2003-12-04 - 12:01 p.m.
dear gene hackman,
is it wrong that i have a crush on you although you are 73 years old? 73 years young, i say!
i've recently experienced a renaissance with your work. it seems every time i flip on the tv, there you are, in all your roughneck, curmudgeonly, anti-establishment glory. you can play the bad guy or the hero with equal ease, and sometimes you're so good that you make the "bad" guy into the hero we all root for (e.g., royal tenenbaum [the role you should've won the oscar for] and buck barrow in "bonnie and clyde" [i don't want to know you if you don't cry when buck gets killed]).
you might want to know why i'm writing you this letter. well, last night i was privileged enough to watch you in "the french connection". now granted gene, i was stoned, but i've never been so riveted watching an action movie in my life. they weren't kidding when they said that your car chase scene was a cinema classic. i've never seen anything like it, not only did it capture the white-knuckle action of you as popeye doyle driving the car, but it totally subverted the car chase scene genre by having you chase an elevated subway over your head, not a car in front of you. sheer genius. the character of popeye doyle is a revelation, a combination of bravado and hubris coupled with weakness and self-doubt. job well done, gene. i was shocked to find out that there is a sequel to the french connection also made in the seventies. i have moved it to the top of my netflix list. gene, you're number one in my queue.
what can't be said about you? scrolling through your accomplishments on imdb.com, i was surprised to learn that you've been in a lot of (shit?) movies that i've never seen. but let's give a shout out to (what i consider) the classics:
the royal tenenbaums.
unforgiven.
postcards from the edge (shut it, i love this movie).
mississippi burning.
no way out.
superman I, II, IV (well, maybe not IV and kudos for opting out of superman III starring richard pryor!).
hoosiers.
the conversation (utter unappreciated genius by francis ford coppola).
the french connection (I and possibly II).
young frankenstein.
the poseidon adventure. ("take meeeee!" shouts reverend frank scott as the steam burns him and i cry every time).
bonnie and clyde.
big ups to you gene hackman, the 73 year old actor i need to add to my list of peeps to kiss (i certainly don't want to see 73-year-old ass, i'm not that pervy!).
xoxo,
vivakate
