It’s sort of amazing that Gene Hackman had several careers worth of great and varied work on top of being maybe the only person I think has ever really understood how to play Lex Luthor, one of the most iconic and plausible American supervillains.
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I remember being an 11 year old kid and sneaking into the neighborhood theater in NYC to watch The French Connection. I became a fan of Gene Hackman that day. Rest In Peace Popeye Doyle.
Hard to believe, but Clint Eastwood had trouble convincing Gene to take the role of "Little Bill" Daggett for "Unforgiven". I did work in Alberta on setting up the stages and breaking down equipment and materials to move around for various set shots like the cabin they hid out in the High Country
He played the villain like he played a lot of roles almost straight across except for luther. Very good stuff that would have been so complicated as to be absolutely Beyond most people or even very smart and gifted people but he came up with them while going to the bathroom
Gene Hackman had great career and played a variety of roles. Usually to near perfection.
But to me his best performance was his five minutes playing Harold the blind guy in Young Frankenstein.
That scene still cracks me up after all these years.
Hackman's Luthor was almost prescient ... except his obscenely rich, evil, villain was intelligent and, for example, didn't feel the need to keep telling people he was a "stable genius".
#cough
I'm a big believer in each individual movie/book/series to be its own self-contained canon. My personal favorite Lex Luthor is from Superman the Animated series.
However, Gene Hackman playing an earlier version of the character who is a thief? He did the best version of that Lex, hands down.
Hackman’s Luthor has the smug, childish, “ain’t I a stinker?” energy that does nothing to reduce the evil of what he does, and he never stopped being entirely confident that he could turn every situation to his advantage.
When you play a villain onscreen, it can be hard not to become so overtly menacing that you stop being scary. People look at you and think, “Nobody would work with this guy, nobody would let him amass power.” But when an actor imbues a villain with humor and even charm, his threat level increases.
More specifically… Before 1971 change in Editor from Mort Weisinger to Julius Schwartz in Superman from DC Comics. In 2000 or so under different editors and scriptures and artists, Luthor is President. Still, blessings on Hackman. Ouch.
True but it's wiped from continuity by COIE. Byrne's Man of Steel mini after Crisis is responsible for the evil CEO Luther we know and love today. The sort of person who in 2025 would absolutely become president.
I keep thinking of the moment when Lex tricks Superman into finding the kryptonite and Hackman pulls all the charm back to reveal the menace inside. No other actor figured out how to play Lex as well as Hackman did.
so fascinating that this particular form of evil, which is *so* terrifying and now seemingly so pervasive, is also exactly what the current trauma plot fascination can't pull off
This is brought home in the scene where Luthor looks at his watch, frowns, and shakes his head when Miss Teschmacher says, "My mother lives in Hackensack" (the target of the other missile).
I agree with this and am VERY interested to see what Nicholas Hoult makes of the character, as this has been his whole vibe since Skins, and he is awfully good at it.
I have always thought of Elon Musk as the equivalent of Lex Luthor and it helps to release any effort in trying to understand the why of what he does. It's really just that he wants to rule the world.
Perfectly embodied in that one scene where Miss Tessmacher learned the non-fault line nuke was headed to Jersey, and said "but Lex, my mother lives in New Jersey" and he casually looked at his watch and shrugged. Evil, casual, but still a bit charming.
There's a brilliant moment in the 2nd film where General Zog threatens to kill him and he is FLABBERGASTED that someone could even conceive of killing him. The concept is an outrage to him. He's too splutteringly offended by it to even be afraid.
YES! The Client is a perfectly watchable unit of entertainment, but Hackman manages to take a pretty boring trope (the sleazy mob lawyer) and make it interesting. He even manages to out-smarmy charm Tom Cruise at his imperial height which is not for amateurs.
I always look at everyone in the Superman films playing their roles to perfection. They captured the essence of that era's "Superman" mythos to a tee. Hackman's Luthor stepped straight off the page of Golden/Silver age comic book.
Yes!, he wasn’t campy. He felt like a real, honest to goodness, human, rich and powerful CEO with the worst intentions and the intelligence and discipline to realize them. Which, just as you point out, is absolutely terrifying because we know it could come to exist in the real world
Agree 100% — and I think more of us should be watching that portrayal in order to understand our recently installed ruling class. (Tho Hackman’s Luthor had genuine charm)
One of his best roles was on “Hoosiers “ where he plays a has-been coach who once lost his temper and punched a favorite player. He plays that role with humanity and care.
