Name: Gene Hackman On Al Pacino, "Hoosiers" And More | Letterman
Uploaded: 2025-02-27T11:34:40.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Gene Hackman On Al Pacino, "Hoosiers" And More | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-27. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Gene Hackman On Al Pacino, "Hoosiers" And More | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-27. Transcript available.

I'm terribly excited about the appearance of our next guest. Do you like this
man, Paul?
I'm crazy about this guy.
Yeah, one of my all-time favorite films this man is in with Al Pacino. It's
called Scarecrow. Have you seen that?
No, but I saw French Connection, though.
Yeah, well, he won an Academy Award for that. I'll just read the introduction,
he'll come out and we'll talk.
My next guest is a very classy actor who has obviously been tricked into doing
this program.
He won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1971 for the French Connection, the
movie Paul was talking about,
and he has since been seen in such films as Superman, Reds, The Conversation,
and most recently Twice in a Lifetime, and also Power.
Please welcome Gene Hackman.
Hi, Gene. Nice to see you. How are you?
You look great. You look great. You know, a lot of people come on the program,
whom you've seen on other shows or other films and so forth, and they look
different.
You look just exactly like you do in movies. You look great. You look terrific.
People come up to me on the street and they say, you look better in person than
you do on film. I don't know if that's a compliment. Did they say that to you?
No, they don't say much anything to me.
It's because of the bodyguards. But no, you really look terrific. And I
mentioned Scarecrow. I thought that was a terrific film. When was that made?
It was done right after French Connection, after it was released, probably 72,
something like that.
Did you like that movie?
Yeah, I did. It was probably my favorite film, a favorite film to work on. It
didn't work too well at the box office.
It was what they would call a small kind of film.
Small film.
Yeah.
The studios don't like small films.
No, they don't. They want blockbusters.
They want the blockbusters.
They want the film to go right all the way.
Yeah.
We had fun on it, though. Before the film started, Pacino and I were up in San
Francisco and we thought maybe we'd try to get into the characters, you know,
the bums.
And we got some clothes and stuff and walked around Market Street. And after a
couple of days of that, we'd get in the cab and we'd go back to the, you know,
the Mark Hopkins.
Yeah, sure. It's easy to be a bum that way when you have a suite reserved at
the Mark Hopkins.
But that was fun. One day we were walking along there and the guy, I said to Al,
maybe we go to the Salvation Army and see if there's a soup kitchen or
something.
And I asked the guy where it was and he looked at us and he said, "Yeah, it's
down a couple of blocks." And he'd go over and I said, "Thank you." And he said,
"You're welcome, Mr. Hackman, Mr. Pacino."
And so we walked away and I turned around and looked at the guy and he's kind
of talking to himself. I often wonder what he thought, you know. He'd seen Al
and Godfather like three months before that and I was getting the Academy Award
just prior to that.
He was the show business really fleeting. Yeah, fleeting. That didn't last long.
Or bad investments, maybe, that kind of thing.
Speaking of, now you also, when you were in New York, you worked as a doorman
at where? Was this Howard Johnson's?
At Howard Johnson's, yeah. I did a lot of that kind of thing. But, oh yeah. I
went up for a part-time job and they had some convention in New York and they
wanted a doorman at Howard Johnson's. Why? I don't know. But...
Was this right after you'd been out of the Marine Corps? Yeah, I just, oh, this
was like '57 or so, '57. Anyway, I had a white uniform on, green piping in it.
And I just literally, you know, it was this little Howard Johnson on the 49th
and Broadway.
Yeah. And I would open the door for people and I was there a couple of days. It
was kind of fun, actually. And I see this Marine coming down the street, a
sergeant, in full dress blues.
And it was my Marine Corps drill instructor from Parasite.
And about 30 feet away, he sees me.
And this is three, four years after I'd, you know, gone through boot camp.
Did you, did you leave with an honorable discharge?
Just barely, yes.
Yeah.
And, uh, as he walked by me, he never looked at me, really. But as he walked by
me, he said, "Hackman, you're a sorry son of a..."
But I bet he liked the uniform. I bet he thought that was not a bad uniform.
He thought that was sharp. Wasn't GI, but he was sharp.
You know, you just, uh, this is, uh, this is very exciting because you just, uh,
recently filmed, uh, in my hometown of Indianapolis.
