And
We are celebrating.
Well, we're celebrating comedy tonight, like we often do, and the life of Gene Hackman.
Our question of the night is, what is your favorite Gene Hackman movie?
Let us know at 855-752-4842, or you can text us through the app or on the stream.
Just text us, folks.
There are no wrong answers.
Right now, joining me on the stream is our friend Rich Talarico.
He is a writer who is written for such great legendary sketch shows as Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, and of course, Key and Peel.
Rich, remind us, if you would, you had the honor of having a sketch, a classic sketch you wrote, one of the best ever from Key and Peele, the substitute teacher.
Be recognized in part of the Smithsonian.
I think you talked about that a little bit the last time you were here.
Can you remind
us what
exactly happened and how that happened?
Yeah, well, there's an exhibit called, I think, Entertainment Nation.
And it was installed in the Smithsonian Institution's American History Museum, something.
And it was put in there last year and the exhibit will be there for 20 years.
And as part of this exhibit, which covers different media, it also covers sports and entertainment, the entertainment nation.
One of the pieces was the Key and Peel sketch, a substitute teacher, which I was responsible for that came from a story about my eighth grade teacher, Mr. Chudy.
And Mr. Chudy was ready to retire and he had to do roll call.
And we had complicated names in our class.
We had a girl named Lori Babiars.
We had a girl named Ogilik Plachotnik.
And we had a guy named Chester Dabrinsky.
So there was like, you know, some alphabet soup going on.
So Mr. Tudy would look at the roll and he would see the name.
He wouldn't even really try.
Like he'd see the name Babiars and he'd look down and he'd look up and he'd go Babish.
And then the girl would like raise her hand and go.
here like I think you mean me and then he'd see Chester Dabrinsky and he'd go Dejinsky.
And it was like close, oh very close.
And he'd see Olga Pichotnik in his head would explode.
But it's so funny because I'm friends with Olga still and I see her on social media and every time I tell the story she's like hey somebody said you were telling the story again.
That's when that sketch comes from and there was some improvisation on the set.
I know between Keegan and D nice They did that whole back-and-forth thing was kind of improvised on the set and It's blown up and you know people all over the world know it and I've seen people keep telling me license plates people are changing the license plates to a Iran and Jake Wellin and And blocking
that is so great.
We have
a
we have another and how cool like I mean the Smithsonian
You know, it's amazing.
If you've ever had a doubt about your career choice, and I'm sure you
haven't because you're masterful at
it, but the Smithsonian that pretty much says
I went down there last year and you know, it was incredible to walk through and to see it.
You know, it's just kind of playing with a few other clips that were in the same exhibit, but like every time it came on, you're just like, I can't believe this is.
This is here.
Very cool.
It's amazing.
Well, we have another sketch that we clipped, and we paired it down a little bit, and I'd like to play this and then get your reaction from it when we come back.
It's about a minute or a minute and 20 seconds.
Conrad, if
you would, please.
Well, stay off the roads if you can, folks.
Lots of reports of black
ice.
Ooh, you got to watch out for that dangerous black ice.
It's transparent and sneaky.
Hard to see, black ice.
That's right, Marcy.
Keep your loved ones safe and warn them to stay off the streets tonight because of menacing.
Life robbing black, black ice.
I dick.
We have Channel 17's field reporter Darren Hempner with more, Darren.
Yeah.
I'm standing out here in historic Ramsey Hill where there are currently no cars on the street due to hazardous driving conditions.
Darren, are you talking about black ice?
That's
right.
Jesus, it's frightening just to even say black ice.
It's scary, tricky, ruthless stuff, that black ice.
A perfectly safe neighborhood can be suddenly terrorized by the appearance of black ice.
Well,
one must keep in mind that just because black ice looks different than white ice, it doesn't make it any more dangerous.
Also, one must remember how hard it is for black ice to survive what with the authorities trying to destroy it.
with the snow plows and the salt trucks, but black ice perseveres.
