Gene Hackman died; he was ninety-five years of age. There’s a good chance many of you reading this column never heard of him or are familiar with his work. Without question, he is one of my favorite actors.

He won two Academy Awards in his sixty-year career, one for his role as Norman Dale, a new basketball coach with a sketchy past, in the classic film Hoosiers. He was awarded his second Oscar for his role as Sheriff “Little Bill” Dagget in the Clint Eastwood film Unforgiven. But my favorite Gene Hackman movie may be the best movie you have likely never seen. I would call it a guy movie, but that’s not to say girls wouldn’t like it.

Uncommon Valor is a movie released in 1983 about a group of Vietnam veterans who go back to South Vietnam ten years after the war to rescue some fellow soldiers who were left behind.

I’m not gonna give too much of the plot away because I don’t want to spoil it for you if you decide to watch it.

The cast includes some pretty big names; Patrick Swayze, Randall “Tex” Cobb, and Robert Stack to name a few. Gene Hackman plays the lead role as Colonel Jason Rhodes. It was his responsibility to whip this ragtag group of men into shape and create a team that was willing to die for each other if necessary. No small task. It is one of the best movies about teamwork I’ve ever seen, and it has nothing to do with athletics.

The thing about teamwork is this, the same ingredients apply to any situation you might be in. It’s not rocket science, each person needs to know their role and is willing to put their teammate first, not caring about who gets the credit as long as the job gets done. People learn to be unselfish.

I know this may sound corny, but true teamwork that I’ve experienced in my life, be it in athletics, business, or family, always boils down to love. I mean how many times have you heard athletes tell a reporter how much they love their teammates.

Love equals being willing to sacrifice for others.

In Uncommon Valor, Colonel Jason Rhodes, Gene Hackman’s character, gives a speech to the group before they split up to go into the camp to rescue the captive soldiers. I’m not a movie critic, but I think that’s one of the greatest scenes of Hackman’s career.

Colonel Rhodes stands before a group of individuals who have sacrificed everything for each other to get to this point. They have become a team with one goal, and their earned love for each other provides them with the courage needed to run directly into the mouth of the enemy to rescue others.

Colonel Rhodes struggles for the words to share.

“Well, that’s it, it’s game time. I had a speech prepared but I guess I forgot it.”

Removing his hat, he says, “There are some words from Julius Cesar. If a man were to know the end of this day’s business ere it come; But it suffice us that the day will end, and then the end be known. If we meet again, well then we’ll smile, and if not then this parting was well made.”

After the Colonel’s speech, the soldiers stood in silence, looking at each other and shaking their heads in agreement. There was nothing left to say, they were all in and they had no clue if they would live or die. The day was going to end, and its ending was uncertain.

If they met again, they would smile, if they did not, then they knew at that very moment in time it was worth it. Their parting was good.

It’s been years since I’ve watched that movie, but I googled that very speech after I had learned Gene Hackman had died. I have watched it over and over again.

I’m not sure why it resonates with me so much, but it does. I think it dramatizes the uncertainty of life and that we really don’t know how the day is going to end, yet it will end.

At my age, I have no desire to leave things unsaid to the people I care about. I want all of those goodbyes to be meaningful so I can smile when I see them again, and if for some reason I don’t see them again, then our parting was well made.

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].