Yes.
We have some people here from Indianapolis and this is, the movie is about,
correct me if I'm wrong,
it's one of the great local legendary basketball stories in all of, uh, Hoosier
basketball animals.
In 54, I think it was, a little town called Milan. And they, uh, they went on
to win the, the state basketball championship.
Right.
They were a town of about 400 people.
Tiny little school.
Tiny school.
Yeah. Given no chance at all to win and they, yeah.
And they go all the way.
It was a thrill being in Indianapolis in the wintertime.
Yeah, I'm sure it was.
Uh, I remembered as soon as I got there why I left Illinois.
Yeah.
Which was 60 miles away, uh, why I drifted away from there.
But, uh, was it fun being there?
Yeah, it was actually. The people were terrific.
I mean, I had guys coming over from my hometown of Danville, Illinois.
And, uh, guys I had gone to, uh, grade school with.
And we had just had a great time and all the people were, were terrific.
The only problem with at the, at the end of the movie,
and we actually shot the last scene on the last three or four days,
we needed about 15,000 people in the Butler field house for the final game.
Yeah.
And we had had pretty good cooperation up there.
We had shot eight games, I think.
And pretty good, you know, five to six hundred people all the time.
And on that night, they said that we needed to pack this would be the finals.
They said that, that we had to have it.
And they said they would turn people away probably, you know.
There were 500 people showing up.
Yeah, there you go.
And the director was running around says, it's okay.
I'll shoot it up their noses or I'll do it.
It'll be a fantasy sequence.
All right.
You know, they're dying.
Well, we were there four days and they finally got enough to, to, to finish it.
But it was, uh, it was touch and go for you.
You know, it's very exciting for somebody like myself.
And of course, the people who live in Indiana, because that's one of the great
classic stories.
And to see that.
And with you in the film, I hope it turns out.
But we have some here, don't we?
Or no, this is another.
This is power.
Another film.
You're in so many films.
This is you and Richard Gere.
Right.
Now, how many people turned out to see him?
This is about what?
Power is.
Power is about the media consultants who do consult, uh, would be governors,
senators, you know,
third, third world, uh, presidents and that kind of thing.
And, um, it's a, it's a fascinating film.
I have a very small role in it, which is.
All right.
This is what we're going to see, I guess.
A little bit of, uh, uh, Gene Hackman and Richard Gere also in this.
Yeah.
And does he have his clothing on in this scene?
Yes.
I think he does in this one.
But he's always undressed, isn't he?
In every film.
He's got a good body.
Why not?
Yeah, but I mean.
If I had a body like that, I'd take my clothes off.
Have you ever taken your clothes off in a film?
I think I've seen you, uh.
No.
No, I guess maybe I haven't.
No, no.
Sounds like the Howard Johnson's.
Uh, okay.
Here it is now.
This is a couple of seconds from the, uh, film, uh, Power with, uh, Gene Hackman
and Richard Gere.
Yeah, there's, uh, Power.
Uh, and, uh, this is out now currently.
And Twice in a Lifetime is out currently.
Twice in a Lifetime is still around.
And you're looking into doing a Broadway musical now.
Is that true?
Well, uh, I'm talking to some people who are interested in my doing, if I can
sing.
We haven't gotten to that part yet.
Oh, yeah.
Well, wait until the last minute on that, by all means.
Get, get people to put up a lot of dough and then find out.
Do the real amateur thing.
I'll, wait.
I'll, I'll do it opening night.
Yeah, yeah.
No, it'll be fine.
Yeah.
But now, you must, this must be something that you really want to give a shot
to.
I really do want to do it.
I just, I really, I want to make sure I, I can do it though, you know, nothing,
uh,
it always looks so great when you're in the Broadway theater and they're
singing.
You're like, what fun, you know, what, wouldn't it be great to show up every
night and have
the music kind of give you the life and all that.
But I, I don't know.
I'm sure it'll be, I mean, whatever you do, you're the kind of guy I think
people
would pay to, uh, see, do sit-ups or something, you know?
I think you're, you know, they, you're a very,
you're a terrific actor and a very likable person.
Thank you very much.
Nice to see you, Gene.
Thank you very much for being here.
Thank you.
Good luck to you, sir.
Uh, we'll be back here with Annie Golden.