Criminal Adaptations
Criminal Adaptations is a True Crime/Movie Review Podcast discussing some of your favorite films, and the true crime stories that inspired them. With hosts Remi, who spent over a decade working in the film and television industry, and Ashley, a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator. They discuss a new movie each week and compare the film to the real life events that the film is based on.
Criminal Adaptations
Hit Man
If you were living in Texas and looking for a hit man in the 1990s, Gary Johnson was your man. He was willing to take jobs from just about anyone. From scorned lovers to teens seeking revenge, no request was off limits. The catch? He wasn’t a professional killer at all. In fact, he was an undercover investigator for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. In this episode we dive into the wild and stranger than fiction story behind Hit Man (2023), the Netflix romantic crime comedy directed by Richard Linklater and staring Glen Powell. We compare the film’s charismatic, identity-shifting antihero to the actual man behind the legend and discuss some of his high-profile cases. Join us as we separate fact from fiction in one of the most bizarre true crime stories to hit the big screen.
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Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we take a look at some of your favorite movies and the true crime stories that inspired them. I'm Remy. I spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California.
Ashley:And I'm Ashley. I'm a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in the state of Oregon.
Remi:Welcome back everyone and thank you so much for joining us here again today. We are happy to be here and we are happy to be bringing you another true crime story. Ashley, how are you doing today?
Ashley:I am doing great. It is another beautiful spring day in Portland, so no complaints on my end. How about you?
Remi:Doing pretty well. Just brought our dog to the park and she may have hurt her little paw, so she is taking it easy right next to us over here. Other than that, doing very well, hoping that the dog makes a full recovery and enjoying the weather. But what are we here to talk about today, ashley? It's not the weather. It is not the weather. But what are we here to talk about today, ashley? It's not the weather.
Ashley:It is not the weather. We are here to talk about Richard Linklater's Hitman, a comedy movie, and you told me it's actually a rom-com.
Remi:It is a romantic comedy. It is probably the only romantic comedy we will ever cover on this show. There are not a lot of true crime romantic comedies that I can think of off the top of my head, but this was a really unique story and I remember when we first watched it and found out that it was based on a true story I immediately was like we need to add this to next season. I am vetoing one of the other entries because I just need to know how much of this is true, because the movie is pretty unbelievable and from all the research that I did, it turns out not a ton of it was true, but we'll get into the nitty gritty of all that in a minute.
Remi:This is also our second time discussing Mr Skip Hollinsworth, a writer from Texas Monthly who had previously helped Richard Linklater write the script for Bernie, which was based on one of his articles from Texas Monthly. Skip and Linklater are close friends, so we know a little bit about them. But what about Gary Johnson, the quote-unquote hitman in question? Had you ever heard of this story or this guy before the movie?
Ashley:Absolutely not. I even remember very, very, very little about this movie. I think you were paying more attention to it. I was doing other things so I had no memory of even the romantic aspect of it. So I went into this pretty much completely blind. Other than remembering that it was a guy who said he was a hitman and he really wasn't. I don't even think I remembered that he worked for the police.
Remi:I had also never heard of Gary Johnson or this undercover hitman story in the past. It was all new to me, which is why I was so excited to add it to the list. It's rare that something comes out of the blue like this and is a brand new film we can discuss, and I don't know it was something unique, a romantic comedy.
Remi:You don't really get that a lot in our line of work, quite frankly. But what are your feelings about the film's star, mr Glenn Powell? He is sort of a new A-list actor that's broken onto the scene recently. I know he was in that Top Gun Maverick movie that came out a couple of years ago. But how do you feel about Mr Powell?
Ashley:He's someone that I really don't want to like, but everything I've seen him in he's pretty charming. He was good in that Twisters reboot and he was also good in that movie we watched I can't remember what it's called. I think Anywhere, but you or something like that with Sidney Sweeney.
Remi:Anyone but you.
Ashley:And we went into that thinking that it was just going to be a dumb romantic comedy with really little substance, but we both actually really, really enjoyed it.
Remi:I remember when he first began appearing in things he always came off to me like a generically good-looking dude who was like manufactured in a Hollywood factory somewhere to be a leading man and I always thought he should be playing parts like the douchebag boyfriend, like Glenn Guglia from the Wedding Singer or Sac Lodge from Wedding Crashers. But I do have to admit he is very charming and I enjoy him in all the films I've seen him in. I'm not like head over heels about the movies themselves. They're all entertaining. But yeah, he's found this weird balance of being a good looking, charming guy where you still like him and are rooting for him for some reason in these films.
Ashley:I think it's his smile. He's got a good smile and smirk to him.
Remi:And he is funny. I will say that he made me laugh out loud during several scenes in this movie. The character in the film honestly seems like it's more suited to an actor like Sam Rockwell, because Glenn Powell, just honestly, is so handsome and charismatic. But it works for this type of romantic comedy and, honestly, I'm looking forward to the next thing he writes, because he actually has a co-writing credit on this film.
Ashley:Well, with that, let's learn more about the background behind Hitman. I stumbled across a tiny tiny bit when I was doing my research for it, but other than that I don't really know much.
Remi:Well, I'll give it a shot.
Hit Man scene:No, no, no, I don't buy it what You're not? A Hitman, you can't be.
Remi:Hitman is a 2023 romantic comedy produced and directed by Richard Linklater, with a screenplay co-written by Linklater and Glenn Powell, who also stars in the film, alongside Adria, aroha, austin, emilio and Retta from Parks and Rec, which I never really realized she only went by one name until doing research for this film.
Ashley:Isn't she in another movie we have on our list, Queen Pins, about the coupon scam?
Remi:I'm pretty sure she is in that one.
Ashley:She pops up in a lot of things from time to time and she is a brilliant opera singer.
Remi:for anyone who wants to YouTube that Now for those of you who haven't listened to our Bernie episode from season two, this isn't Linklater's first rodeo with Skip Hollinsworth and Texas Monthly with Linklater, having previously adapted Hollinsworth's 1998 article Midnight in the Garden of East Texas for the 2011 film.
Remi:Bernie. Similarly, the film Hitman also originated from a piece written by Hollinsworth back in 2001 about a man named Gary Johnson who went undercover by pretending to be a variety of hitmen during several sting operations with the police. Linklater found Gary's story to be an utterly fascinating read, opening up a bizarrely chilling world where everyday people were attempting to hire contract killers in an effort to eliminate their problems.
Ashley:The one thing I read is that Skip Hollinsworth brought this article to Linklater in like 2005 and he liked it but just didn't see how he could adapt it to the screen, so it kind of sat around for years and years.
Remi:According to Linklater, he read this as soon as it came out in 2001 and he immediately wanted to make it into a film. Linklater is a bit of a true crime buff, apparently. By his own admission, he even goes to trials happening around town just to sit and watch. He's, like, really into this sort of thing.
Remi:Linklater went on to have a few exploratory meetings regarding the project over the years, but things never really quite clicked into place until the pandemic hit. That's when actor Glenn Powell who's a personal friend of Linklater's since they are both Texas boys and rang him up out of the blue and said I just read this wild article about a hitman. In the original article, gary Johnson let a young woman go without pressing charges, but Powell and Linklater were more interested in exploring where the story could have gone from there if she had called him afterwards, and they began a romantic relationship In the end. The general setup, along with Gary's character, were both very much inspired by the true story, but the entire romantic arc was purely a work of fiction created by Powell and Linklater.
Richard Linklater:I like movies about occupations, jobs. That movies do that really well and this is the weirdest job you could ever imagine. So it was great to think of that as the bedrock of a movie. But then to actually make a movie that's compelling, that will take you on a ride what if she invited him to something? Socially? It's like oh, then he's trapped in this hitman persona, which he happens to like more. It becomes kind of a body switch comedy about identity and self and can you change and who are we? It gets very interesting and it kicks us into some. What before was strictly a character piece becomes kind of a film noir. I started to sense the genre I was operating in kind of a film noir and when we made the big decision like, ok, she's not a black widow We've seen that in all these other movies what if they're really meant for each other? It's kind of I thought it was kind of a great love story. So it's like oh, then it's like a screwball comedy.
