A. WAYNE : Gene Hackman could never appear on-screen without my father skewering his performance

JOHN WAYNE lashed out at Oscar winner Gene Hackman, describing the actor as “the worst in town”, the western star’s daughter once claimed.

n contemporary reviews, Fort Apache is often hailed for being among the first to present an “authentic and sympathetic” view of Native Americans on screens.

In commentary on the 2012 edition of the film’s DVD release, Dave Kehr, a critic with the New York Times, called it “one of the great achievements of classical American cinema, a film of immense complexity that never fails to reveal new shadings with each viewing… among the first pro-Indian [sic] Westerns” which shows “sympathy and respect” towards Native Americans.

Such was the film’s influence, it was nominated by the American Film Institute as one of the top 10 greatest western flicks to have ever been made.

While Wayne enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the likes of Ford, his daughter Aissa once recalled one star that he thought was overrated, Gene Hackman.

Aissa detailed her father’s fury with Hackman in her 1991 book John Wayne: My Father.

She wrote: “When it came to his contemporaries in film, I only heard him speak once with any real venom.

“Gene Hackman could never appear on-screen without my father skewering his performance.

“I wish I could tell you why he so harshly criticized Hackman, but he never went into detail.

“Although it’s pure speculation, had my father lived to see more of his work, I think his view of Mr Hackman would have changed.

“Back then, however, my father called Hackman ‘the worst actor in town. He’s awful’.”

Hackman earned critical acclaim throughout his long career in Hollywood, including claiming two Academy Award wins, for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, in The French Connection and Unforgiven respectively.

PROC. BY MOVIES