That's right.
That's right.
And as you can see right now, the city is being controlled by lots of oppressive white snow, making it hard for all people to advance.
And we don't hear much news about that.
Now do we?
No, we do not.
Well, thank you very much, Brother Darren.
But let's be honest, black ice is the real menace.
Last night.
I was in a perfectly safe neighborhood walking away from an ATM machine when black ice just snuck up on me and practically robbed me of my balance.
Ouch.
That sounds exactly like something black ice would do.
Well, I just hope that folks watch out so the white snow doesn't blind them and keep them from seeing what's really going on.
That's the black ice sketch from Key and Peele written by our guest, Rich Talarico.
You have so many great sketches and one we're not gonna get to either where you wrote the Obama sketch where He plays Obama and he's going through the line addressing people from different races
differently
so funny was How did you come up with these and what was those?
What were those pitch sessions like where you're pitching these guys your sketches?
Well, thanks, you know, you know comedian just basically as you know The things come to you.
You just live life and you wait for things to kind of tap you on the shoulder
and you try to be a good receiver.
But I remember the Black Ice sketch came from, I was watching the Weather Channel and they had some report about, you know, Black Ice.
But the way they were saying it, they were like, Black Ice.
Like they just were so threatening with it.
And, you know, you write it down and I go, I think this could be something to where they're, you know, and just basically the setup that happened.
That sketch, by the way, the, you know, FEMA, the white folk,
presenters, the news presenters were Laird McIntosh from the Groundlings, who's terrific.
And
he's so great.
And Arden Mirren, who I actually met in 1993 in my Improv Olympic class in Chicago, my first Improv Olympic class in the spring of 93.
So it was great to work with Arden again.
But no, that's where that came from.
And then of course, it got heightened.
And I pitched the idea, and Key and Peele took to it pretty quickly.
This is a sketch, though, I got to say that surprised all of us in that it's very popular, and I just didn't think it would connect as much as it did, but it really does connect to people.
You rewrite these things six, seven, eight times before it even goes to production.
And then sometimes on the set, I know that Jordan with the line where he goes,
Yeah, like that was that was improvised that was not in the script and I'd written a few versions of the script So I'm you the good thing about key and keel is you're usually delighted if they do something That isn't in the script.
It's usually for good reason and I had one sketch which was this severed head warrior sketch were basically
This guy cuts off a head, like in Conan the Barbarian or something, and he yells and everybody cheers with him.
And then he likes the fact that people yelled, so he's trying to get more reaction.
So he puts the head on his shoulder, pretend he's got two heads, and then people are like, oh no, that's too much.
He's like, okay, okay, what do you think of this?
Then he puts it on a pair of sandals and walks the head around and people start to laugh again.
So he's just trying to get, but basically when they shot it,
because I had written all this dialogue for the guy like, okay, guys, what do you think of this?
What do you think of this?
And he like put the hat on the shoulder.
They cut all the dialogue and just did grunts.
So, you know, as a writer, so he's like, ah, ah, ah.
So, but as a writer, you know, you're delighted when you're like, hey, when do you ever say, I'm so glad they cut every word I wrote.
Right.
You know, I'm so glad they just did grunts.
And then the other one you asked about was, aside from Black Oceania, Obama Greeks.
Yeah, that's
so funny.
You know, it's funny, I just noticed them doing it.
And Pee and Peele had done another sketch about what you call code switching.
You know, because you're different with different people, right?
I'm different with my poker buddies than I am with my little nephews.
You know,
I'm really
mean and crude and rude with my little nephews and I'm very polite with my poker buddies.
Okay.
But just then another code switching sketch.
And I think I was watching Obama like greet different people.
And of course we heightened it and exaggerated it.
But in 2024, Obama greeted the USA basketball team and did that bit.
But he actually did that.
He pretended to greet people differently based on the race.
So, you know, that's the key appeal filter that we were writing under, which was to look at the world and, you know, hopefully a post-racial world, which I don't know if we're ever going to be.
