Gene Hackman, who’s 82 now, isn’t one those guys whose personal life is all over the news, and one of the few stories we’ve heard about him was from the set of Royal Tenenbaums, where he reportedly told Wes Anderson to “pull up your pants and act like a man.” In fact, part of Bill Murray’s job was trying to protect Anderson from the salty old bastard. Point is, he’s a salty old bastard, and one thing you don’t want to do with a salty old bastard is insult his wife, as a New Mexico homeless man recently learned the hard way. Talk about balls, I’d piss my pants if Gene Hackman even looked at me threateningly.

Put up your dukes, ya nancy!

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … the incident went down Tuesday as Hackman and his wife were leaving a Santa Fe restaurant. We’re told a homeless guy named Bruce Becker approached them in a threatening manner.

“Bruce Becker?” Come on, that’s not a hobo name, that’s slick local news anchor name. “Welcome to Action News, with Bruce Becker!” (*craps pants*)

We’re told the incident escalated big time when Becker called Hackman’s wife a “c**t” — and then Hackman dished out some street justice … slapping Becker across the face.
Becker then called the cops to report the incident.
We’re told cops interviewed Hackman and his wife, determined the slap was in self-defense … and, for now, no charges have been filed. [TMZ]

Ooh, bad move. You do not want to talk to Gene Hackman’s wife the way Gene Hackman talks to Wes Anderson (really, the first part of Anderson’s Hackman story is “didn’t he call you a c*nt?”). “Hey, that’s my wife you’re talking to, not some stuttering fairy in a madras waistcoat!” I imagine Hackman shouting. Meanwhile, my sources tell me police decided not to press charges when Pagoda stabbed Hackman in the side and carried him off on his shoulder.

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