Remi:In this new version of the story, they imagined Gary researching the woman's file and unexpectedly finding her rather attractive in the process. As a result, Gary tweaks his undercover persona to be someone far cooler and more charismatic, inevitably leading to a sexual relationship between him and the woman, where Gary is stuck pretending to be the character he had originally invented for the initial sting. Another factual element which was included in the story was that the real Gary Johnson was also a psychology professor, which allowed the film to delve deeper into questions of identity, performance and self-construction, on top of the added comedy and romance.
Ashley:So many layers here.
Remi:This project also marked Glenn Powell's fourth collaboration with Linklater, following Fast Food Nation in 2006, Everybody Wants Some in 2016, and Apollo 10 1⁄2, A Space Age Childhood in 2022. I've only seen Apollo 10 1⁄2, which I do highly recommend. It's a fun children's film.
Ashley:Are those all movies? I have not seen or heard of any of them.
Remi:Yes, they are all movies, and I have heard of Fast Food Nation, but I have never heard of Everybody Wants Some. Linklater makes a lot of films and some of them go under the radar and some of them are big hits. He just likes making movies. As far as casting, the role of Gary's co-worker, jasper, was written specifically for Austin Emilio, whom some of our audience may remember for playing Dwight in later seasons of the Walking Dead. I do not remember him because this is post-Negan Glenn episode, which I will not spoil for anyone who, for some reason, is making their way through the season currently. But yeah, I have not seen him in the Walking Dead.
Remi:To immerse himself in the character, emilio hit Bourbon Street in New Orleans and hung out with the sketchiest guy he could find as research for the role. It's pretty daring of him. Emilio even handpicked his own wardrobe for his character, which was basically the exact same outfit worn by the sketchy guy he had met on Bourbon Street. Glenn Powell's first scheduled meeting with Adria Arona for the role of Madison was initially meant to last only an hour, but the red-hot chemistry between Powell and Arona was so instantaneously electric that it ended up lasting five hours instead. That is quite the job interview.
Ashley:Yeah, what were they doing during that time? Just chit-chatting.
Remi:I guess. So they really hit it off. After landing the role, adria was beyond excited for the opportunity to work with Linklater, since School of Rock is her all-time favorite film.
Ashley:It's so good Every time in interviews when they tease anything about a sequel. It just gets me so excited and hopeful.
Remi:Apparently, the screenwriter for the film is the creator of April 25, 1992, as Madison Figueroa, the character she plays in the film, which is briefly visible on screen when Gary is reviewing Madison's file. Glenn Powell's parents, glenn Sr and Cindy Powell, regularly make cameo appearances in many of their son's films and similarly appear briefly in Hitman as background extras. This is something that if I was ever a famous director or actor, I would absolutely throw my parents in there in any way that I could from time to time.
Ashley:It's like Matthew McConaughey's Mom and Bernie.
Remi:Exactly. Originally, the story was going to be set in Houston, texas, which is where the real Gary Johnson operated, but after comparing financial logistics between the Texas tax credit, which provides 5-20% rebates to production companies for anything spent in the state, they chose instead to pivot to New Orleans, since Louisiana's Motion Picture Production Tax Credit Program provides up to 40% in tax credits on total in-state production expenditures. The team spent two weeks in rehearsals, which is rare nowadays, with both Powell and Arona working closely with the film's intimacy coordinator. For the numerous romantic scenes scenes, the actors were each given an equal say in how those moments were written and filmed, which is something that, thankfully, has become standard in today's modern film industry.
Ashley:This is a side note here, but I was really surprised in interviews about Anora, the Academy Award winning film from this past year, and how there was no intimacy coordinator on set, which is very surprising because there is a lot of sexual scenarios in that movie.
Remi:For that film. I am fairly sure that the director and his wife would physically act out what they wanted the actors to do before the scene Not naked and all of that but they would show them the positioning and all of that stuff and the actors would copy it while they were filming. And finally, on a more somber note, the real Gary Johnson passed away early in the film's production in 2022, before ever seeing the project brought to life, and the film includes a dedication to him just before the closing credits roll.
Ashley:Did you see anything about if Glenn Powell met him?
Remi:According to my research, Linklater never even met the real Gary Johnson in person. He only ever spoke to him over the phone a handful of times before he passed away. So I don't think Glenn Powell ever met the real Gary Johnson. But with that, are you ready to get into the film version of Gary Johnson?
Ashley:Yeah, take it away, Remy.
Remi:Our story begins with a title card stating what you're about to see is a somewhat true story inspired by the life of Gary Johnson. We then cut to mild-mannered college professor Gary Johnson, played by Glenn Powell, giving a lecture on the philosophy and psychology of Frederick Niki to a class of mildly interested college students at the University of New Orleans. After work, gary heads home to tend to his house plants and feed his cats, then sits down at a tiny kitchen table to eat his modest microwave dinner all alone. Through voiceover, gary admits that on the surface it may look like he leads a pretty mundane existence, but he is nevertheless still happy with his simple little life. However, gary's life isn't quite as boring as you may expect, since Gary also supplements his income by working with the New Orleans Police Department on various undercover sting operations.
Remi:By his own admission, gary had always been skilled with electronics.
Remi:So, after going through some initial police training, gary began assisting with the installation of hidden cameras and microphones in police stings, which primarily consisted of murder-for-hire cases. All this changes when Gary receives an unanticipated promotion one day after being asked to step in on an impending sting and go undercover personally under the guise of a hitman, after learning that the initial undercover officer has been unexpectedly suspended from duty. Though Gary is understandably nervous about taking on this sort of role, after a bit of convincing from Officer Phil, played by Sanjay Rao, and Officer Claudette, played by Retta, gary does reluctantly agree to the assignment, even though internally, he is 100% positive that he is most likely going to die while doing so. Moments later, the recently suspended officer Jasper, played by Austin Emilio, arrives on the scene to hand over his undercover equipment for the operation. Though Jasper admittedly finds the idea of Gary acting in his place to be a truly hilarious concept, he still offers a few parting words of advice by telling Gary to relax, always be believable and never show any weakness.
Ashley:Simple right.
Remi:Yeah, piece of cake. Despite brimming with anxiety, gary gets into character, then heads into his first assignment as an undercover hitman.
Hit Man scene:Gary gets into character then heads into his first assignment as an undercover hitman ready as he'll ever be. And just so you know, I'm assessing you too. Are you full of shit, Some big talker who's not serious? And if you are serious now, are you one day going to find Jesus and be so overburdened by guilt and remorse and confess your sins? Are you going to crack Under pressure? Crack and you're going to point a fucking finger at me? Never. Fuck man never Fact. I got it, never Fact.
Hit Man scene:I got it all worked out already. Okay, let's hear it. I work a 7-7. So starting this coming Tuesday, which is crew change day out of Houma, every second of my whereabouts is documented and accounted for that way anything bad were to happen no one could think I did it right.
Ashley:In my opinion, oil rig worker Craig looks more like a hitman than Glen Powell does. He's wearing like a polo shirt. Well, he wasn't expecting to like a hitman than Glen Powell does. He's wearing like a polo shirt.
Remi:Well, he wasn't expecting to be a hitman on this operation. He was expecting to just be in the van working on the sound. But because Jasper was suspended, he had to step in and he was wearing a polo shirt in the van and they didn't have new clothing for him. Wait, they did have pants for him because he was originally wearing shorts and they said that hitmen never wear shorts, especially not to a first meeting. It gives off the wrong impression and I would agree with that. I wouldn't hire a guy in shorts.
Remi:Well, as you just listened to, it turns out old Gary is surprisingly great at improv and after being handed a paper bag containing a $2,500 down payment for the job, Gary gets the exact audio needed to prosecute and the target is quickly apprehended in the parking lot by a swarm of police officers. Shortly after, Gary is congratulated for a job well done by the other officers, who now intend on continuing to use Gary as their undercover hitman in future sting operations, since Jasper will still be under suspension for the next four months. Through voiceover, Gary opines that hitmen are simply a pop culture creation and that there are no actual hitmen who truly exist in the world, but still finds the psychology of playing a hitman to be rather fascinating. As a result, Gary takes his inspiration from numerous fictional murderers from movies and television, while creating his various Hitman personas to use while undercover. What do you think, Ashley? Do you think Hitman actually exists, or is it just something created for movies and TV shows?
