SAN FRANCISCO – SITE OF GENE HACKMAN CINEMATIC GEM “THE CONVERSATION”
Lee Heidhues 2.27.2025
I am truly saddened to read about the passing of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. The cause of their deaths is raising many questions which may eventually be answered.
One thing which will never be in doubt is Hackman’s greatness as a performer. Five years ago I published a blog post about this incredible film and am reprising it to commemorate Gene Hackman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman
In my mind his most compelling role was that of private investigator Harry Caul. The Francis Ford Coppola psychological mind bender filmed in San Francisco and released in 1974. The Conversation won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, the highest honor at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards for 1974,but lost to Francis Ford Coppola’s own The Godfather Part II. It won the National Board of Review Award for Best Film. – excerpted from Wikipedia.
Considered one of the best San Francisco movies of all time, “The Conversation” featured Hackman as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert and a loner who has been hired to record the conversation of a couple as they walk through Union Square. Retired San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle 2.27.2025
The opening scene in San Francisco’s old Union Square is unforgettable.
Hackman appeared in another film which portrayed the perils of surveillance. The 1998 Tony Scott directed “Enemy of the State.” In its Appreciation of Gene Hackman the Wall Street Journal wrote, “Mr. Hackman would essentially reprise his character for a flashier thriller, the 1998 Will Smith man-on-the-run tale “Enemy of the State,” which was prescient about the potential for technology to keep tabs on us all.”
Enemy of the State is a 1998 American political action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, written by David Marconi, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman with an ensemble supporting cast consisting of Jon Voight, Regina King, Loren Dean, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper and Gabriel Byrne. In the film, a lawyer is targeted by a group of corrupt National Security Agency (NSA) agents after he unknowingly receives a tape of the agents murdering a congressman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film)
Excerpted from Santa Fe New Mexican 2.27.2025
Two-time Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home northeast of the city.
Although investigators do not suspect foul play in the deaths of the longtime Santa Fe residents, who over more than 30 years here became known for their involvement in the local cultural and business scenes, the circumstances of their deaths were “suspicious enough” to warrant a thorough search and investigation, according to law enforcement.
A search warrant affidavit filed by Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies offers scant answers to the question of what happened to the couple, who were both found dead along with one of their dogs inside their house just outside Santa Fe city limits Wednesday afternoon.
The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were each found lying on the floor in separate rooms of their Hyde Park-area home, the affidavit says, and one of their three dogs was found dead in a kennel or crate in the closet, Sheriff Adan Mendoza told CBS. The door to the home was ajar.
Top photo: Gene Hackman with a young Harrison Ford in The Conversation.
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