Hackman

SELINSGROVE, Pa. - A temperate Sunday evening finds this small town in comfortable repose. People linger at restaurant tables along the neat sidewalk of Market Street. Rabbits hop across the well-kept lawns of well-kept houses. Even the junk piled on the curb for clean-up week seems tidy somehow. Down the road a mile or two, the hoods of parked pickups glisten in a Dairy Queen's red-and-white glow. The young truck owners and their dates wait patiently as twirls of ice cream are caught in cups and cones.

Harold E. Hackman, a retired salesman and World War II veteran, died Nov. 15 of complications from Parkinson's disease at his daughter's Oakenshawe home. He was 90. Born in York, Pa., he was a graduate of William Penn High School. Family members said that first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was the speaker at his high school graduation. He attended what is now Loyola University Maryland. He joined the Army, served in the medical corps and was stationed in the Aleutian Islands at Dutch Harbor.

NEW YORK -- In Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven," due in theaters Friday, Gene Hackman has the plum role of Little Bill Daggett, a frontier lawman willing to kill to keep his community free of killers.Mr. Hackman could not care less about the advance scuttlebutt -- a virtual consensus among American film critics -- that his portrayal is among the year's more appealing Oscar bait."I doubt I'll even watch the thing," the celebrated actor shrugged during a visit heralding the opening of "Unforgiven."

Gene Hackman, the Academy Award-winning actor -- and one of our faves, darling -- has been in Baltimore since late summer for the filming of "The Replacements," marking the third time in five years he's made a movie in Maryland. Scenes for "Absolute Power" and the heavy-grossing "Enemy of the State" were filmed in and around the city. Hackman has been very positive about Baltimore. "I should have bought a house here three years ago," he said in August.He hasn't bought a house, as far as we know.

NARROW Margin'' takes us over a very familiar roadbed, but the trip is nonetheless enjoyable.Its familiarity, in fact, may be added reason to see the film, which, to be fully enjoyed, should be attended in a group. Pooling your predictions on which way the plot will go, labeling all the new characters and predicting the surprises is the pleasure this film offers us.The thriller, which takes place on a train bound for Vancouver, carries us along. It's a very fast ride. The scenery may be the same, but it doesn't take from the trip.

"The Replacements," a comedy about the 1987 NFL strike starring Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman that will begin filming in Baltimore Aug. 9, needs warm bodies.The Warner Bros. production will hold an open casting call on July 10 and 17 for extras, who will work -- for pay -- during the entire three-month production."We're looking for every type," said Lisa S. Beasley, crowd promotion producer for "The Replacements." "We're not looking for children at this point, but we are looking for men and women, from ages 18 to 80, of all races.

Gene Hackman, in Maryland for the third time in five years to film a movie, lamented that he didn't buy a house in town. Keanu Reeves smiled at the suggestion that he have dinner with 20,000 extras. And producer Dylan Sellers, in keeping with the state's water conservation measures, joked that his on-screen football players wouldn't be allowed to drink water during practice.Yesterday at PSINet Stadium, the creative team behind the latest movie to be filmed in Maryland assembled to meet the press, officially announce that filming would start Monday and say how happy they were to be here.

There's a howling improbability at the core of "The Replacements," the genial if uneven comedy that filmed at Baltimore's PSINet stadium last year. Keanu Reeves plays a quarterback who leads a rag-tag team of ne'er-do-wells to victory by dint of his magnetic personality and irresistible leadership skills. Reeves may be able to play excellent adventurers and affectless cyber-noir heroes convincingly, but the Gipper he ain't. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, "The Replacements" isn't all that bad, buoyed by a colorful group of comic character actors and the presence of Gene Hackman, who has enough personality and leadership skill to make up for Reeves' blank slate of a performance.

On February 5, 2004. GORDON BURMEISTER; beloved husband of the late Arvella "Jerry" Burmeister (nee Hackman); loving father of Gordon R. Burmeister Jr. and the late Christian N. Burmeister; brother of Madeline Carter. Also survived by two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home, Dundalk Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue on Monday, 10 AM. Interment Meadow Ridge Cemetery. Friends may call Sunday, 3 to 5 and 7to 9 PM.