Ashley:I think the whole idea of being able to find a contract killer where that's their career is definitely a construct. I don't want to say it doesn't exist, but I don't think your average Joe could just find a hitman that has done this before. I think that the person you would find that would be willing to do something like this would be someone who was very desperate for cash. However, I do believe that there's criminal organizations like the cartel and old school mobsters that do have these hitmen on hire. What do you think?
Remi:I 100% agree with you and actually what you just said works right into Gary's further explanation coming up. You see, gary, he continues explaining that because hitmen do not exist, whenever someone goes around searching for one, the police will almost always inevitably be tipped off by someone in the process. So it's exactly what you said Most people don't know a hitman, so they're just going around asking for people and sooner or later they will probably ask someone who is going to inform the authorities.
Ashley:There was actually this really interesting podcast that I was listening to recently called Kill List, and it was about this. It was people turning to the dark web to try to find a hitman and this person who ran this website was taking money Bitcoin from people to do these hits and just never did. And they investigated these different hits and were trying to find the person who ran this website and they eventually did and they communicated with him online and he was just like of course, I'm not a hitman and I don't feel bad about taking these people's money because they want someone dead.
Remi:It is hard to sympathize with people trying to pay for someone to be murdered on their behalf. After the police are tipped off. This is when Gary the hitman is brought in to close the deal and ensure there is enough evidence to prosecute Gary's client to the fullest extent of the law. We then watch a montage of Gary meeting with several clients disguised as a variety of hitmen, specifically tailored for each client. These include a no-nonsense street hustler, a crooked-toothed pool man, a tattooed video game-style anti-hero, a Russian assassin and, of course, patrick Bateman from American Psycho.
Hit Man scene:I like suicide.
Hit Man scene:That seems clean, doesn't it? That's the dream. But a left-handed person doesn't shoot themselves with the right hand. A person with phobia for heights doesn't jump. A well-tied noose requires studying. Suicidal people want to leave this world quickly. They don't want to explain themselves, neither do I.
Ashley:I must say, I really do love a good montage scene.
Remi:Even though they have recently announced that Austin Butler will be playing Patrick Bateman in the remake of American Psycho. I think that Mr Powell could have actually done a decent job. He was doing a pretty good Christian Bale Patrick Bateman impersonation in that scene, and Gary really seems to be having a lot of fun here with this new gig. Anyway, this all goes on for some time until Jasper's suspension has inevitably ended and he begins lobbying for a return to his previous position as an undercover hitman. Unfortunately, the captain would rather keep Gary on the assignment, since Gary has garnered a much higher arrest record than Jasper ever had. It is also revealed that Jasper had been originally suspended after a video of him beating up some teenagers was posted online and went viral Because of this.
Remi:the captain would prefer to keep Jasper's face hidden from the public for the time being, since it could potentially jeopardize any undercover mission Jasper is involved in. For his next assignment, gary begins researching a woman named Madison Figueroa Masters, played by Adria Arona, who has no arrest record and is conventionally attractive by modern-day standards. For the ensuing sting, gary meets Madison at a small restaurant where he has taken on the persona of a confidently charismatic and laid-back hitman named Ron, who seems strikingly similar to actor Glenn Powell's real-life demeanor. Initially, madison seems visibly nervous about explaining her situation to an anonymous contract killer, so asks for a bite of Gary's pie, then gets distracted by an adorable little dog sitting in a nearby booth, veering the conversation into a decisively more playful tone, which is also completely off-topic.
Hit Man scene:Oh, he's cute. More playful tone, which is also completely off-topic, really. Yeah, all those stories, what stories?
Hit Man scene:oh, it was about, like jealous cats, mother and baby that comes up, whoa um.
Hit Man scene:Do you know someone who's lost a child to a murderous jealous cat? I'm just trying to do my fact checking here not like.
Hit Man scene:Not like personally, okay, but I've heard it from like a lot of people.
Hit Man scene:Well, there you go. We've got to get to the bottom of this. I agree, detective. Did we pull any paw prints off the victim?
Hit Man scene:No, sir, but we're hurting suspects now. No small challenge, as we know. Utter catastrophe, ah, utter catastrophe, oh boy.
Ashley:This conversation really drills home the point of how different he is portraying himself, obviously not only because he's saying he's a hitman when he's not, but he is a cat person. He has two cats and he loves his two cats.
Remi:And they do have a nice little back and forth flirtation going on there and this part wasn't in the clip that I just played for you all but at the end of that conversation she's actually completely forgotten why she's meeting with Gary. Like she got so off topic and thinking about dogs and flirting with this handsome, charismatic guy that it completely slipped her mind that, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be paying this guy to murder somebody. Anyway, returning to the task at hand, madison confides in Gary that she is terrified of her controlling husband, and Gary soon realizes that Madison is just a desperate woman trapped in an abusive relationship, fearing for her life and in dire need of an escape. Somehow, sympathizing with Madison and the difficult situation she's found herself in, gary advises her to keep the cash she had intended on giving him as a down payment for the hit and instead use the money to leave town and start a new life far away from the watchful eyes of her cruel husband. Just before parting ways, gary reassures Madison that she can always call him back to reschedule if she ever reconsiders in the future. Always good to keep your options open there, I guess.
Remi:Though the police are annoyed by Gary's choice of acting more like a life coach than a hitman. There is honestly really nothing more that they can do about it at this point, so the discussion is dropped. We then cut to the trial of the man who was Gary's first official bust as a fake hitman, and Gary is directly referenced by the defense team in court as a dishonest, manipulative, fraudulent undercover ghoul who lacks any humanity and preys on the weak. Luckily, this sort of thing is just business as usual for Gary, who over time has gotten used to being used as a scapegoat by defense attorneys in the face of irrefutable evidence against their client.
Ashley:They're just doing their job evidence against their client.
Remi:They're just doing their job. This tactic rarely works, except on the few occasions when there is somehow a reconciliation between the defendant and their loved one whom they had tried to have killed. Would you forgive me if I tried to have you assassinated, Ashley? Would you get me off if they were trying to prosecute me? And it was all just a big misunderstanding.
Ashley:I think it would take a very, very, very specific situation for me to have it in my heart to overlook that minor fact.
Remi:One night, while Gary is at home chilling with his cats, he receives a text message out of the blue from Madison inviting Ron to a puppy adoption event in the park that she will be volunteering at. Though Gary is aware that accepting Madison's invitation would be crossing over both an ethical and professional line of some sort, he nevertheless still agrees to Madison's proposed rendezvous At the adoption event. Madison discovers Gary as Ron, looking casually cool while simultaneously playing with an adorable little puppy dog. And here's a little fun fact for all of our single friends out there Statistically speaking, men are more likely to be matched on dating apps if they have a picture of themselves holding a cute puppy in one of their profile pics.
Ashley:I believe it. That's because the women want to meet the puppy.
Remi:While strolling through the park and catching up, gary learns that Madison has moved into a small place of her own since their last meeting and is now in the midst of a divorce. After successfully leaving her abusive husband. Now a free woman, madison is loving life again and wanted to thank Ron personally for inspiring her to make the change. After the event, madison and Gary head over to a bar and have a few drinks, which only adds more nuclear fusion to the pair's already abundant sexual chemistry. Soon enough, the two find their way back to Madison's apartment and proceed to get down and dirty till the break of dawn.
Ashley:I mean seriously they have a lot of sex.
Remi:Gary, Gary, Gary. This is unacceptable. While still lying in bed together the following morning, Madison confesses that Ron is the only other man she's ever been with besides her husband. Gary momentarily contemplates the morality of sleeping with a woman under such false pretenses, but after the amazing evening he just had, Gary admits that he does rather enjoy being Ron, so decides to maintain the facade for the time being, leading to another quickie with Madison before starting his day.
Ashley:Because relationships built entirely on lies are definitely successful.
Remi:In romantic comedies they usually are, I gotta say. From that point forward, gary leads a double life, continuing his work as a college professor and undercover hitman by day, while passionately making love to Madison as Ron during the evenings Around. This time, madison also purchases herself a gun for protection, so one afternoon Gary takes her to a shooting range to get a little practice in before heading out to the club later. Gary never really struck me as a club guy, but all right, I'll roll with it.
