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Hackman and Hoffman sound off on each other's work | 132111__dh_l
HOFFMAN
Dustin Hoffman: Armando Gallo/Retna

HOFFMAN ON HACKMAN

SCARECROW (1973)
Hackman plays temperamental, troubled ex-con Max, who befriends a young Al Pacino. Rarely seen in America now, but a cult fave in Europe.

''I just remember a kind of sweet irony that the character carries with him, a heartbreaking smile. And there's a very subtle humor in it, which stops it from being a depressing character. He hit comic notes in it, which wasn't easy. He just nailed it.''

THE CONVERSATION (1974)
Hackman is obsessively self-contained surveillance expert Harry Caul, who unravels when he suspects he's uncovered a murder plot.

''That's uncompromising, that performance. It's scary. There's a book William Styron wrote called 'Darkness Visible' about his terrible bout with depression, a brutally honest book. God, this reminds me of that book. He played a character from a deep part of himself, where depression and loneliness collide. There's a part of you that's dying as you live -- for all of us. We try to keep buoyant because we understand the game plan.... In my mind, he seemed to always be standing in a corner. Most actors, when they get a so-called background character, they bring them foreground. He didn't. That was the miraculous quality of it. He kept the character in the background and just trusted that we'd look for him.''

BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
As the brother of Depression-era outlaw Clyde (Warren Beatty), Hackman nabbed his first of five eventual Oscar nominations.

''I love it because it comes off him being fired [from ''The Graduate'']. It's the opposite of ''The Conversation'' because he was so happy to have a job and it just spilled onto the screen. You could see the joy that he gets from being an actor. He was helium-filled. It's one of the most appealing things in a performance when you know that the actor is not just having a good time but is somehow owning the choice that he's made in life: I PICKED THE RIGHT JOB.''

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
Hackman wins his first Oscar, as ''Popeye'' Doyle, a cop who's willing to get as grimy as the criminals he chases.

''I don't think anybody had ever played a cop without a distinction of black hat or white hat. [Popeye] wasn't a bad guy, he was a guy who at heart was very frightened and projected it with great aggression. Gene got behind the aggression. It was like his face was against a plate-glass window. There was something smashed in. I don't understand, because he really didn't do that much research. He told me when he went into one of those [dangerous]bars, he was really frightened. I guess he was able to use that. A lot of actors would say, 'Yeah, but the character wouldn't be scared.' But Gene didn't. He said, 'Well, why not?'''

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
In a few brief, stomach-grabbing minutes, Hackman nearly steals Mel Brooks' comedy, as the blind man who befriends The Monster.

''For my money he's doing it as good as any of the great clowns. He's right up there with Chaplin and Keaton. If I was directing a farce, which is maybe the toughest stuff to do -- and most actors don't cut it because you can see the flop sweat on them -- Gene would be the first choice. They say you can't teach a boxer to punch; they're either born with a punch or not. I don't think you can teach a sense of humor, and that's a big piece of [Gene's]fabric. He can be dry and ironic and he can enjoy the crudest, basest, broadest musical humor, which he evinces in 'Young Frankenstein.' He loves to laugh. You wouldn't know it because he is and always has been a very shy if not introverted person.''


Posted Oct 17, 2003 | Published in issue #733 Oct 17, 2003 | Order Article Reprints
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