But, you know, with Obama being the president, it was just this synergy of this show coming along and Jordan also being able to do an incredible Obama impression.
That's great stuff.
I want to ask you something before we run out of time.
You recently said you had a screenplay curated.
Kind of a cool honor.
What's that like and what happens next with that?
Well, thanks for asking, Pete.
Well, basically, during the lockdown, I wrote a script called The Widow Daredevil.
And it's based on the true story of Annie Edson Taylor.
who at 63 was a failed charm school teacher, and she tried to reverse her fortunes by becoming a daredevil.
And this is a true story, and her stunt was to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
She did it, she survived.
And then there's this whole story that happens after she achieves the stunt.
So I grew up in Central New York, so I've always known her story.
And I wrote this script in 2020.
The Beverly Hills Film Festival made it an official selection, which is just a way to kind of put a laurel on it.
And then this year, I submitted it for the Gray List, which is a curated list of market-ready screenplays for writers 40 and up.
And they put it in right at the top of their list, which is terrific.
And the hope is that I can connect with a producer or studio that wants to help me take it to the screen.
I'm also presently exploring some options of raising some money and just trying to do it independently.
So if there's any film lovers out there that want to invest, you can find me at richetellerico.com.
Oh, that's fantastic.
Well, we should have a talk about that off the air.
I would love to hear more and see what we can maybe collaborate on something there.
But we have about one minute left, Rich.
And
thank
you again for your time.
I just
want to
have all the like you've written for Saturday Night Live, Mad TV and Key and Peel.
You've obviously are known more probably for Key and Peel.
But what was your best experiences, your best experience of those three shows?
Well, you know, ethanol was
You know like right if the New York Yankees call you have to go.
Yeah, and they actually offered me a job in 1997 as a writer and I didn't take it because I was
really
trying to be an actor I was like,
I
don't want to be a writer, you know, and it wasn't until I finished second city because I really wanted to finish second city and I did I went to med TV right after second city I did that for three seasons and then I went to SNL for two and Went back to med TV after that and then I did the
tonight's show and then key appeal but uh as far as you know the experiences the snl experience was tops you know i got some stuff on i had some stuff with deniro with janet jackson with snoop dog with paul giamatti you know i had a lot of great times there but it wasn't really my style because everything was to camera you know everybody talked to the camera so that was a big
shift when I got to key and peel it was you know actors performing scenes which is rich rich
can you can you hang on one minute and I'll let you finish
the
story we gotta do very quick this is a very quick break we're coming right back with rich tellerico thanks so
much
Rob Thomas coming up in just a few minutes to talk about Gene Hackman.
And we've got my favorite clip I'm going to play in just a minute here.
Right now, we have Rich Talarico on the line who has been gracious enough to spend some time with us here tonight and hang around a little extra.
Rich, you were talking about your most pleasurable experience when it came to all your awesome writing gigs at Key and Peele Saturday Night Live and Mad TV.
Please continue.
Oh, thanks, Pete.
You know, I appreciate it.
Sorry, I went over time there.
No, that's OK.
We
have a system where the computer just takes over whether we
want it to or not.
So I
didn't want you to get cut off.
So I didn't mean to interrupt.
No, no, you're good.
If you want to make a week go by fast, you buy bananas.
You want to make an evening go by fast, you do one of these.
So yeah, but at SNL, I wrote the Super Bowl shuffle sketch for Tom Brady.
I had a couple of scenes with De Niro.
So, you know, just going out and being in the city and, you know, basically get the keys to the city and the show spoils its people and they're very good to you.
So, you know, that was an incredible thing.
And Matt TV was so laid back.
And I loved, you know, basically just living in my, you know, a T-shirt and shorts and, you know, being in Hollywood every day and writing comedy and going out to lunch and hanging out.
And we just had so much fun.
There's a lot of laughter and silliness, you know, the office at Mad TV was very silly with ping pong tables and, you know, staying late and having a lot of fun together.
