47 Years Ago, Gene Hackman Saved 'Superman'
For comic book fans, Hackman is the Lex Luthor to beat.
The beloved actor Gene Hackman has passed away. At 95 years old, along with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog, the actor was found deceased in his home in Santa Fe.
While cinephiles will be quick to point out his award-winning turns in films like The French Connection, Unforgiven, and The Poseidon Adventure, for genre fans, and those of us who love comic book movies, Hackman is a big part of why both the 1978 Superman and 1982’s Superman II are classics. Yes, you don’t have either film without Christoper Reeve’s unforgettable performance in the title role. But, there’s no tension and conflict in those films without criminal mastermind Lex Luthor, a mere mortal who can bring Superman to his knees. Reeve may have made us believe a man could fly. But Hackman’s Lex Luthor made us believe the world in which Superman existed was real.
Although Hackman didn’t appear in Superman III and has a less-than-stellar role in Superman IV, his contributions to the first two Superman films are immense. First of all, what Hackman did so well with his take on Lex Luthor is something that all other Luthor actors since have struggle with: Hackman was able to make Luthor hilariously funny without sacrificing the menace of the character. Essentially, unparalleled in big, blockbuster movies, there is no supervillain who comes across as someone you might actually want to hang out with, even though you know he’s a corrupt lunatic.
Ned Beatty and Gene Hackman in the original Superman in 1978.
In Superman, Luthor comes across as a used car salesman whose grift just happens to be generating better real estate deals through the destruction of entire land masses. Even the best James Bond villain didn’t have a scheme as absurd as Luthor’s. And, what made Hackman’s performance so great was that we didn’t need to see him being violent or cruel to understand that he was violent and cruel. There's something clean-cut in the type of villain Hackman made with Lex, and yet, the implication of what he’s doing is terrifying. When he says that he wants to “destroy everything” that Superman “stands for,” you believe him, because he’s so casual about it.
When Luthor discovers the origin and purposes of Kryptonite in Superman he says to his villainous allies, “Doesn’t it give you a shudder of electricity to be in the same room with me?”
The strange, very specific casualness with which Hackman delivers this line neatly represents much of what made so much of art as an actor so memorable. If you didn’t know he was pure evil and a total egomaniac, you might think he was just joking around. This is how the magic works: The audience is in on the joke that Lex is funny, but, the story treats him as a dangerous lunatic who could destroy the world, and Superman, too.
In Superman II, you could argue that Hackman’s Lex plays second fiddle to the other major villain of the film, General Zod (Terrence Stamp). But again, Hackman’s brilliance is essential to Superman II because just as he grounded Superman in the first film, the sequel found him bringing the flying villains down to earth, too. Without Lex Luthor, even conquerors from another planet won’t really know what they’re doing. Luthor is quick to make a deal with the devil, but, as always, Hackman sells the duplicity of the character with the kind of humor that never, ever winks.
Hackman’s most underrated moment as Lex Luthor comes about midway through Superman II. General Zod is at the Daily Planet, wreaking havoc when Superman arrives. Clutching his forehead, Hackman mumbles under his breath “Superman, thank God.”
It’s a wonderful touch because we all know that Luthor is just trying to save himself no matter the cost, but there’s something about how Hackman conveys total relief and annoyance at the same time with a single gesture. A contradiction is at once human and hilarious, and for that reason, all the cinematic brilliance of Gene Hackman will continue to be celebrated, even after distant stars have gone silent.
