had one of the most impressive careers ever seen in Hollywood and boasts a filmography full of incredible war movies. While Hackman achieved his breakout role in the crime story Bonnie and Clyde, across his more than four decades of acting, he starred in several astounding war movies. As a real contender for the greatest actor of the 20th century, Hackman’s body of work was characterized by its sheer variety as he excelled at playing empathetic heroes, sinister villains, and morally gray antiheroes.

Some of the best Hackman movies were in the war genre, as the two-time Academy Award winner knew how to capture both the humanity and horror at the heart of conflict. Considering Hackman’s passing at 95 in 2025, now is the perfect time to look back on his incredible career and pay homage to his amazing war movies. From action-packed works with directors like Tony Scott to a spectacular epic with Richard Attenborough, .

The same year Gene Hackman achieved his breakout role with his iconic performance in Bonnie and Clyde, he starred in this little-known World War II movie. Named after the practice of sending United States Marines in first during attacks, , who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in battles against the Japanese. Hackman had a supporting role as Sgt. Tweed in this underrated portrayal of soldiers on the front lines.

With an impressive lead performance from Chad Everett as Basilone, First to Fight featured some impressive action scenes and was a realistic depiction of conflict. Despite his limited screen time, Hackman stood out in his small role, and there were already glimmers of his future status as a two-time Oscar winner. While First to Fight doesn’t live up to Hackman’s best work in the war genre, it was still a powerful look at those who showed great heroism in the face of terrifying odds.

March or Die was a British drama about the 1920s French Foreign Legion and the harrowing memories of the recently concluded Great War. Gene Hackman starred as Major William Sherman Foster, a war-weary American who struggled to make peace with leading an 8,000-man strong army that he watched whittle down to just 200. Later, in Erfoud in Morocco, Major Foster tries to shake his demons after he’s assigned an archeology dig site in danger from Bedouin revolutionaries led by El-Krim (Ian Holm.)

While , looking back on it today, the film was an impressive catalog of the Légion Étrangère. However, much of the legacy of March or Die was overshadowed by its troubled production, which saw Hackman sustain injuries after being thrown off a horse while filming (via New York Times.) This caused filming to be temporarily suspended and contributed to March or Die going well over budget.

While Behind Enemy Lines received negative reviews at the time of its release, looking back, it’s hard not to be won over by its . Telling the story of a navy flight officer (Wilson) whose plane was shot down, Lieutenant Chris Burnett soon found himself amid genocide during the Bosnian War. At the same time, the rear admiral commanding officer (Hackman) must fight against bureaucracy to get the approval needed for a search and rescue mission.

With plenty of intense action, Behind Enemy Lines may not have won any points for being high art, but as fast-paced entertainment, it more than succeeded. With Wilson consistently evading life-or-death situations and Hackman excelling in a protective role, Behind Enemy Lines was truly one of the most underrated action movies of the early 2000s.

The seldom-depicted Apache Wars between the United States army and Native American tribal confederations served as the basis for Geronimo: An American Legend. Exploring how First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood (Jason Patric) convinced Apache leader Geronimo (Wes Studi) to surrender in 1886, Geronimo was a rare Hollywood production that was praised by Native American groups for its honest and sympathetic presentation (via LA Times.)

, the commanding U.S. officer in the 1886 campaign who received the nickname Crook Nantan Lupan, which means ‘Chief Wolf,’ from Apache tribe members. As a nuanced and fascinating account of the military leader Geronimo and his encounters with United States army officials, Geronimo provided a unique glimpse into the early history of modern America.

While so many great war movies focus on the soldiers involved in active conflict, there’s another side of active battle zones that is equally important: journalism. This unique focus on those reporting on war was what made Under Fire so compelling, as it delved into journalists in the midst of the last days of the corrupt Somoza regime in Nicaragua before it fell in the 1979 revolution. With , Under Fire saw him drawn back into war reporting.

With a strong premise, incredible performances, and political relevance, Under Fire was one of the most intelligent thrillers of the 1980s. While thought-provoking politics were the driving force behind Under Fire, like so many great war movies such as Casablanca, intertwined romances also added intrigue to this heart-racing narrative. Under Fire was an old-fashioned thriller, the kind of which they don’t really make anymore, and is well worth seeking for Hackman fans who haven’t seen it.

Uncommon Valor featured an incredible performance from Gene Hackman as a former U.S. Marine colonel obsessed over the fate of his son, who has been officially missing for ten years. With an overwhelming belief that his son was being held in Laos since the conclusion of the Vietnam War, Colonel Jason Rhodes puts together a ragtag team to go on a deadly rescue mission. With action, heroism, and an emotionally resonant story, Uncommon Valor highlighted the extraordinary power of a parent’s love and the importance of hope in the face of potential tragedy.

As a former marine who was frustrated with the government’s lack of action surrounding his missing family member, . While some critics at the time criticized Uncommon Valor for being full of action and war movie tropes, there was heart at the center of this story that meant you became totally invested in Rhodes’ mission.

It’s hard to think of a cast stacked with more icons of the 1970s than Richard Attenborough’s epic war film A Bridge Too Far. Based on the failed Allied operation in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, Operation Market Garden, Gene Hackman played the supporting role of the Polish Brigade Commander, Major General Stanisław Sosabowski. With characters on the American, British, German, and more sides of the conflict, Hackman was joined by fellow acting legends including Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Olivier, just to name a few.

A Bridge Too Far was an ambitious epic that kept the action coming for all of its incredible near-three-hour runtime. With impeccable historical accuracy, Attenborough managed to deliver not only one of the most impressive ensemble casts ever assembled but also made a truly engrossing war movie. While upon release for its willingness to expose the inadequacies of the Allied campaign (via BBC), this uncompromising vision was part of what made it such a spectacular movie in hindsight.

Few environments are better suited for fostering claustrophobic and heart-racing viewing than the inside of a submarine, as proven by the undeniable power of Tony Scott’s Crimson Tide. This epic story of made for nail-biting viewers. With Gene Hackman as Captain Frank Ramsey, his character’s hard-nosed adherence to military protocol saw him butting heads with Denzel Washington’s Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter.

Through a tense power struggle and unimaginably high stakes, Crimson Tide perfectly encapsulated Scott’s ability to produce intense war-based thrillers that had audiences on the edge of their seats. With a strong script by Michael Schiffer, which reportedly also featured uncredited contributions from Quentin Tarantino (via Collider), gave one of his greatest performances as this formidable but flawed captain. Featuring mutiny and standoffs, Crimson Tide featured everything you could want from an intense, action-packed war movie.

Sources: New York Times, BBC, Collider