So, I mean, all of it's incredible.
And, you know, I'm in a chapter now where I'm doing more teaching and I'm trying to write more screenplays.
I'm trying to get my screenplay sold.
But, you know, spending your 30s, you know, in these writers' rooms.
It's certainly the way to go.
I would highly recommend.
Well, next time you're here, buddy, we'll get more into the screenplays.
And I know you're doing stand-up too.
We can talk about that next time too.
So
let's
do this again soon.
Thank you so
much
again, Rich.
You're always so much fun, buddy.
Continued success.
My pleasure.
Thank
you, U2P.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks, my friend.
That's Rich Talarico.
Just Google.
He and Peele, Rich Tallarico, all his sketches come up.
They're so great and very talented writer.
Always fun when Rich is on the show.
So in just a few minutes, Rob Thomas will be here.
And last night on the show, Jamie McShane was here, a good friend of mine who's in the show in 1923.
And I asked him who his influences were.
And this is what he said just last night.
A character, maybe a famous character or a type of role that you haven't played yet that you would love to do.
Oh, wow.
Right.
For your influences, like when you decided, I think I can do this.
Who did you want to emulate?
Wow.
That was incredible.
That was just last night.
And then I wake up this morning to the news that Gene Hackman had passed away at 95 years old.
So the circumstances, we don't know the full extent yet, but either way, it's a loss, even though he was 95 and it appears that the way he went too is kind of peculiar and hopefully they'll get that worked out.
But just last night, another great actor, Jamie McShane, who
His resume is incredible.
It just shows you the reach or the influence of Gene Hackman, such a great actor.
We have a scene here.
Do we have time to play this from Mississippi Burning?
Okay, this is one of my favorite scenes between two great actors, Gene Hackman and...
William Defoe, Appleton's own, Wisconsin's own, William Defoe.
They're arguing about how to get these racist bad guys after one of them just beat up his wife, played by Francis McDormand, who Gene Hackman has some affection for.
And this is the argument between these two great actors.
Mr. Anderson.
Stop.
Mr. Anderson.
What the hell?
I'm telling you to stop and I mean it.
We're not killers.
That's the difference between them and us.
That's the difference between them and you.
You're not any more like them than I am.
Wrong.
What do you care what I do with some son of a b---- behind a sheriff's badge?
Don't you have the whole world to change?
That's right, and I'm changing it.
Oh, you're just as arrogant as you are stupid.
You're changing it too.
My damn
wife's gonna make some changes right
now.
Don't be so stupid.
Don't go messing this up just because you're partial to fooling around with witnesses.
You!
Come on.
It don't mean s*** I have a gun unless you're ready to use it.
I'll kill you right now if you don't listen to what I have to tell you.
Let me go.
Let me go.
We'll go after all of them.
Together.
You would know how.
You're gonna teach me how.
You don't ask for the guts.
Not only do I have the guts, I have the authority.
What is that supposed to mean?
New rules.
We nail them any way we can, even your way.
Is this you talking or some guy pulling your strings, huh?
Both.
We do it my way.
Your way.
With my people.
Whatever it takes.
Okay.
Give me a minute.
You think you would have shot me?
Oh, yes, sir.
The ball's a little bastard
in there.
I mean, that's one of my favorite, not only Gene Hackman scenes, but my favorite scenes in the history of movies.
Two guys at the height of their career, both badass roles.
And if you haven't seen Mississippi Burning,
Highly recommend.
There's so many Gene Hackman films.
You could see the conversation Mississippi burning the French connection Some people say the Royal Tenen bombs Hoosiers the list goes on and on Steady Eddie Texas our question tonight is what was your favorite Gene Hackman film and Steady Eddie says Pete favorite Gene Hackman movie got to be Hoosiers a few of your listeners probably know this but I've heard not sure if it's true that a young athletic peach
Pete Schwabba has a cameo appearance in Hoosiers in a scene where a guy makes a spectacular slam dunk at the Indiana State Tournament.
