The performance Gene Hackman called his finest ever: “That was the pinnacle”
Few actors can say they’ve appeared in such groundbreaking and era-defining movies as Gene Hackman. The actor, who sadly passed away in February 2025 at the age of 95, started his career all the way back in the 1950s, trying his hand at theatre roles before eventually getting his first movie parts in the following decade.
The actor worked really hard, and he was desperate to become a respected star in Hollywood, an industry that was dramatically changing at the time. The move away from classic studio productions, typically with happy endings, filmed on sound stages and featuring classic archetypes like the femme fatale or the charming everyman, was starting to occur as Hackman entered the world of cinema. As he rose to prominence, the Hays Code was abolished, allowing for grittier, nihilistic, and more realistic tales to hit screens.
For Hackman, this worked in his favour. Sure, with his spectacular talents, Hackman could’ve surely played the kinds of complex male protagonists that were popular during Old Hollywood, but he was much better suited to this new landscape, where morally ambiguous characters, violence, and psychologically complicated themes permeated. Hackman thus earned his first Oscar nomination for his performance in Bonnie and Clyde playing Buck Barrow, the brother of Warren Beatty’s Clyde.
It was only fitting that Hackman appeared in one of New Hollywood’s landmark films, establishing himself as a face that audiences would come to be very familiar with. Over the next few years, he picked up various Oscar nominations, winning in 1971 for The French Connection.
However, it was a role that came three years later – and criminally didn’t earn Hackman an Oscar nomination – that he classed as his favourite. The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released in 1974, saw the actor play a surveillance expert who finds himself in a tricky situation when he hears the words “He’d kill us if he got the chance” on one of his recordings.
Moral reckoning and guilt become prominent themes, with Harry Caul becoming increasingly paranoid as he navigates his uncertain circumstances. Starring alongside John Cazale, Robert Duvall, and Allen Garfield, the actor played the lead terrifically. For Hackman, it was one of his favourite roles, and he once told The New York Times, “That was the pinnacle of my acting career in terms of character development.”
He continued, explaining why the character fascinated him: “Caul was somewhat constipated. The character didn’t burst out. There was no satisfying cathartic moment in the film.” Despite this, Hackman played him beautifully, effortlessly capturing Caul’s emotional turmoil in a way that was totally believable.
The Conversation earned nominations for ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Sound’, and ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Oscars, although Hackman certainly should’ve been in the ‘Best Actor’ category, too. Still, it remains one of the most defining roles of his career, coming at a time when he was reaching his peak as one of the most iconic figures in Hollywood and allowing him to stay there – a heavyweight among various other impressive contemporaries who were shaping the film industry into something completely new.
