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Hackman and Hoffman sound off on each other's work. Each of
the legends, ex-roomies and ''Jury'' co-stars revels in five of
his cohort's finest roles
By Gillian Flynn

When young Dustin Hoffman took off for Manhattan to become an actor in the 1960s, he
crashed at the broken-down, bathtub-in-the-kitchen apartment of his buddy Gene Hackman.
They botched a few auditions, palled around with Bobby Duvall, and then became two of the
most respected actors of their generation. In 40 years of work, the friends have never shared
screen time. That is, until ''Runaway Jury,'' based on a John Grisham courtroom drama about
a slippery duo (John Cusack and Rachel Weisz) who try to rig the outcome of a case. Hoffman's
a moral lawyer desperate to win; Hackman's the one out to gut him. On set in the heart of New
Orleans, the two-time Oscar winners swap laughs as they ready for their top-dog/underdog face-
off at a urinal. (The back-and-forth was added after it was realized that they didn't share a scene
in the original script.) Which reminds Hoffman -- dapper in legal tweeds, distracter of cast and
crew -- of a good story: The Time Gene Got Fired From ''The Graduate'' (though only seven years
older than Hoffman, he was to play Mr. Robinson). ''We were rehearsing, and we went to the
bathroom -- there were, like, 12 urinals. We were both peeing and he looked at me and said,
'I'm getting fired today.' I said, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'I'm getting fired today,
I know it.' And he did. And Warren Beatty found out and hired him for 'Bonnie and Clyde.' Made
his career.'' They've both been doing just fine ever since. Here Hackman, 73, picks his five favorite
Hoffman performances, and Hoffman, 66, returns the favor.

HACKMAN ON HOFFMAN

MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
Hoffman's second Oscar nomination (after ''The Graduate''); he played hobbled, decaying
Ratso Rizzo, who befriends wannabe hustler Joe Buck (Jon Voight) on the cold Manhattan
streets. 'I suppose because of Dusty's 'aura' or whatever, or his physique and the way he
looks, he was able to take on these very broad characters that people just weren't doing.
Dusty could make it believable and yet almost bigger than life. I don't know if we'd ever seen
anybody like that in the streets of New York -- that bold and that nasty-looking. I liked the
''I'm WALKING here!'' moment. That really struck home, because New Yorkers are kind of
like that: 'Hey, this is my property as long as I'm walking on it here.' That picture [could
have been] written for him.''

LENNY (1974)
Hoffman's portrayal of incendiary '60s comic Lenny Bruce won another nomination.
''Early on, when Dusty and I were together in New York, I always thought that his genius
lay in comedy. Although he hasn't done a lot of comedies, he has a real comic humor. I
mean hostile -- really biting -- but very, very funny.''

KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979)
Hoffman plays a freshly divorced man who must learn to care for his son -- and later fight
for custody of him with wife Meryl Streep; the role got him his first Oscar.  'I like the
sensitivities that he had with the kid. The scene with the little boy when he's cooking him
breakfast is just kind of wonderful. A lot of good scenes of him with Streep, of the terrible
thing that some of us have been through, separation and all that. I think it's fairly close to
who Dusty is. Smart, smart guy. Caring. When you think of 'Kramer vs. Kramer' and
'Midnight Cowboy,' the difference in those two characters is amazing.''

TOOTSIE (1982)
Hoffman tweaks his persnickety persona as an actor who dodges his perfectionist rep
by going drag -- landing a female role on a soap opera. The result: another nomination.
''Who else could have done that? I was talking to him the other day about 'Tootsie.' What
a brave thing it was to do. He says, 'Aw, you could have done that.' No. There's no way in
the world I would have touched that character. Yeah, I love 'Tootsie.' I watch it every year
and a half or two years. Knowing Dusty, he was very involved in everything. He doesn't
leave anything to chance. Early days in New York, he'd memorize whole comedy albums
to do when we were having little Greenwich Village parties. [With characters he'd get]
totally engrossed. Unlivable with.''

RAIN MAN (1988)
Hoffman won his second Oscar as the autistic, ''People's Court''-loving brother of Tom
Cruise. ''He could have been totally disgraced with that. A lot of times the reason people
fail when they do a broad character is they're afraid of it and don't commit to it. In 'Rain
Man,' he totally committed and you absolutely believed it. It's supported very well by Tom,
too. I'm sure Tom would not like to think of himself as supporting, but in effect I think he
was. I was really pleased that Dusty won the Oscar for that. I was sitting right across the
aisle from him; I'd been nominated for 'Mississippi Burning.' I knew he was going to win it.''
 
HOFFMAN ON HACKMAN
 
SCARECROW (1973)
Hackman plays temperamental, troubled ex-con Max, who befriends a young Al Pacino.
Rarely seen in America now, but a cult fave in Europe. ''I just remember a kind of sweet
irony that the character carries with him, a heartbreaking smile. And there's a very subtle
humor in it, which stops it from being a depressing character. He hit comic notes in it,
which wasn't easy. He just nailed it.''
 
THE CONVERSATION (1974)
Hackman is obsessively self-contained surveillance expert Harry Caul, who unravels when
he suspects he's uncovered a murder plot. 'That's uncompromising, that performance.
It's scary. There's a book William Styron wrote called 'Darkness Visible' about his terrible
bout with depression, a brutally honest book. God, this reminds me of that book. He played
a character from a deep part of himself, where depression and loneliness collide. There's a
part of you that's dying as you live -- for all of us. We try to keep buoyant because we
understand the game plan.... In my mind, he seemed to always be standing in a corner.
Most actors, when they get a so-called background character, they bring them foreground.
He didn't. That was the miraculous quality of it. He kept the character in the background
and just trusted that we'd look for him.''
 
BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
As the brother of Depression-era outlaw Clyde (Warren Beatty), Hackman nabbed his first
of five eventual Oscar nominations. ''I love it because it comes off him being fired [from
''The Graduate'']. It's the opposite of ''The Conversation'' because he was so happy to have
a job and it just spilled onto the screen. You could see the joy that he gets from being an
actor. He was helium-filled. It's one of the most appealing things in a performance when you
know that the actor is not just having a good time but is somehow owning the choice that
he's made in life: I PICKED THE RIGHT JOB.''
 
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
Hackman wins his first Oscar, as ''Popeye'' Doyle, a cop who's willing to get as grimy as
the criminals he chases. "I don't think anybody had ever played a cop without a distinction
of black hat or white hat. [Popeye] wasn't a bad guy, he was a guy who at heart was very
frightened and projected it with great aggression. Gene got behind the aggression. It was
like his face was against a plate-glass window. There was something smashed in. I don't
understand, because he really didn't do that much research. He told me when he went into
one of those [dangerous]bars, he was really frightened. I guess he was able to use that. A
lot of actors would say, 'Yeah, but the character wouldn't be scared.' But Gene didn't. He
said, 'Well, why not?'''
 
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
In a few brief, stomach-grabbing minutes, Hackman nearly steals Mel Brooks' comedy,
as the blind man who befriends The Monster.
 
''For my money he's doing it as good as any of the great clowns. He's right up there with
Chaplin and Keaton. If I was directing a farce, which is maybe the toughest stuff to do --
and most actors don't cut it because you can see the flop sweat on them -- Gene would
be the first choice. They say you can't teach a boxer to punch; they're either born with a
punch or not. I don't think you can teach a sense of humor, and that's a big piece of [Gene's]
fabric. He can be dry and ironic and he can enjoy the crudest, basest, broadest musical humor,
which he evinces in 'Young Frankenstein.' He loves to laugh. You wouldn't know it because he
is and always has been a very shy if not introverted person.''


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