide — Tony Scott’s staging and craft, amusing dialogue from an uncredited Quentin Tarantino — but it’s the immense pleasure of watching Hackman and Denzel Washington “face off in a duel of wits and wills” (in a submarine, no less) that cements the film as a classic.

“The two actors turn the film into a riveting Oedipal military duel,” EW’s critic wrote in their review, with our critic specifically shouting out Hackman’s cigar-chomping Captain Ramsey. “By now, Hackman practically teases us with the ease of his arrogance. Ramsey’s power lies in the wrath behind his paternal charm, the way he goads people into challenging his authority. And Washington makes us register Hunter’s wary moral intelligence as a kind of physical force. The end of the world may be around the corner, but what holds us is the sight of two superlatively fierce actors working at the top of their game.”

Where to watch Crimson Tide: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

9. The Birdcage (1996)

Hackman told The Advocate he took the role of hyper-conservative Senator Kevin Keeley in Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage because he “relished the chance to return to his roots in improvisational comedy.” And there was ample opportunity for it in this uproarious farce, which finds Keeley meeting the gay parents (played by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane) of the man who’s set to marry his daughter.

But it wasn’t just about the laughs. “I had to get inside of Keeley’s rigid self-protection to understand the driving force of prejudice,” he told The Advocate.

The role would be one-dimensional in lesser hands, but Hackman’s performance is both affecting and hilarious. In his review, beloved critic Roger Ebert declared that, in a film full of very funny people, Hackman was responsible for the “biggest laughs.” That’s impressive for an actor who’d recently come off the decidedly un-hilarious Unforgiven.

Where to watch The Birdcage: Max

8. Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

Hackman was 37 when he enjoyed his breakout role in Arthur Penn’s rule-breaking Bonnie and Clyde, but, as EW’s critic put it, he already “gave off the mothball-and-hard candy scent of someone who’d been used up and spat out.” (That’s a compliment, by the way.)

Hackman played the hotheaded Buck Barrow, brother to Beatty’s Clyde, in the 1967 outlaw romance. Hackman and costar Estelle Parsons, per EW’s critic, deliver “unguarded, go-for-broke performances that charge a movie designed to explode like a bomb in the audience’s face.” It would score the actor his first Academy Award nomination.

Where to watch Bonnie & Clyde: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

7. Unforgiven (1992)

Hackman won his second Oscar for Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, a pitch-black Western about an outlaw turned farmer whose return to gunslinging puts him in the sights of Hackman’s Sheriff Little Bill Daggett.

In EW’s original review, our critic called Little Bill a “muddled enigma.” In another article, two EW writers disagreed about the character, with one deeming him a “psycho” and the other admitting he “almost sympathizes” with Little’s brand of law. All these years later, that performance’s moral ambiguity is a feature, not a bug, and there’s a thrill to watching Hackman deftly navigate the character’s warring impulses.

Morgan Freeman, who starred in the film alongside Hackman, shared a tribute to his former costar on Thursday. “One of the personal highlights of my career was bringing the French film Gardé a Vue (Under Suspicion) to life with the incredibly gifted Gene Hackman. And of course… Unforgiven. Rest in peace, my friend.”

Where to watch Unforgiven: Amazon Prime Video

6. Scarecrow (1973)

Hackman starred opposite Al Pacino in the cult film Scarecrow, Jerry Schatzberg’s road movie about a pair of hitchhikers that develop an unlikely friendship. “Hackman’s sad-sack turn as the ex-con drifter Max is, hands down, one of the great lost performances of the ’70s. And, in my opinion, his second richest character next to The Conversation‘s Harry Caul,” EW’s critic wrote in 2006. “Not to mention the fact that he steals the movie from costar Al Pacino — a feat that would seem almost mathematically impossible.”

The film’s most memorable moment? A scene where Hackman gets hammered and eats chicken. It’s “the only convincing portrayal of being wasted I’ve ever seen,” said our critic, saying that “little scene” convinced them that “Gene Hackman may be the finest actor alive.”