Remi:That evening, outside of Club Virgo, gary and Madison are making out and walking home after a fun-filled night on the town when they happen to run into Madison's ex-husband, ray, played by Evan Holtzman.
Remi:The situation quickly devolves into a hostile altercation due to Ray's confrontational attitude, leading Gary to pull a gun on Ray in order to keep him in line. To soothe their nerves afterwards, the couple stops for some delicious ice cream on their way home, which only further complicates matters for Gary after being spotted by Jasper at the same location. While buying his own frozen treat from inside, jasper introduces himself to Madison and swears that he recognizes her from somewhere, but takes his leave before blowing Gary's cover. Sometime later, gary is called in for a last-minute undercover operation at a breakfast buffet where he is given no time for research and little to no information on his client's identity. As it turns out, gary's client that day is none other than Madison's ex-husband, ray, but Gary sneakily avoids being seen during their encounter by sitting directly in the booth behind Ray to have their conversation anonymously. We also saw something similar to this in the film Masterminds.
Ashley:That is some quick thinking on his part.
Remi:He's good on his toes. Ray then reveals that he wants to have Madison killed after seeing her with another man the other night. And Gary soon realizes that Madison and Ray have yet to finalize their divorce. And Gary soon realizes that Madison and Ray have yet to finalize their divorce. Additionally, ray is also willing to pay extra to have Madison's mystery man taken out in the process, which triggers Gary into turning around and revealing his face to Ray, causing Ray to flee from the restaurant, overcome with fear and disbelief at such an astounding coincidence.
Ashley:He let his emotions get the best of him there.
Remi:He certainly did. And the few times Gary lets his emotions get the best of him there? He certainly did. And the few times Gary lets his emotions get the best of him, it really comes back to bite him in the ass. After the unsuccessful sting, gary goes directly to Madison's to warn her about what had just occurred with Ray, but Madison doesn't seem to take the threat very seriously, seeing how she's banging the hitman Ray tried to hire. Days later, during a briefing with the police chief down at the station, gary learns that Ray was found dead in an alley with a single gunshot wound to the head from a suspected drug deal gone wrong. Much to Gary's dismay, however, as soon as he hears what kind of gun was used in the shooting, he instantly knows exactly who the true perpetrator really was.
Ashley:Madison.
Remi:Bingo. The police are also aware that Madison had a confrontation with Ray outside of a nightclub recently, where she was with a man who threatened Ray with a firearm, but they have yet to identify that specific individual. Jasper is tasked with searching the exterior of the night club where the altercation took place and takes Gary along to assist in the investigation. When they arrive, Jasper reveals that he has figured out who Madison is and that Gary had been the mystery man accompanying her on the night in question. Jasper is also aware that Ray was the last minute client Gary had met with during the unsuccessful sting operation, but assures Gary that he still plans on keeping this information all to himself for the time being. After parting ways, Gary goes directly to Madison's house to confront her about Ray's murder, which she initially denies before eventually confessing.
Hit Man scene:You killed him. Yeah. Why would you do that? You told me yourself he was going to come and kill me.
Hit Man scene:So he was attacking you. It was like self-defense, technically, technically, what. What was he doing?
Hit Man scene:He was either passed out or asleep and you killed him. Yeah, I made a story and they're believing it. Oh my God.
Hit Man scene:Oh my God, oh my God.
Hit Man scene:Why are you getting so worked up about this? You do this shit all the time. I don't do this all the time.
Hit Man scene:I've never done this. I've never killed anyone.
Hit Man scene:What are you talking about?
Hit Man scene:I'm a fake hitman. That's why I didn't put you away. I didn't have you arrested because I was working undercover.
Hit Man scene:You're a cop, no I.
Hit Man scene:I teach at a college. This hitman thing's just like a part-time gig, just gotten out of hand.
Hit Man scene:So you've been lying to me this whole time.
Hit Man scene:I was stuck. I didn't want to lose you and you met Ron first and you liked Ron, I liked Ron, so I didn't want to show you Gary.
Hit Man scene:Who the fuck is Gary.
Ashley:Wait, so question. In that clip he said he teaches at a college college and the hitman is a part-time gig. So what's his full-time job?
Remi:Teaching at the college.
Ashley:Interesting Okay.
Remi:As Madison takes in this shocking revelation, Gary is suddenly called back to the police station to discuss a new development in Madison's case. As soon as he arrives, the police chief updates Gary on their latest discovery that Ray had increased his life insurance policy by a million dollars just six months ago, with Madison listed as the sole beneficiary, making her the number one suspect in Ray's murder.
Ashley:Things are not looking good for Madison.
Remi:That is a pretty big red flag, I must say.
Ashley:It would cast doubt on her claim that she wanted him killed because he was abusive.
Remi:In order to garner a confession, Jasper suggests that Gary go undercover as Ron again, since he had left such a positive impression on Madison during their first encounter. Under the guise of a random check-in, Gary agrees to wear a wire and go undercover as Ron, despite Madison now being fully aware of Gary's true identity. Once at Madison's, Gary stays in character while covertly showing her text messages on his cell phone, cluing her in on the actual situation at hand me look I know you did it.
Hit Man scene:It's fucking obvious and I don't blame I didn't kill him.
Hit Man scene:Wait, who's who's accusing me of this? This is bullshit and you, out of all people, should know that I was incapable of this okay, then, who did what the hell? Happened. I just know what they've told me, which is what he got shot buying drug guy was an addict. Okay, so you say you didn't kill him.
Hit Man scene:Guy was an addict. Okay, so you say you didn't kill him. When was the last time you saw him?
Hit Man scene:Not that long ago at Virgo's. The club. Yes, the club. I was walking out of Virgo's with this guy that I met on the dance floor and boom, I run into Ray. Ray loses his shit when he sees me with this other guy, starts running his mouth, gets all threatening fucking, grabs me. And then this other guy, trying to protect me, he pulls out a gun out of nowhere and sticks it in Ray's face. Ray freaks out, he leaves. I run away. And that was the last time I saw him.
Ashley:For those of you listening at home while they're having this conversation, he is showing her notes. He wrote on his iPhone app to alert her and steer the conversation in the way he wants it to go.
Remi:And, just for reference, Gary's messages that he was showing Madison stated Police are listening. Follow my lead. We're on the same team. I'm still Ron. We're not dating. You're innocent. Deny, deny, deny. They know about the gun outside.
Ashley:Virgo's Can't be me and I must say she is thinking real fast on her feet and giving real convincing lies here.
Remi:They both missed out on a pretty brilliant career in improv, I must say. Madison follows Gary's lead by basically claiming ignorance across the board, which seems to work out well for them, since the police believe their story and no longer consider Madison or the man outside of the nightclub to be a viable suspect. That evening Gary returns to Madison's only to find Jasper already there nursing a beer, eagerly awaiting an anticipation of his arrival. Jasper tells Gary that he currently has enough evidence to put Madison away for life and charged Gary as an accomplice to murder, but is willing to keep quiet for a majority percentage of Ray's insurance money. Out of nowhere. Jasper then staggers to the ground and passes out mid-sentence from an overabundance of drugs. Madison had slipped into his drink while he wasn't looking. They also didn't show this in the film. It was kind of like what the fuck just happened. He just passed out while explaining what he wanted them to do for the blackmail.
Ashley:Madison is turning into quite the little serial killer.
Remi:Fearing that the situation may be hopeless now if Jasper ever regains consciousness. Madison starts freaking the fuck out, while Gary casually grabs a plastic bag from under the sink then ties it around Jasper's head in an act of unwavering commitment to a life with Madison. Isn't that romantic? They can't break up now. They're both accomplices to murder. Luckily, jasper had always had a reputation around town for being a dirty cop and, with the cacophony of drugs currently swirling around his system, it should be relatively easy for Gary to transport Jasper's body to a remote location and make it look like a suicide. Gary and Madison then share a romantic kiss just as Jasper breathes his final breath.
Remi:We then cut to years later, where we see that Gary is still teaching but seems far more confident and self-assured than ever before. After class, we see that Gary and Madison now share a home together, along with two new dogs and two small children. During dinner, their younger daughter asks her mommy and daddy the story of how they first met, leading to the couple staring at each other awkwardly for several moments, not knowing how to respond. The film ends with the title card dedicated to Gary Johnson 1947 to 2022, followed by several photographs of the real Gary in character as his various hitman personas, and that was Richard Linklater's Hitman. Any initial thoughts, ashley?
