The Wild Life Of Gary Johnson, The Fake Hitman

You have undoubtedly heard about Hit Man, the new Linklater film with a 97% rating on RT. You may not know that the Gary Johnson in the film is based on a real person, also named Gary Johnson. He was not a real hit man, but worked undercover pretending to kill for hire whenever the cops got wind of somebody seeking that service. He would meet the client while wearing a wire. As soon as the mark agreed to hire him, a swarm of cops would appear.

• This is his story.
• This is the lengthy Texas Monthly article, written nearly a quarter-century ago, that inspired director/co-author Richard Linklater and star/co-author Glen Powell to pen the Hit Man script.
• This is Texas Monthly’s 2024 update.

The film ends with a dedication to the real Gary Johnson:

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The film follows Johnson’s life and career only up to a point. Almost all the biographical details in the film are based on the real man. He did some tech work for the police and taught part-time at a local community college. He was a divorced loner who lived with his cats and dreamt of getting a Ph.D. so he could become a full professor in a top university.

It is also true that he once took pity on an abused wife who wanted to kill her husband. He could see that she was not a criminal, but rather a person in a desperate situation. Instead of accepting her offer, he helped her get out of her situation, thus saving her from a long stretch in prison.

The real Johnson never formed relationships with his prospective clients, including that abused wife, but the film imagines what would have happened if that grateful woman had later contacted him and become his lover, meaning that the two of them would have to deal with an abusive ex-husband who wouldn’t leave her alone. The disturbed ex went so far off the deep end that he decided to kill her. He sought a hit man. Guess who he found?

That’s the point at which Hit Man became a completely different movie. Up until the ex-husband entered the picture it had been a breezy rom-com. After that point it is a thriller in which Gary and his new lover take a dark trip through the wrong side of town.

I won’t tell you how that ends, but I will tell you that you’ll probably be surprised more than once as you follow their journey.