Ethan Hawke's Greatest Flicks

From Explorers to Gattaca, Before Sunrise to Before Midnight, here are our 10 favorite films featuring The Purge star (and underrated actor/leading man) Ethan Hawke.
Explorers (1985)

At the tender age of 14, Ethan Hawke had his first major feature debut in Joe Dante's classic '80s sci-fi adventure Explorers, co-starring alongside River Phoenix and Jason Pressen as a trio of imaginative teens who convert a Tilt-A-Whirl into a spacecraft and journey to the far edges of the galaxy. Nearly three decades later, it's still a fun ride for all ages.
Dead Poets Society (1989)

Still barely a high school graduate, the actor gained critical praise with the release of Dead Poets Society. Nominated for multiple Academy Awards, this film from director Peter Weir stars Robin Williams as inspirational prep school teacher John Keating, who helps Hawke’s painfully shy Todd Anderson – along with his classmates - to “Carpe Diem” – seize the day!
A Midnight Clear (1992)

Early twentysomething Ethan Hawke is stellar in this World War II drama based on the William Wharton novel and directed by Keith Gordon (The Chocolate War). The story's about an Army intelligence unit that encounters a German platoon that wants to surrender to them. It’s a gem worth seeking out – and features outstanding performances from A-list ensemble players Gary Sinise, Kevin Dillon and Peter Berg.
Alive (1993)

There’s something about Ethan Hawke and snow (besides this film, Dead Poets Society and Midnight Clear, the white-out figures prominently in other Hawke films White Fang and Snow Falling on Cedars). Here, Hawke stands tall playing Nando Parrado, the real-life individual who helped his fellow Uruguayan rugby teammates survive after their plane crashed in the Andes in 1972.
Reality Bites (1994)

Gen-X’s archetypal film, directed by Ben Stiller and co-starring Hawke and Winona Ryder, doesn’t necessarily do the slacker generation any justice in retrospect, and Hawke’s self-centered musician isn’t what we’d call easily likable. Then again, he is a good representation of a certain time and place, and in that sense, Hawke’s Troy Dyer lives on in film history as the mid-‘90s version of “cool.”
Before Sunrise (1995)

Richard Linklater’s trilogy of films (plus Before Sunrise and Before Midnight) featuring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as a couple throughout the years is the fictional film equivalent of Michael Apted’s Up documentaries that check in on the same people every 7 years. Linklater’s movies sneak a peek into the lives of Jesse and Celine, from their first meeting on a train, to their reunion nine years later, to their life as a couple nine more years later.
Gattaca (1997)

Gattaca is one of the finest sci-fi films of the ‘90s. The plot, about a future society where Vincent (Hawke) poses as a “valid” (those with “superior” genetics) to realize his dreams to become a pilot, touches on all types of fascinating subjects including genetic engineering, class politics and timeless questions of human will, fate and destiny. The film is a superior thriller to boot, directed with confidence by Truman Show screenwriter Andrew Niccol.
Training Day (2001)

The film earned an Academy Award for lead actor for Denzel Washington, and an Academy nomination for supporting actor for Hawke. It’s a showy, informed display of street politics and corruption that brings Washington’s tough, veteran and immoral detective head to head with Hawke’s rookie cop. While Washington lends his full force of colorful persona to the role, watch Hawke’s carefully nuanced turn. He matches the heavy toe to toe.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

In a totally different type of role, Hawke plays Hank, the mousy, fidgety younger brother of domineering, slowly unraveling financier Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Together, the dubious siblings hatch an ill-fated scheme to rob their parents’ jewelry store. The last film from acclaimed filmmaker Sidney Lumet (Serpico) is a stirring genre tale of spiraling criminal ineptitude and another winner for Hawke.
Sinister (2012)

An excellent warm-up to this summer’s The Purge, 2012’s Sinister is one thing - scary. The story of a true crime writer (Ethan Hawke) who discovers a box of home movies that puts his own family in danger gets under the skin and stays there. If you don’t like to be disturbed by your horror films, stay away. For hardcore genre fans, Ethan Hawke and the filmmakers welcome you to their particularly unforgettable nightmare.
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