Hello,
I'm looking for books/articles - biography, "Films of...", critical studies,
etc, on Gene Hackman. I've scoured the bookshops, but can find nothing on this
very fine character actor who, over a long career, has turned in performances
which are invariably convincing and thoughtful. Even when the overall quality
 ofa film is questionable, he almost always succeeds in illuminating his
characters.
Hackman has made a number of fine films, none better, IMO, than "The
Conversation"(Francis Ford Coppola, 1974). Here, he plays surveillance expert,
Harry Caul, a lonely, introverted man who, in the course of his attempt to
decipher a recording of a conversation he has made on behalf of a mysterious
client(Robert Duvall), discovers the moral implications and dangers of
electronically invading the lives of others(this film was made around the time
of Watergate).
Other of his films well worth seeing include, Night Moves(1975),
Under Fire(1983), Mississippi Burning (1988), Class Action(1991),
Unforgiven(1992),  He also made a fine early film(1970), I Never Sang For My
Father.
Hope someone can help.
Frank Davis
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