Pete was the helpless, hapless defender under the basket who got posterized.
Great acting, Mr. Schwabba.
I think you should have at least been nominated.
The Academy robbed you, man.
It's a wonderful, charming, inspiring, sweet chocolate and caramel chewy film.
Wow, look at steady Eddie Gokhan, Rad.
He's on fire tonight.
He says, that's right, Pete.
Hoosiers is my milk duds pick of the week.
I give it four and a half chewy chocolate milk duds.
That's so disgusting.
Thank you, steady Eddie.
Great stuff.
All right.
In just a few minutes, Rob Thomas will be here.
Rob was just here last night, but, you know, in the events that unfolded since his last appearance and Jamie McShane's last appearance, which we just heard a clip from that.
We figured we had to have Rob back on to help us break down some of this news about Gene Hackman and talk a little bit about his career.
It's the least we could do after he's given us so much.
And we'll do that next.
Rob Thomas coming up.
Great to have you with me on this Thursday night on Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
Tomorrow night, on Nightlight, it is a bar band Friday night.
We will find new music thanks to our friend and co-host of Max's radio, Terry Barr, who drops by every Friday night.
Director Andrews Linwall will be here tomorrow night at 7.05 to talk about the success of his film, Green and Gold, and tell you where you can see it in the weeks to come.
I think it has one more week in the theaters.
We'll talk to Andrews about that tomorrow night.
And comedian James Connelly helps us kick things off tomorrow night at 6.35.
I would like to thank, on short notice, many of you.
might remember this next guest from last night.
He is becoming a series regular here on Night Light and he joins us now to talk about the legendary Gene Hackman and it's Rob Thomas, Madison Film Critic and editor of the city cast, Madison Newsletter.
Rob, how are you?
I'm
are you?
Good.
Long time, buddy.
We got to catch up.
I appreciate you jumping on short notice, but man, that was big news.
Last night,
I had actor Jamie McShane on and I asked him who his influences were and he immediately brought up Gene Hackman.
So to get that news this morning was just insane.
And, you know, not, I mean, he's 95, but it's a surprise the way he went.
Like you make it to 95 and then I guess they're saying it might be carbon monoxide or something.
Yeah, it's very strange and then I read some other I don't like it too much But there are a lot of other strange things like like the dog was dead too.
Yeah, so Yeah And and he had been retired for 20 years like he he he made so many movies and then stopped in 2004 with This movie called welcome to Mooseport, which was not a good movie.
He knew it was time to get out.
I respect that
you know and didn't he share the
screen with uh was it Ray Romano who was in that
you
Yeah.
He's such an interesting guy, Rob.
What can you tell us about like his background and anything you might know?
And maybe we can have a conversation about that and then talk about some of his movies.
You know, I always thought he was a Midwestern guy.
I know Danville, Illinois really claimed him.
But actually, I guess he was born in California, then moved around the Midwest as he was younger.
But Danville was the one I think that he maybe felt closest to and would come back for like
you know, city festivals and things like that.
Um, and then like in the fifties and sixties, he was sort of a, uh, journeyman actor.
He, he roomed with Dustin Hoffman.
That's pretty famous, you know, and we'd do theater, we'd do TV.
Apparently he auditioned to play Mike Brady on the Brady bunch, but got beat up by Robert.
I would love to see that.
I would love to see that version of the Brady bunch.
Oh my gosh.
That's hilarious.
And then his big breakthrough was with Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, where he got his first of, uh, first of two Oscars.
And then it was really off to the races for the next, uh, 40 years.
I mean, I mean, an incredible career.
So many great movies, so many great performances, sometimes in movies that didn't live up to them.
And, like, he could play anything.
He could play, you know, the kindest hero, like, in Hoosiers.
Yeah.
He
That's so funny you mentioned.
Yeah, yeah.