Ashley:I am just so surprised of how little of this movie I remembered I must have been paying negative attention while we watched this, and I know you were watching it closely, so I don't know what I was doing.
Remi:I enjoy Richard Linklater's films almost all of them so it was fun to add another one to the list after Bernie. Compared to Bernie, which one would you say is better? From your memory, I know you don't remember much about Hitman, but from what you can remember, which one would you recommend of the two?
Ashley:It would take a hell of a movie to beat Bernie. In my eyes, glenn Powell to me is no Jack Black.
Remi:Very much agree with that. I would actually not have minded seeing a younger Jack Black try and tackle this sort of role, but it would have been a very, very different film.
Ashley:On rewatch. Did this movie make you like Glenn Powell a little bit more? Because I know we've had conversations where you've brought up different actors who Hollywood is just shoving down our throats. Austin Butler is one of them, and you had put Glenn Powell in that category at one point.
Remi:And I'm going to take him out of that category. Actually, he co-wrote this movie, in my eyes to be almost an acting reel, because he plays so many different random characters as hitmen. I think he's using this as a way to show Hollywood. Hey, I can do more than just kind of this generically handsome guy roles and I actually would like to see him branch out and do some other stuff. And they always say in Hollywood that if they're not really giving you the opportunities that you want, make your own. And he did that with his friend Richard Linklater and this movie.
Ashley:I bet we're going to see more collaborations between him and Linklater.
Remi:Now let's get into the release of this film. Hitman had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 5th 2023, followed by its North American premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF, on September 11th, where Netflix acquired the film's distribution rights for a costly $20 million making it both the largest film deal of the festival and of 2023 overall.
Ashley:That is impressive, and I do want to add if you're interested in watching this movie, it is, of course, on Netflix.
Remi:Hitman was later released in select theaters in the US on May 24th 2024, before streaming on Netflix beginning on June 7 of that same year. I always think it's weird when Netflix movies get a theatrical release for some reason. I know some of our friends have gone to them, but I don't know man. I never can imagine going to a theater to see a Netflix film.
Ashley:And isn't that just because they have to release it in theaters if they want it to be eligible for any sort of awards? Because I know there were several movies that came out on Amazon, and maybe Netflix too, where they were in theaters for like a week, but in like five or six theaters and that's it.
Remi:That was what all of the streaming movies were doing. They were basically releasing it in a handful of theaters mainly LA and maybe New York for maybe a week or two and then just dumping them on streaming, purely so that the film could be considered for awards. So I think the people running the awards show got kind of wise to it and are starting to be like you know, let's just let them in. Why force them to put this film in a theater for like one week and make $500? The film currently has a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critical consensus that reads a deceptively dark thriller that's also loaded with laughs. Hitman is an outstanding showcase for leading man Glenn Powell and one of the most purely entertaining films of Richard Linklater's career.
Ashley:That is a crazy high percentage. It's kind of a feel-good movie.
Remi:It's a fun movie. You don't really take it too seriously. There's not a lot of super dark things that happen, and even the dark stuff that's happened it's kind of glossed over pretty quickly. So I can understand why critics and audiences really enjoyed this film and why it was sold for $20 million. This seems like something where you could really market this to a really wide audience, because it's harmless really.
Remi:Glenn Powell went on to be nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, musical or Comedy at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards, and the film itself was nominated for Best Comedy at the Critics' Choice Awards. Additionally, richard Linklater and Glenn Powell were both nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards, but ultimately lost out to Rommel Ross and Jocelyn Barnes for their adaptation of the book Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.
Ashley:Very different movie.
Remi:That's why I threw it in there, just to show how big of a difference the film that won was compared to this one. But that was Richard Linklater's Hitman, a fun, entertaining romantic comedy of which I know none of the true story. But that is about to change. Ashley, are you ready to take it away?
Ashley:Yes, the moment you have been waiting for since you saw this movie for the first time Remy has finally arrived. Gary Johnson was born in 1947. Since there was virtually no information about his childhood, I assume it was rather ordinary. What I do know is he was raised on a farm in rural Louisiana. His dad was a carpenter and his mom a housewife. After he graduated high school in a class of 12, he spent a year in Vietnam working as a military policeman overseeing convoys.
Remi:Class of 12?. How big was this school?
Ashley:It was a very small town in Louisiana.
Ashley:I'll say After that he returned to Louisiana, working as a sheriff's deputy and transferred to the Port Arthur Police Department in the mid-70s. While there, he did some undercover work on drug busts. Despite his law enforcement background, johnson never wanted to make it a lifelong career. What he really wanted to do was be a psychology professor, since he was fascinated by human behavior from an academic perspective. While still employed in the police force, he took night classes at McNeese State University and earned a master's degree in psychology. He moved to Houston in 1981 with hopes of enrolling in University of Houston's doctoral psychology program. When he sadly wasn't accepted, he took a job as an investigator at the Harris County District Attorney's Office. His primary role involved gathering evidence and finding witnesses to testify for the prosecution. Except for one instance, when he was shot in the leg and foot, causing him to miss a week from work, his career was pretty uneventful until an opportunity that would shape the next 30 years of his career fell in his lap in 1989.
Ashley:One day, 37-year-old lab technician Kathy Scott contacted a bail bondsman she knew from high school. She told him all about the collapse of her four-month marriage and her estranged husband's assets. She thought she deserved a $50,000 life insurance policy. She thought she deserved A $50,000 life insurance policy, $47,000 in retirement benefits and two real estate investments worth $175,000. If her husband died, all of it would be hers. She just needed someone to do the dirty work for her.
Ashley:Unfortunately for Scott, the bail bondsman called the police, who contacted the Special Crimes Division of the District Attorney's Office to see if they had anyone on staff who specialized in murder-for-hire cases. They thought Gary Johnson just might be the man for the job. He was given full liberty to craft his persona and came up with the name Mike Kane, a biker who dressed in faded jeans and old t-shirts adorned with a silver skull chain necklace. With the help of the bail bondsman, he arranged a meeting with Scott at a Houston bowling alley where she played on a company team. Johnson realized he could drop the tough guy act while talking to her in the car. During their conversation, she gave him a picture of her husband, talked about how he mistreated her and described how it would be perfect for him to die while driving through a shady neighborhood on his way home from work.
Remi:I just want to say that I do find it funny that it seems like whenever people are hiring hitmen, they already have a bunch of ideas of how they would like it to happen, but they're ready to pitch.
Ashley:Yeah, just leave it up to the professionals. When Johnson told her about his fee of $2,500 with a 50% down payment, she told him she only had $100 on her but would put the rest in the yellow pages in a public phone booth.
Remi:His total fee was $2,500?.
Ashley:Yes, because this was in 1989.
Remi:Which is about $6,500 today when adjusted for inflation, which is still pretty reasonable, I must say.
Ashley:Johnson gave her an out, but she confirmed that she wanted her husband dead and was arrested moments later. At her trial, her lawyer tried to argue that Scott didn't really want her husband murdered and just got caught up in the excitement of it all as the undercover officer encouraged her to go through with the plan. This strategy was unsuccessful and she was sentenced to 80 years in prison.
Remi:Wow, the judge threw the book at that lady. That's quite the sentence.
Ashley:This is one of the heftiest sentences that his targets received, for sure.
Remi:There are people who actually committed murder who have gotten lighter sentences than that.
Ashley:One of Johnson's next cases involved 31-year-old oil rig worker Robert Holliday. He told a topless dancer thinking she might have connections to some shady folks that he wanted full custody of his children and the only way for that to happen was to have his ex-wife, who left him for another man, killed. Just like the bail bondsman, the woman called the cops. Johnson dusted off his Mike King costume and met Holiday at a motel room where he was given a photograph of the ex-wife and a hand-drawn map to her house. Turns out this wasn't Holiday's first attempt to get custody of the kids. Just a few weeks earlier he successfully got her committed to a psychiatric unit by saying she was suicidal. But she was quickly released once doctors realized nothing was wrong with her.
