Gene Hackman recently passed away after a 6 decade career in Hollywood. These films showcase some of his best work.
The French Connection
Alain Chanier is a dapper businessman from Marseilles, France, who is in reality a drug lord working on a big score - selling $32 million worth of heroin in New York City. But his potential buyer - small-time hood Salvatore Boca - is being tailed by two undercover NYC cops, James "Popeye" Doyle and Buddy "Cloudy" Russo. The more Popeye and Cloudy dig, the closer they get - to the mysterious 'French connection' and a final showdown between the dealers and the police.
Mississippi Burning
Set in Mississippi in 1964, this controversial film is based on the true story of the case of three young civil rights workers (in real life they were named James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner) who were brutally murdered in June of 1964. The chaotic aftermath was dubbed Mississippi Burning. This movie is told from the perspective of the FBI's operations to uncover evidence and bring the killers to justice. Anger over the real incident prompted the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Hoosiers
A basketball coach with a checkered past becomes the new coach of the underdog high school basketball team in a 1951 sleepy Indiana farm town, using methods that infuriate the townspeople.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Three grown prodigies, all with a unique genius of some kind, and their mother are staying at the family household. Their father, Royal, had left them long ago, but now returns to make things right with his family.
Crimson Tide
In the midst of a global crisis, the USS Alabama receives an unconfirmed order to launch its nuclear missiles. The tension quickly rises as the sub's respected commander and his brilliant executive officer clash over the validity of their orders, battling each other for control of the sub.
No Way Out
A powerful tale of intrigue set in the political whirl of Washington and the inner corridors of the Pentagon.
Get Shorty
Loanshark Chili Palmer has done his time as a gangster, so when "business" takes him to Los Angeles to collect a debt from down and out filmmaker Harry Zimm, he talks tough and then pitches Harry a script idea. Everything would be smooth for this cool new producer, if it weren't for the drug smugglers and gangsters who won't leave him alone.
Unforgiven
The town of Big Whisky people try to lead a quiet life. Sheriff 'Little Bill' keeps heavy-handed order. Then a couple of cowboys cut up a whore. Unsatisfied with Bill's justice, the prostitutes put a bounty on the cowboys. The bounty attracts a young gun billing himself as 'The Schofield Kid, ' and aging killer William Munny. Munny is a widower trying to raise his two young children. Farm life is hard and Munny is no good at it. He calls on his old partner Ned, saddles his nag, and rides off to kill one more time.
The Firm
A brilliant and ambitious Harvard Law grad joins a small, prosperous law firm in Memphis, and is soon confronted by FBI agents with evidence of corruption and murder within the firm.