My friend Scott Klase is also an actor.
I saw a post he just did on Facebook saying he could always be Hackman.
And I used to think that wasn't really a compliment.
Like I always felt Chevy Chase was just Chevy Chase.
But Gene Hackman, like was Gene Hackman, he brought himself to those roles and made them better.
And I think that's the difference.
So yeah, just a phenomenal, but what a life.
Like where are these guys?
You don't, you don't see.
You know so many Hollywood actors of a different generation and it's probably indicative of just how things are now they did military service like he's got he's got service medals from the Navy and the Marines and You know and then he just decides he wants to act It's just crazy.
I love that somebody told him You don't have a face for a leading man and he didn't care.
He's like I just want to act I don't really care, you know,
And obviously became a leading man in so many great movies, but also took big parts and small parts right up until the very, you know, like him and young Frankenstein.
That is one of the funniest.
Oh, God, he comes up to Frankenstein.
He's the blind man who Frankenstein visits and Frankenstein.
You know, it's such a great scene.
I was going to make espresso.
I mean, you know, I actually don't think of Hackman is currently very funny in movies, but he's so funny in that movie.
But if you're a
actor, you can be funny if you're using the material in front of you.
And that's what he was so great at.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So
nomination for Bonnie and Clyde.
He also won an Oscar for was it the conversation?
No, French connection, right?
I believe.
Unforgiven.
That's right.
But
he's got like four or five other nominations.
He won three Golden Globes, two BAFTAs.
That's a lot of hardware.
Where do you
Well, I'll ask you that I want to I want to talk about something else Rob I thought this was fascinating like you mentioned it Dustin Hoffman the two of them started acting they went to the Pasadena Playhouse both of them were voted least likely to succeed
you know,
I think even in the 60s, you didn't see that many guys like that.
There's still a lot of pretty boys on movies and stuff.
And, you know, he just made every part really indelible.
And like, you know, my favorite movie of his,
was probably the conversation, which is the Francis Ford Coppola one that he made between Godfather and Godfather II.
But there's just so many.
Like I was thinking, I want to watch Gene Hackman movies this weekend, but where do you start?
He's cast so many good movies.
Well, and not only that, I was looking at the list, I'm looking at it right now.
There's so many I haven't seen.
I've seen a lot of them.
I've seen all of his big ones.
And it's interesting what you said about the
or what we were just talking about, the leading man thing.
He doesn't look like Brad Pitt or Warren Beatty back in his day, but there are some people who are such good actors.
You cannot not make them leading men.
And I think that's a tribute to his acting ability.
I know dads really responded to him in the way they probably did not to Warren Beatty.
when they saw, right, users or, uh, the conversation or, you know, and, um, and then a lot of young actors, as you said, look up to him and look to him in inspiration.
I, I know, I think we talked about that, uh, Jude Law movie, The Order.
Oh yeah.
movie.
Um,
And so, you know, even though I can't think of an actor right now who came from the same place, I think he inspired a lot of what we call character actors today, especially the ones who kind of moved from the supporting roles into the main roles, but somehow keep that character actor flavor when they do it.
Yeah, definitely.
Well said.
Where do you... Oh, here's another tidbit I thought that was funny.
He and Dustin Hoffman, friends, he followed, I think, Hoffman back to...
Pardon me, back to New York.
And they became friends with Robert Duvall, who I always thought was like very similar to Gene Hackman.
They both had kind of this tough guy persona, but
very subtle and nuanced in their performances too.
telling
Like, I guess I was watching an interview with Bill Murray today.
I guess Gene Hackman really put Wes Anderson through the ringer making the Royal Tenenbombs.
He was pretty young and like Gene Hackman really gave him a lot of guff on the set.
But they sort of found their way through to I think one of his best performances and a great movie.
So, you know, he pushed people for sure.
But it generally seemed to work out if the other people were kind of up for it.
Yeah, it's funny.