Ashley:I don't know how he did this. He just said she was suicidal and that was enough to commit her. I guess in 1989, that would not happen. Today it takes a lot to get someone involuntarily committed, but back in the day I guess it wasn't as challenging. After she was released, holiday landed on a new plan. If the hitman could slit her wrist to make her death look like a suicide, holiday would not only get custody of his kids and his ex-wife's $10,000 life insurance policy. But then he could also sue the doctors for malpractice for failing to treat her.
Remi:I thought life insurance policies didn't pay on suicides.
Ashley:That's a good point. That's what you usually hear, but I'm not really sure what the ins and outs of it all are.
Remi:Yeah, we haven't filled out our life insurance policies just yet.
Ashley:I have a life insurance policy through my work.
Remi:I should probably get one because I'm older than you.
Ashley:The catch was that Holiday needed the job done within the week, since he was about to start an offshore oil rig job, which would be the perfect alibi.
Remi:So this was his first client in the film.
Ashley:Yes, this is Craig in the movie. Once Johnson asked for a $100 down payment on his $2,500 fee, police busted through the doors to make their arrest $100 down payment. I'm assuming he said that because that's what Scott gave him on the last one.
Remi:In the film he said he could accept basically anything as a form of down payment and it would still hold up in court, like if someone offered a car or a boat or something like that still counts. So I guess the amount of money that exchanges hands is really irrelevant.
Ashley:Poor Holiday immediately asked Mike Kane what he should do as he didn't realize his new friend was involved in the sting. I tried to find out what this guy was sentenced to, but I could not find it.
Remi:Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of research you could do for this one.
Ashley:Yeah, I should point out that pretty much all the information out there about Gary Johnson is from that 2001 Skip Hollinsworth article in Texas Monthly. There was another infamous sting that put Johnson in high demand, not only in Houston but surrounding areas as well. This one did not involve Johnson Remy. It is a case we have covered. Can you think of another contract murder for hire plot that we went over not too long ago that took place in Texas?
Remi:Does this have anything to do with an alleged Texas cheerleader murdering mom?
Ashley:It sure does.
Remi:Our episode with by far the longest title.
Ashley:After the prosecution's case against the pom-pom mom almost fell apart in 1991 because the undercover hitman didn't get her on tape explicitly asking for Verna Heath to be killed, more police departments started requesting Johnson's services, since word got out that he knew how to get his targets talking.
Remi:You need to have them saying something pretty direct if you're going to prosecute. From my understanding, like they basically need to say I am paying you to kill so-and-so.
Ashley:Yes, and that's because simply saying you want someone killed isn't a crime, but the act of putting a plan into motion is, and so that's the evidence that Gary Johnson was supposed to get from his targets. That leads us to one of his next cases, 32-year-old Catherine Beazle, who started looking for a hitman after being rejected by her married lover. During their first meeting, beazle said she didn't want the man killed anymore, but she wondered if Johnson could maybe trash his office or break his legs, knowing it wouldn't look good in court if Johnson pushed her. He suggested she give him a call if she changed her mind, since simple assault and vandalism were below his pay grade. Sure enough, she reached out a few weeks later saying her married lover deserved to be punished for not leaving his wife. She was convicted, but was only given a 10-year suspended sentence.
Ashley:And a suspended sentence is sentence and a suspended sentence is she's basically on probation for, I think, that amount of time and if she violates probation then it's immediately revoked and she has to serve the rest of her time in prison.
Remi:Wow, that is an astonishingly better sentence than that person who got 80 years.
Ashley:Johnson was suddenly Houston's rising undercover star.
Remi:Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I feel like that could blow your cover.
Ashley:From his first case in 1989 to the time Skip Hollinsworth published the Hitman article in Texas Monthly in October 2001,. He was involved in some 300 murder-for-hire investigations, most of which ended up being unfounded. Think someone at a bar saying they wanted another person killed but didn't intend to actually do anything. But the police would still investigate it when they got the tip. However, about 60 people did try to hire him, not knowing he was actually an investigator for the Harris County DA's office who was working with the police. His clients included scorned lovers, former spouses, company partners, broke businessmen, teenagers mad at their parents, employees wanting to kill their bosses, bosses wanting to kill their employees and inmates claiming they were unfairly arrested and just needed to have a witness executed to gain their freedom.
Remi:Many of these people were shown in the montage in the film.
Ashley:Most of the people who tried to hire him didn't have criminal histories. They were desperate, searching for a quick fix and didn't think they had any other option. So how did people come to cross paths with Gary Johnson? Well, it went like this After a Texas police department received a tip about someone searching for a professional hitman, they contacted the Harris County DA's office to see if it was something he could handle. Once assigned a case, johnson was given information about the target and tasked with developing the perfect service he thought would be most attractive to the client. With a fake residential burglary being his go-to. He devised his alter ego, often going by the names Mike Kane, jody Eagle or Chris Buck.
Remi:Great names.
Ashley:He also developed backstories for his characters, sometimes saying he worked for the mob or was a retired marksman for the armed services who never lost his taste for adventure. He even developed subtle accents and vocal changes.
Remi:Gary's having fun with it.
Ashley:Next, the initial informant introduced Johnson to the person looking for a contract killer. Johnson wore a wire during these meetings, since he needed to get the person on tape saying what they wanted and agreeing to pay. Whenever someone asked Johnson if he was sure he could handle the job, he assured them he would study his target and make his move when the time was right. Johnson got better and better with each passing case. In law enforcement circles he became known as the best undercover hitman because of his acting skills. He could play the role of a sleek, skilled assassin who wouldn't take a job for less than six figures, or someone willing to do the kill for whatever he could get.
Remi:Do you know if he took any acting classes or improv classes or anything like that, or was he just getting better through practice?
Ashley:I don't think he took any sort of acting. I think his interest in psychology is what helped him here. He really got into the minds of the people he was targeting and really tried to think about what would best suit their needs and wants. And no matter the role, he never seemed to get flustered or say the wrong thing. As the years passed, referrals kept coming, even after the Houston Chronicle started regularly running stories about him, complete with his name and an occasional quote. In the mid-90s, for example, there was a bookkeeper who plotted to blow up the house of a former employer and offer Johnson a luxury boat as a down payment.
Remi:This was in the film.
Ashley:And a chemical plant worker who wanted to kill his ex-wife's new husband because he thought the man was mistreating his daughter. There was at least one case when his cover was blown, but not because of anything Johnson did. Rather, an informant started feeling guilty about giving his friend up and told the man who Johnson really was. Furious Johnson paid the target a visit and said he better not go looking for another contract killer, leaving the man to question if Johnson really was capable of murder. Now that we know how Johnson pulled off being a fake hitman for decades, do you want to hear about some of his high profile and most interesting cases? Yes, I would. First up is 61-year-old Patsy Haggard. She hated her husband of 18 years so much that she once tried to burn down their kitchen just to irritate him.
Remi:That's a bit excessive.
Ashley:Yeah, what an inconvenience it would be to you as well. In 1996, she asked a young woman in her neighborhood who had a few run-ins with the law over drugs if she knew a hitman. Johnson met with Haggard several times in the parking lot of a barbecue restaurant, which is funny because that's also where Wanda Holloway, the pom-pom mom, also met with her brother-in-law. When trying to kill her ex-husband, haggard searched him for a wire each time but somehow never found it. After a few meetings she became so infatuated with him that she propositioned him for sex on the hood of her car. Always the gentleman. Johnson politely declined but agreed to shoot her husband in exchange for a $300 down payment. She was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Ashley:That same year William Peoples, a well-respected 11-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, decided he wanted to kill his wife because he was paying too much money in child support. He asked a cop, buddy, who coincidentally also wanted to kill his ex-wife, to help him find a hitman. Together they hired a felon on parole to do the job, but he got cold feet and started searching for a subcontractor, which led him to Johnson. And this case is especially impressive because Peoples worked for the Houston Police Department, the same police department that routinely used Johnson for these murder-for-hire investigations use Johnson for these murder-for-hire investigations. In the end, peoples was sentenced to 10 years in prison for solicitation of capital murder.
Remi:The second cop was never convicted 10 years seems to be the standard here. That 80-year one is still blowing my mind.
