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Rock wrote:
JJ, Where does Loose Cannons place in your Hackman rankings?
Loosely near the bottom.
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I almost don't want to place films like Uncommon Valor as "not great" either, although it's relative weakness is more about that era of Vietnam revisionism than its qualities as a film. And as much as I truly love Hackman's performance in Under Suspicion, the manic direction of Stephen Hopkins - which was so fashionable at the time, and which has badly dated its style - definitely dims its greatness. But I wouldn't call any of those "not great" films on that list "bad" either. Loose Cannons (I only saw it once at the time on VHS) was pretty lame though.
There's of course a number of films which I couldn't call "not great" but fall under the radar of classic status as well.
Lilith - Hackman's first standout role, although a minor one in the film.
The Split and Riot - good late '60s hard boiled films.
Downhill Racer, Prime Cut, Scarecrow, and after seeing Cisco Pike recently, I'd add it to this string of exceptional work, all terrific.
I Never Sang For My Father - I know this got Hackman his second Oscar nom, and it's obviously great acting, between him and Melvin Douglas, but I also thought it was very stagey, and it's inescapable to compare it with the same year's similar, and superior, patriarchal drama Five Easy Pieces.
Gypsy Moths and Marooned are mediocre entertainment, and Hackman isn't less than professional.
I've honestly never really cared for Poseidon Adventure. It's whatever.
Hunting Party and Bite The Bullet, his two westerns with Candice Bergen, I think are terrific and unsung, but they also have haters out there.
I'll never understand why some people think the French Connection sequel is better, but it's not bad.
His Lex Luther is immortal.
All Night Long is not a bad movie, per se, and Hackman is charming (he really should have done more comedies), so I'll add it to the "not great" category.
Under Fire, Target, No Way Out are legit good films, and I'm tempted to add Uncommon Valor, Power, and Bat 21 to that list.
Eureka - I was pleased to see Rolling Stone call this "the great lost Gene Hackman performance", and it's the only film he made with one of my favorite filmmakers, Nicolas Roeg,
I don't hate Mississippi Burning the way it's become fashionable to, because of the typical flaws of the era - it's pedantic and frontloads the white man savior. Hackman is incredible here.
Postcards From the Edge - another small role, but when he tells Streep not to fuck with his movie, it's pure unadulterated Gene.
The Firm - the '90s were a weird time for Hackman. I'm sure most people would not consider Crimson Tide as "not great" (but I definitely do). This role sets out his post-Unforgiven template, and maybe he didn't chew his scenery as ravishly as someone like Pacino during this time, but he fell into a similar stereotype. The Firm is probably the best of these, but I also appreciate it when he's clearly having fun - Quick and the Dead, Absolute Power, Crimson Tide.
Get Shorty and The Birdcage, back into his comedic gifts, late career highlights.
Extreme Measures, The Chamber, Twilight, Enemy of the State, The Replacements, The Mexican, Runaway Jury - Paychecks one and all. I've seen all of these and nothing really stands out after 20 years.
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Update on Gene Hackman and his wife: she died from hantavirus (apparently spread by rodents) and was dead for a number of days before Hackman had a cardiac arrest. Hackman also suffered from Alzheimers, so maybe he kept forgetting about her body? Still no word on why the dog was in a closet.
It's sad to have to be in the shadow of someone like Roy Ayers, but a couple of other deaths: Angie Stone, from a terrible highway accident. I haven't really been paying much attention to her for a while, but her initial records, Black Diamond and Mahogany Soul, are neo-soul classics.
I also haven't paid much attention to Tony Toni Tone since...ever, but D'Wayne Wiggens also died fairly young, from bladder cancer. I noticed this description at the A/V Club that credits Tony Toni Tone for "importing a blend of funk and soul influences into the world of R&B". Which only tells me that the A/V Club doesn't have the first fucking clue what contemporary R&B is.
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It sucks that the first film I could think of, when hearing of Richard Chamberlain's death, happened to be King Solomon's Mines. But obviously he had better work: Petulia, Music Lovers, Last Wave and the Three and Four Musketeers. And even for someone of my generation, you would think Shogun would be the automatic association.