I forget he was in Ten and Bombs like I saw Royal Ten and Bombs and just once but it was so long ago But a lot of people are mentioning that is one of his best performances and you just reminded me of I think it was Rushmore Bill Murray was in with Wes Anderson I think that was the first time well it was the first time he was in a Wes Anderson film and Wes Anderson talk about challenging a young director Wes Anderson suggested something and Bill Murray just looked at him and said that would be the obvious choice
Rob, where do you rank Gene Hackman in terms of it's impossible to say who the best actor is, but do you put him top five top 10?
Where do you rank him?
I would say top five for sure of my of my lifetime for sure because like like I said, it was such a long career and he did so many different things within it while still having a certain like Like you said inner
You know honesty, I guess yeah when he was on screen like he wasn't he was always drawing from something authentic even if you know and It was funny.
I kind of wonder if other people the same thing was hurting he died like one movie just popped into your head immediately that was and for me You know, even though it's not my favorite movie for me.
It was Crimson Tide Yeah, then sell Washington because that to me was like the quintessential
Gene Hackman performance where he's like it's a good movie, but he's great in it Like he is he is doing everything he can to make it as the best that it can be
There you could say that about a lot of films he did though even in like an enemy lines or right You know enemy of the state like the firm
you know
he plays these great a heist like he's just so good at
But here's the thing, too, about Gene Hackman.
The first thing I did after I got some of my work done this morning was I put in the French connection.
And I just wanted to see as much of it as I could before I came in today.
Hackman is a guy who jumps off the screen.
He's got such undeniable charisma and panache, whatever you want to call it.
He just is so authentic and so charismatic to the point where Roy Scheider, who's also a great actor,
kind of gets dwarfed like the
first
half hour of that movie Hackman's in this guy's face and he's pointing and he knows when to snarl and like he's just so natural it's ridiculous
yeah and that character has rough edges that like if it was a warren bane or something i don't think they would have but it makes it such a compelling character like i said he's just he's not quite
you know, the white-headed hero, he's a little darker and more interesting than that, and then you just can't take your eyes off
him.
Right, well said.
Where do you, okay, let's talk, do you have like a, I asked you, I don't know if you saw my text, I was thinking
do like a top five list.
I would love to know what your top five, or at least the first ones that come to mind, Gene Hackman films
French
I like, I mean, it's hard to argue, those are all phenomenal.
I would say my one for him and a part of it is I just like the role too, but Mississippi burning Yeah, and then I would say probably the conversation French connection would be my number three and then I had kind of a tie Between Bonnie and Clyde and Hoosiers But you mentioned the quick and the dead earlier and he was such a great bad guy in that
And he was a great bad guy and no way out, too.
I really, getting that fifth film, I would probably have to say, you know, I'd say it's probably a tie between the quick and the dead and Poseidon Adventure.
Yeah, he's kind of a leader and he does this great.
scene where he's trying to open a hatch or something.
Hey Rob, can we, let's do a really quick break and then we'll come back and wrap this up, right?
And I'll tell
you my
favorite scene from Poseidon Adventure.
Rob Thomas is here, we're talking Gene Hackman as Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
She said what you probably gonna say
back.
We are talking.
I'm talking with Rob Thomas, Madison based film critic and city cast Madison newsletter editor.
We're talking about the legacy of Gene Hackman and just why we are both sort of so in awe of him.
Rob, I was telling you before the break about the scene in Poseidon Adventure that stuck with me.
It was one of the first probably impactful scenes I watched as a kid.
And he was kind of leading people through the boat, trying to get them to safety.
He plays a priest.
But he was kind of that Hackman tough guy priest.
I knew a couple of those when I was younger too.
Hanging onto this big huge dial trying to open a hatch for everybody and the thing was piping hot and he's hanging he knows he's gonna die and he's turning the thing with his hands which are basically burning off from steam and It's just so dramatic and then he I think he just drops down if I remember correctly and dies I was like that was incredible as a kid.