Ashley:Well, this one will also blow your mind. I think this one is the craziest case of them all. Next up is 31-year-old Bobby Wigley, a drugstore employee obsessed with becoming a private detective, who traveled the world solving crimes.
Ashley:Like Carmen Sandiego policy and freedom to start his new career, he wanted Johnson to cut the brake line of his 28 year old wife's car so she would die in a fiery crash with their nine month old baby inside. After the first meeting with Johnson to which he brought his infant to, I might add he pawned his gun for $250 and was arrested as soon as he handed over the down payment. Johnson even asked him why do you want to kill your baby? And Wigley said he couldn't be a traveling private investigator with a kid. Justice was served with this one when he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 2003.
Remi:This one is a bit more rightfully so. This guy was pretty heartless with what he was attempting to do.
Ashley:Johnson's most famous case involved 38-year-old Lynn Kilroy, the wife of Billy Kilroy, who was the sole heir to a vast oil fortune. Although the couple had only been married for 13 months, lynn resented how much time and effort she spent caring for her husband, who had cerebral palsy. During an evening walk with a neighbor in 2000, she began talking about how much she disliked Billy and thought she had about covering his floor with baby oil so he would slip and crack his head open while coming out of the shower. She didn't view divorce as an option since she claimed she was worried Billy would use his family's influence to gain custody of their six-month-old daughter. Also, if she divorced him, she wouldn't have any access to his family's wealth if the marriage ended. Worried that Lynn would soon kill Billy, the neighbor contacted his mother, who hired Derek Hartsfield, an actual police officer, to spy on her. Derek took his job perhaps too seriously and started having an affair with Lynn. After just two days of knowing him, she asked if he knew a hitman. Two days after that, lynn met Johnson in a hotel room and gave him $200,000 worth of jewelry as a down payment. The plan was for him to kill Billy later in the week while she and Derek were on vacation in Brazil, she was arrested for a solicitation of capital murder the next day.
Ashley:At her trial, the defense argued she never intended to hire someone to kill her husband and was instead enticed into it by Johnson. Her lawyer painted her as an emotionally distraught woman whose fear of losing her child prevented her from thinking straight. She ended up pleading no contest and was sentenced to five years of probation. This legal strategy was one often employed by attorneys representing Johnson's targets. In almost every case, it was argued, the defendants were just blowing off steam and never would have followed through with the murder plots if a professional hitman hadn't shown up. Some tried to claim Johnson manipulated them through intimidation, leaving them no opportunity to back out for fear of retribution. This strategy always failed, since the confessions were taped, allowing the jurors to hear how Johnson gave the defendants the opportunity to reconsider by repeatedly offering them the chance to leave. While there were some cases that resulted in hefty prison sentences, many more were sentenced to probation. Like 17-year-old Sean Quinn, he gave Johnson seven Atari computer games. Do you know what those are?
Remi:It's an old video game system, pre-Nintendo, so long before your time.
Ashley:In addition to those games, he also gave Johnson $5.30 to kill a classmate who was courting the same girl he liked. He was sentenced to 10 years of probation. In other cases, probation was granted when victims testified in court that they forgave the defendants. For example, the entire family of a young woman who hired Johnson to kill her brother because he got a bigger inheritance successfully pleaded for a lenient sentence.
Ashley:Before we wrap things up about Johnson's careers and undercover hitman, I have two more cases I want to discuss, both involving scenarios when he deviated from his typical routine. The first involves a 60-year-old used car salesman who was not happy that his wife got half of their property assets in their divorce settlement. He confided in a neighbor who went looking for a hitman and came across Johnson, Realizing the danger. The woman was in Johnson and the Harris County Police Department visited her at the beauty shop she owned and told her about the $20,000 contract on her life. They persuaded her to stage her death by posing for photographs where she appeared dead on a tarp. They even poured ketchup over the back of her head and bound her hands and feet with duct tape to make it look more real. The man tried to back out of paying, but was soon arrested after an altercation with the neighbor tasked with orchestrating the hit. The last case I'm going to talk about involves a woman who asked a Starbucks barista if she knew anyone who could kill her cruel boyfriend.
Remi:Wow, that's really just putting it out there. I mean grabbing your latte and, by the way, do you know any contract killers?
Ashley:And this is, of course, Madison. As usual, Johnson did his research before contacting the woman. He discovered she was frequently abused by her boyfriend and too afraid to leave him for fear of what he would do to her if he found her going through with the sting operation. He decided to help her by contacting social service agencies and a therapist, who made sure she received the resources she needed to leave her boyfriend safely.
Remi:So they never met.
Ashley:I don't think so. I think he arranged social services and psychology professionals to contact her with the help of the police department. They could have met once, but it didn't sound like they did in the article. When Johnson wasn't out on sting operations he spent his days in a little room at the Harris County DA's office that was filled with audio and video equipment used to duplicate and enhance tapes the prosecution used at trials. He was married and divorced three times but remained close with his second wife, who described him as friendly but a bit of a loner.
Remi:She is. In the film there is a very brief scene where he has lunch with one of his ex-wives, who he has stayed in contact with and is still friendly with.
Ashley:During the interview with Skip Hollinsworth he admitted that he had trust issues and didn't let people get too close to him. An interpersonal style he recognized came from his career.
Remi:He had stopped doing the undercover operations by the time the article came out right.
Ashley:I'm not sure. I couldn't find anything about any cases after that, but he was a really private person so he might have kept doing it. It's unclear. Whenever anyone asked what he did for a living, he always said he worked for human resources at a company in downtown Houston In 2001, he lived alone with two cats named Id and Ego, which are the names of the real cats in the film. It's written on their food bowls. I saw a picture of it.
Remi:I did not notice that Good catch.
Ashley:And these terms were developed by the founder of psychoanalysis, sigmund Freud, and used to represent his view of the adult personality structure. Johnson also kept goldfish in a small backyard pond and enjoyed gardening, reading, meditation and opera. At night, he occasionally went to a sports bar and taught human sexuality and general psychology classes two nights a week at Lone Star College's Kingwood campus. I actually easily found Gary Johnson on RateMyProfessorcom. There were 28 reviews, with the last being published in December 2020. They were overwhelmingly positive, with many students saying he was nice, caring, funny, helpful, interesting, engaging and approachable. It was clear he was loved by students and colleagues alike. He died in December 2022, just before filming for the movie began, at the age of 75. The cause of death was not reported, and that is the true story of Richard Linklater's Hitman Remy. I'm curious what your thoughts are about Gary Johnson as a person and about his career.
Remi:Gary Johnson as a person and about his career. He honestly seems like a pretty normal guy who found himself in a unusually interesting career, which also became an outlet for him to delve into psychology, which was something that was interesting to him, and he seems like he was a good dude who led a pretty normal life besides this extra thing he did at work.
Ashley:One thing that stuck out to me that I wish was explored more in either the movie or in the Texas Monthly article is the psychological impact that this career had on him. Really, all that was said is that he does have trust issues, which makes total sense to me. His whole job is to meet with people who are planning to kill individuals that at one point in time were close to them.
Remi:The scene in the film which, again, I don't talk about in my description, because it really has nothing to do with.
Remi:the plot is the one where he meets with his ex-wife and they talk about relationships and he talks about how he has become jaded after seeing all of these people who were once in love now planning to have that person murdered. And it, of course, would affect you. You're seeing people that are trying to have someone that they used to want to have an entire life with, trying to end that, that they used to want to have an entire life with, trying to end that other person's life. I would imagine it would definitely complicate your feelings on relationships in general.
Remi:Another thought I had was how do you feel ethically about what Gary was doing Ashley? Do you think this sort of thing was entrapment? Do you think this sort of thing is justifiable going undercover under all these identities and getting information on tape about all of these potential crimes that haven't technically even happened yet? I mean the argument could be made that because hitmen don't really exist, many of these people would not ever be able to find one and this conversation of exchanging money for the job would never have even occurred. How do you feel about that?