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Jinnistan wrote:
Update on Gene Hackman and his wife: she died from hantavirus (apparently spread by rodents) and was dead for a number of days before Hackman had a cardiac arrest. Hackman also suffered from Alzheimers, so maybe he kept forgetting about her body? Still no word on why the dog was in a closet.
It's sad to have to be in the shadow of someone like Roy Ayers, but a couple of other deaths: Angie Stone, from a terrible highway accident.
crumbsroom wrote:
😧
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On occasion, Val’s girlfriend, Cher, would visit the set. I remember being really annoyed that she kept telling him, ‘This is a monumentally stupid movie; it’s going to flop …’ Never mind she was right; I thought it was still annoying.
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The Val Tiers....
The Great - Top Secret, Tombstone, True Romance, Heat, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Bad Lieutenent: POC, Song To Song
The Secretly Great - Real Genius, Kill Me Again, Wonderland, Masked and Anonymous, Spartan, MacGruber, Twixt
Yawn - Top Gun, Willow, The Doors, Thunderheart, Batman Forever, The Saint, The Salton Sea, Alexander, Kill The Irishman
Terrible But Admirable DGAF Slumming - Real McCoy, Island of Dr. Moreau, Ghost in the Darkness, Red Planet, The Missing, Deja Vu, The Snowman
True Atrocities - Mindhunters (truly one of the worst films of this century), The Chaos Experiment (utter garbage, but Eve Mauro is an angel)
I pity the poor brave soul who will take the perilous quest to binge-watch every Val Kilmer title since 2002
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Watched Kill Me Again last night. Pretty good!
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Michael Hurley, folk artist and unholy modal rounder.
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Act like you don't think "Heart of Glass" and "Rapture" are monster grooves.
RIP Clem
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Ted Kotcheff, journeyman director of at least one classic - Wake in Fright (an Aussie meta-horror which is actually quite touching in the end) - and several other very good films - Apprentice of Duddy Kravitz, North Dallas Forty, First Blood and Uncommon Valor. And his Split Image, with Jimmy Woods, is delightful for other reasons. (For the sensitive and delicate psychological work of cult deprogamming, who better for the job than the twitching nerve-spasms of James Woods?)
Outside of Duddy Kravitz, comedy appears to be Kotcheff's Achilles' heel. Dick and Jane was a dud, and such later films like Switching Channels, Weekend at Bernie's and Folks are also pretty lame. (I know Bernie's has its fans, and I will always give props to Terry Kiser's total pro physical comedy, but it's still saying a lot that the best performance was from the dead guy.)
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Max Romeo, rude boy reggae singer, fought the war ina Babylon and Babylon won.
Nicky Katt, master of lovable scumbags and favorite character actor of Soderbergh and Linklater, succumbed to suicidal ideation.
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Pope Francis
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A good pope.
It would obviously be irresponsible for me to suggest that the Pope may have been secretly poisoned by JD Vance, during their handshake meeting just hours before the Pope's death. And so soon after the Pope so publicly embarrassed Vance by pointing out how little the rookie Catholic understood about Jesus and St. Augustine. No, I would never do such a thing. Instead, I prefer to believe that the mere incidental sight of such a spiritual and moral void in his presence led the Pope to just give up any hope he had left for any further earthly salvation. The Pope saw JD, and the Pope chose death instead.
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David Thomas, master mumbler of Pere Ubu, never the healthiest specimen, collapsed at 71.
Pere Ubu is possibly the most important original wave punk band who is most often unmentioned.
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It's a little annoying that obituaries for director James Foley are putting his Fifty Shades sequels in the headlines. Man clearly had medical debts to pay off, people. But at least people are also pointing out his work on Glengary Glen Ross which is the more sensible choice for his masterpiece - and also a little coincidental for him to pass away while the play is enjoying a Tony-nominated run on Broadway. (The fact that Jack Lemmon wasn't even nominated for an Oscar is one of that institution's most shameful blunders.)
Foley also made two terrific neo-noirs before that, At Close Range and After Dark My Sweet, before he settled into making professionally adequete trash like Fear, Confidence and Perfect Stranger. And yes he was resorted to Fifty Shades films, which I haven't seen but can pretty much guarantee are nowhere near as sexy as Foley's music video for Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach".
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At Close Range is a weird movie for me, because I often find myself wanting to watch it, even though I never like it much.