It's interesting that when they fired Richard Donner, Gene Hackman didn't return for Lester's Superman 2 work. (Some of his scenes were cut, and an impersonator is used at times briefly.) Either artistic integrity, or producer cheapness (they cut Marlon Brando for cheapness).
'Plausible' is key word. In the 70s Hackman's wonderful Luthor seemed too cartoonish, but he's sadly all too real now. Mercifully while Elon Musk certainly has the greed, ego, spitefulness, thin skin, & childish enthusiasm, he doesn't haven the brains.
Ironically, the real supervillain 47 pretended today that he knew anything about AUKUS …
As we know Luthor hoped to rule his own continent once the evil Kryptonians take over Earth, Luthor allies himself with Zod. He asks Zod for control over real estate in Australia (and New Zealand)
Whenever I hear “supervillain” I think of Gene as Lex. He kept the character human. His character had depth, humor, and was relatable. Other villains are other-worldly. But Gene kept his character as human as possible.
I only recall him as Lex Luthor precisely because he played him as cartoonish in a film that was trying to be grounded and realistic, his performance essentially being a blight on the films.
Kevin Spacey was the prime example of how to play Lex Luthor wrong in ‘Superman Returns’ as a deadpan humorless psychopath.
Gene Hackman nailed it with flair and finesse.
I didn't even know he was married to an ethnic Japanese lady. I need to learn more about her. It will be an interesting topic here....most Japanese don't even know who George Takei is.
I believe you're correct. The temperature in New Mexico last night were frigid. (-6°C) They must have had a fuel driven heater whose exhaust leaked into their living space.
I once was practicing at a driving range in LA. Mr. Hackman strolled in and took the spot next to me. I was so star struck I couldn’t finish hitting my bucket of balls because of it. I just sat on the bench behind us and watched him practice. It was awesome.
Love for Hackman and his roles. Beg to differ on the Luthor, though: I liked the guy from 1990s tv Lois & Clark. My first Hackman was Poseidon Adventure and I want to see Hoosiers and Unforgiven again. Ouch.
When I was a kid I thought Gene was amazing as Lex but probably because he’d been the first one. Maybe it was the rub-off of Otis & Tessmacher but I don’t see it the same way now. Same way I don’t particularly view Nicholson’s Joker with favor. I’m a solid Michael Rosenbaum guy in terms of Lex.
I enjoyed your nuanced reply. I forgot about Tessmacher. The deep dive led to discovering Mario Puzo co-wrote the screenplay. I just checked out the family from hoopla. Day made!
Lex Luther is almo my favorite super villain. Because he's just this normal human dude that said, "Oh look an immortal, invincible alien. I'm gonna fight him."
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My favorite moment: He walks in on Zod and other kryptonians and introduces himself and is stunned that they haven’t heard of him.
Even the new one I am sadly prejudging. It should probably have been Vincent D'onofrio. But I'm not James Gunn, sooo..
But to me his best performance was his five minutes playing Harold the blind guy in Young Frankenstein.
That scene still cracks me up after all these years.
#cough
However, Gene Hackman playing an earlier version of the character who is a thief? He did the best version of that Lex, hands down.
(And I'll admit I like his voicework as Nuclear Man: "Destroy Superman! But first -- I have fun!")
"Get out."
"Before that."
I always said, I could watch him making coffee and it would be interesting.
The best Luthor though, that's Clancy Brown.
Hackman really did a good job molding to that plan.
As we know Luthor hoped to rule his own continent once the evil Kryptonians take over Earth, Luthor allies himself with Zod. He asks Zod for control over real estate in Australia (and New Zealand)
DOGE’s rampage through institutions has parallels in China’s Cultural Revolution
Jianli Yang
I survived Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party’s purges. What's happening now reminds me of the CCP’s Central Cultural Revolution Group.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-doge-china-cultural-revolution-mao-rcna193562
This means our current timeline is less ethical than comic book supervillains.
Gene Hackman nailed it with flair and finesse.
I didn't even know he was married to an ethnic Japanese lady. I need to learn more about her. It will be an interesting topic here....most Japanese don't even know who George Takei is.
Could not overcome ageism
Being invisible because one ages