Gene Hackman Weekend
The great Gene Hackman—a consummate actor by any standard—passed away recently at age 95. We’re taking a weekend to say thanks by showing a couple of his most interesting films: a lesser-known early gem from his ‘70s golden age, and his last great performance in 2001.
This wasn’t Hackman’s last film, and it was far from his own favorite, but it was his last great film. And for all the tales of on-set frustration and culture clash with director Wes Anderson, it’s a remarkably seamless work, anchored by yet another sensational Hackman performance as Royal Tenenbaum, the utterly untrustworthy—in fact, downright dishonest—scion of the troubled Tenenbaums. Some 20 years on, it remains one of Wes Anderson’s finest films.
The rich cast of characters includes Royal’s ex-wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) and her new suitor Henry (Danny Glover), and the three adult children, all so promising as youngsters, but all so calamitously unhappy as adults—Chas (Ben Stiller), the angry real-estate whiz; Margot (Gwenyth Paltrow), the precocious playwright and chain-smoker; and Richie (Luke Wilson), a tennis champion who threw it all away to live in a tent in his family’s living room. This being a Wes Anderson movie, Bill Murray’s there. So is Owen Wilson.
But Hackman’s huge presence dominates the movie in the best way and keeps it from being too precious. The whole affair is a hilarious, touching, brilliantly stylized, studiously soundtracked study of melancholy and redemption—a fitting send-off for Hackman, even if he didn’t enjoy making it much.