Ashley:It is tough because these people probably would have had difficulty finding someone, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't be able to locate someone who is very desperate and strapped for cash, or that they would take drastic matters into their own hands. I think what Johnson did, or the Harris County District Attorney's Office did well, is that Johnson repeatedly gave people the opportunity to leave, with no repercussions. He would ask them are you sure you want to go through with this? Do you understand how serious this is? This is your last chance to walk away. And each time of the cases he successfully prosecuted, they went through with it and actually did take the step to paying Johnson something. So they weren't just saying, oh, I promise I'll get money to you. They actually did give him something as a show of good faith that he would go through it. So I think incorporating those two aspects giving the person repeated chances to leave and taking something from them shows how serious these people are about going through with these plans. So it's no longer talks anymore. They really want this done.
Remi:And I think that is key giving them many outs during the conversation and not coercing them into it. I think that's a key thing. You should not be talking these people into doing it, but if you catch them by their own will trying to do this sort of thing, I do think it's correct. I think that's perfectly justifiable. It's when the police start to really trick people and get them to say things that they absolutely wouldn't say where I start to object.
Ashley:And one more question that popped into my mind while we were comparing the movie and the story is the article really focuses most on Johnson's various cases that was probably 50% of what I spoke about Actually, that was probably 80% of what I spoke about Whereas the movie the sole focus is on Gary's relationship with Madison. Would you have preferred to see a film that focused more on other cases, or did you like the love aspect? That was the heavy focus.
Remi:After watching Bernie Linklater's other true crime film, which we both, I believe, gave a not guilty verdict to it was very accurate, all things considered, that I think he wanted to do that originally. I think his original plan when he read this back in 2001 and was thinking about it for over a decade was to follow it more closely to what the real story was. And I think that when Glenn Powell came into the picture is when it took on this other romantic comedy life and honestly I think Linklater had a difficult time crafting a full story narrative out of this guy's profession. Like we said, he was a pretty normal dude. There wasn't a ton of controversy. The cases are interesting, but for that to be the entire film you would need something more personal happening with the main character, and he is not directly personally involved in any of these cases other than working undercover. So I understand why the changes were made, but I think that they should have found a better balance between the two and I think that there were ways that maybe the story could have not completely gone as different as it did, while maintaining a lot of the aspects of the true story. But I can understand why the changes were made.
Remi:Glenn Powell is a charismatic romantic comedy leading man. Gary Johnson is not. Like I said at the beginning, in my mind I saw Sam Rockwell as Gary Johnson. Sam Rockwell is a magnificent actor, but he's not someone who's the dashing, good-looking, charismatic lead of these types of movies. So in my mind I feel like Glenn Powell saw this as an opportunity to kind of do an acting reel where he could play multiple characters on screen that could show a variety of his abilities and would also possibly in the future give him more acting opportunities in roles that are outside of this bubble of, you know, generic, charismatic, good-looking dude. So I understand why all the changes were made, and that's just my theory. I do not know that for a fact, but I feel like Linklater was going to keep it close to the original story. No studio would buy that and Glenn Powell came in adding his Glenn Powell-ness to the story and it seems like everyone loved it.
Remi:It has great reviews. It was a success on Netflix. He even got nominated for an acting award at the Golden Globes. So the changes were successful and I understand why they were made, but I do wish that they had kept the story maybe 50-50 rather than like 15 to 85 percent.
Ashley:Well, that is dipping into our verdict. But before we get to that, let's get to our objection of the week.
Remi:Your Honor, I object. And why is that, Mr Reed?
Richard Linklater:Because it's devastating to my case.
Remi:Overruled.
Hit Man scene:Good call.
Ashley:And I will kick us off with the objection of the week this time. I have a few here and I think the one I'm going to go with is that during the first hit, when he met with oil rig worker Craig, he wasn't dressed as a biker, he was just dressed as a normal dude. I think it would have been way funnier to have him dressed as a biker with how he was described in the article, especially wearing that silver skull chain necklace.
Remi:He plays that biker character in the montage, but not in that initial sting, Because in the movie it's happening by surprise, so he's not expecting to go in and he doesn't have the full costume and wardrobe available.
Remi:Mine this week is the fact that his main job was that he was a cop. He wasn't a teacher. It sounds like he taught a couple of classes later on in life. So while in the movie his main career is teaching and the police work is part-time, in real life his main career was police work and the teaching thing was part-time, and I don't know why they decided to make that switch Maybe because it would be easier for him to run away with her at the end if he wasn't a police officer, and I'm not sure but that was a change that I thought was completely unnecessary. Honestly, you could have omitted all of the teaching scenes and it wouldn't have affected the story at all.
Ashley:I had that one written down too, and I think that was going to be my runner up, so I'm going to go with that one.
Remi:All right Back on the board. Baby, that was going to be my runner up, so I'm going to go with that one. All right Back on the board baby.
Narrator:So let's get into our verdict now. At the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will deliver a verdict based on the film's accuracy. If the film is an honest portrayal of the events, then it will earn a not guilty verdict. If the adaptation is mostly factual but creative liberties were taken for the sake of entertainment, the film will be declared a mistrial. But if the film ultimately strays too far from the truth, then it will be condemned as guilty and sentenced to a life behind bars.
Remi:I will start things this week, since you did our objection of the week moments ago. This film is getting a guilty verdict from me. I did enjoy the film and the true story is a very interesting one, but it's pretty clear that most of this movie was completely made up. They took the idea of Gary and just ran with it in a completely different direction that was more catered towards Glenn Powell's acting abilities and his appeal on screen. Most of the stuff that was true was kind of just glossed over in montages and, of course, the whole Madison thing they never even met in real life. It's impossible to give this thing anything else but a guilty verdict in my mind. What about you, Ashley? Do you feel differently or do you feel the same?
Ashley:It's obvious that this movie is guilty. The other points I had written down here that really deviate so far from the truth is the whole Jasper character, the fact that he goes through with murdering another undercover hitman. They also moved the timeline of this completely. It's starting at a time where Jasper gets suspended because a video went viral. There's no viral videos in 1989.
Remi:They definitely updated it for modern times.
Ashley:And obviously the biggest reason he gets a guilty is because of the whole rom-com love aspect involved, but with the caveat that it is again one of those movies that illustrates how a guilty verdict doesn't necessarily mean a bad movie. A lot of the movies that we give guilty verdicts to are ones that we actually enjoy and would recommend, and I assume that this is one of those.
Remi:Yes, even though you have seen it and don't remember it, we do recommend this movie. It is a fun, lighthearted rom-com romp, but our film two weeks from now is anything but that. Ashley, would you like to tell the audience a little bit about what our next episode will be focusing on?
Ashley:bit about what our next episode will be focusing on. Yes, we threw Hitman in here for you guys as a bit of a reprieve from two prior heavy episodes, and we are getting right back into it with a movie called Bully, which I have not seen, but it is about a brutal murder orchestrated by a group of teenage friends in Florida from 1993.
Remi:I have seen this movie. I saw it back when I was a teenager. It is from the director of the film Kids, If anyone is familiar with that. It is a very controversial film dealing with teenagers. Controversial film dealing with teenagers. And this film is also an extremely controversial film dealing with teenagers and it is going to be a heavy discussion. There is a lot of behind the scenes things that happened with many of the actors involved with the film and the director, and there's a lot not to mention.
Remi:The entire true story is pretty dark in general, but don't let me scare you off. It is going to be a fascinating episode and I do look forward to discussing it with you next time, Ashley.
Ashley:And before we sign off, with a little taste of what's to come with the trailer bully, we want to again thank all of you for listening and please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. And until then, Court is adjourned.
Remi:I don't understand what the hell is going on with you? You guys don't work, you don't go to school, you don't do anything.
Hit Man scene:All you do is lay around and drive your cars. You know how that makes me feel.
Hit Man scene:Mad.
Hit Man scene:Y'all want to go to a party?
Hit Man scene:Sure Welcome to the party.
Ashley:I got a new boyfriend, mom, what kind.
Hit Man scene:A hug.
Richard Linklater:You might as well get hot. Oh, baby, you know what I like.
Hit Man scene:Bobby and I have been friends since we were like almost born.
Remi:Brave Dally Treats everyone like shit.
Richard Linklater:So what are you gonna do, Lisa?
Hit Man scene:He's a source of everybody's troubles. Are we really gonna do Lisa? He's the source of everybody's troubles.
Richard Linklater:Are we really gonna do this?
Hit Man scene:This guy deserves to die. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. Turn those goddamn lights off.
Hit Man scene:Is he dead, yet Getting there?