You know to see something like that
You
I feel like I did, but I don't remember anything about it.
And he goes to France after the drug dealers, and he gets hooked on heroin against his will.
And there's a scene where he gets off it.
He sort of goes cold turkey.
And it's really good.
And it's like really like he really goes for it in a way you usually don't see him because he's usually such a tough guy.
And right.
And so he knew how to use that.
I think sometimes, you know, because he was such a tough guy to be maybe more vulnerable on screen than another actor might let themselves do.
Well said.
All right.
So just to recap, your list is number one is conversation.
Number two was French connection.
Yep, three was unforgiven Four was ten and bombs and what was your number five?
Hoosiers, that's right.
All right So if you're listening folks, this is from a bona fide awesome genuine film critic check out those five films That Rob would recommend that Gene Hackman stars in my list was Mississippi burning then the conversation
And I'm lost here.
Okay.
And then I had, oh, the French connection.
And then I think I have a tie between the Poseidon adventure just because of probably that one scene, but how it affected me.
And maybe the quick and the dead, I'd probably say.
So all
Yeah, all good stuff.
So, all right.
Well, thanks for that, Rob.
You told me you have Pat Noswald tickets.
That's kind of cool.
of another giant in his own field or genre, that's kind of
Comedy
I thought I saw him like two years ago that he was playing the Orpheum.
That's fascinating.
Yeah, he and I were both in Jimmy Pardo's wedding party.
wow.
I don't know him well at all, but he was very funny at the roast.
We all roasted Pardo and Patton had some really good.
He kept calling him Johnny Pardo.
So very funny guy and boy, what an acting career he's carved out for himself.
I remember the first thing I think I saw him in was justified where he played like a local constable and he had a go bag and he was just funny, but really a really good actor too.
Yeah.
Are you, are you covering him or are you seeing him just for fun?
fun
That's excellent
you could recommend Rob.
Have you binge-watched anything?
Oh, yeah,
It's a based on a true story about this diver who gets
Kind of stuck at the bottom of the ocean with only a few minutes of oxygen.
It's an incredible true story So told a very grounded sort of like I described like Apollo 13 on the bottom of the ocean
So I really recommend that one this weekend.
Nice.
Okay.
Good to know.
Well, last night you were on the show.
We talked to Oscars.
I did see Nickel Boys last night, but let's save that.
Next time you're on, we got to dive into those films as well and we'll
Yeah, for sure.
All right, buddy.
Well, thank you for jumping on on short notice.
Happy Gene Hackman Day.
What a legacy.
And now go get some laughs tonight.
That sounds like fun.
There you go.
Thanks, Pete.
All right, you got it, Rob.
That's Rob Thomas.
Check out his work at CityCast Madison.
He's the newsletter editor and a great critic there in Madison.
So where do you rank Gene Hackman, Conrad, on a scale of how many Gene Hackman films?
I think you told me this earlier, but what?
I think out of the list I looked at, I've only seen Hoosiers.
that like a billion times.
So you've seen...
many Gene Hackman movies.
one.
I'm kind of envious.
You got a lot of cool films to catch up on if you so choose.
So tomorrow night on Nightlight, as I mentioned, this is great.
We have Andrews Linwall is going to pop by and just kind of give us an update on how his film is doing.
It's having a very nice theatrical run here in Wisconsin.
and soon to be available on streaming platforms but we'll try to get some information about that tomorrow night and he'll talk about where you can see the film I guess for one more week they keep extending it because it's doing well so we will uh we'll talk about that tomorrow night with Anders Linwall it's a bar band Friday night Terry Barr will be here and comedian James Connelly who is headlining an event for the Fox Valley Veterans Council um he's a comedian and former marine he'll be here tomorrow night to talk about that event as well so jam pack showed
tomorrow night.
Thanks so much, everybody, and my thanks to Rich Tolerico, Rob Thomas, and all of your texts on behalf of the lovable producer Conrad.
Good night, Wisconsin.