Where to watch Scarecrow: Hulu

5. Night Moves (1975)

Hackman and Bonnie & Clyde director Arthur Penn re-teamed in 1975 for Night Moves, an excellent neo-noir that was nevertheless a box office dud. As such, Hackman’s turn as a private investigator befuddled by the disappearance of a former movie star’s daughter was, for many years, mostly forgotten despite the actor scoring a BAFTA nomination for the performance.

In the years since, though, many have sought to shine a spotlight back on the film. In 2001, EW named it one of the best classic movies to go unrecognized. “Even more than Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, Night Moves finds everything and everyone to be riddled with guilt — even the hero is reduced to peeping on his own errant wife,” our critic wrote.

Where to watch Night Moves: Hulu

4. Superman (1978)

Superman baddie Lex Luthor has been played by many, many actors, including Kevin Spacey (Superman Returns), Jesse Eisenberg (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), and Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville).

None of them, however, were able to capture the devious glee that defined Hackman’s smarmy turns in Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) and Richard Lester’s Superman II (1980), which EW previously lauded for their “winky sense of wickedness.” Today’s purveyor of superhero flicks would be wise to revisit his performance, as it demonstrates what so many of them seem to have forgotten: These movies are supposed to be fun.

Valerie Perrine, who played Eve, the girlfriend to Hackman’s Lex, took to X to mourn her former costar. “The great Gene Hackman has passed away. He was a genius & 1 of the greatest to grace the silver screen. I had the honor of working with him on Superman. His performances are legendary. His talent will be missed.
Goodbye my sweet Lex. Till we meet again.”

Where to watch Superman: Max

3. The French Connection (1971)

Hackman scored his first Oscar for playing The French Connection‘s “Popeye” Doyle, a character that remains one of the most scorching and enduring depictions of what’s now a fairly standard archetype: the bad cop with nothin’ to lose.

“Countless films have tried to emulate its greatness since, but The French Connection is the modern blueprint of the genre for a reason,” EW’s writer declared. “Gene Hackman — who developed new shades of menace and gravitas with each passing year — turns in a career-best performance as the determined and obsessive Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle, who, along with Roy Scheider as his partner, seems truly willing to lose his life if it means catching Fernando Rey’s Alain ‘Frog One’ Charnier.”

Also, did you know the Popeyes chicken franchise was named after his character? We didn’t, either.

Where to watch The French Connection: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Hackman didn’t want to play Royal Tenenbaum. It took a while for Anderson, who wrote the role for Hackman “against his wishes,” to get Hackman to sign on — and we’re happy he did. As the boorish patriarch in a family of geniuses, Hackman is simultaneously crude and effervescent, hitting the script’s notes of melancholy as well as he does its rude pseudo-insults, like when he calls Danny Glover’s Henry Sherman “Coltrane.”

“The soul of the movie’s eccentric generosity of spirit beats in Hackman’s great, wise, subversively unsentimental performance as Royal, a grandfather who teaches his over-disciplined grandsons how to bet at dogfights and cross streets against the light,” EW’s critic wrote in their review.

Where to watch The Royal Tenenbaums: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

1. The Conversation (1974)

The Conversation is more than one of EW’s favorite mind-blowing conspiracy flicks, it’s also one of the prescient films ever made, a paranoid spiral into corporate surveillance born from the detritus of Watergate, Vietnam, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Coppola’s story of a surveillance expert whose work begins to impact his mind and morality is thrilling and affecting, but it’s Hackman’s twitchy, conflicted Harry Caul that burns onto the brain, his madness reflecting that of anyone who knows their work to be corrosive to America’s soul.

In his original review of the film, Ebert called Harry “one of the most affecting and tragic characters in the movies,” and when revisiting the film 25 years later, he called the role one of Hackman’s “key performances in a great career.” We’re going so far as to call it his best.

Coppola paid tribute to Hackman following his death, writing, “The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” he wrote on Instagram. “I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”

Where to watch The Conversation: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)