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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Early Retirement

Posted on April 7, 2020Updated on May 2, 2021by Geoff CarterCategories:Michael DiMilo, Movies, Social Commentary

By Geoff Carter

Artwork by Michael DiMilo

Movie Review: The Old Man and the Gun

There really is no typical caper movie. You can find everything from gritty Hollywood dramas like The Killers, Dog Day Afternoon, and Asphalt Jungle to tongue-in-cheek romps like Oceans 11, Snatch, and The Sting to terse dramas like Heist, Bonnie and Clyde, and Reservoir Dogs. The only elements all these films have in common are a criminal, usually a sympathetic one, and a plan—which usually goes awry.

            The Old Man and the Gun is a crime film bends the rules of this genre even further. While the criminal aspect is an important aspect of the film, it is not the main engine of the narrative. That lies with the old man himself, Robert Redford, and his congenial and charming rogue of an anti-hero. This is a funny, heartfelt, and gentle film. I hope you enjoy it. 

Innocent When You Dream

Movie Review: The Old Man and the Gun

Found on Hulu

Starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, Casey Affleck, Danny Glover, and Tom Waits. Directed by David Lowery

The movie The Old Man and the Gun is a charming story of a gentleman bandit meandering his way through the Southwest, robbing banks seemingly at will. He carries a gun that he never fires; his most disarming weapon seems to be his charm. Even his victims like him. 

            David Lowery’s film is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, a lifelong criminal who was arrested, convicted, and then escaped from prisons a total of sixteen times. Robert Redford plays Tucker as a carefree and friendly felon, having the time of his life during his slow-motion crime spree. 

            This movie is not your typical Bonnie and Clyde flick. First of all, there is almost no violence shown on the screen. The bank robberies themselves are relaxed and amicable affairs in which Tucker quietly asks for the money, shows his gun, takes the loot, and then leaves. In the initial sequence, as he is leaving the scene of the crime, he pulls over to help a stranded motorist. He leans under the open hood to examine the engine, completely unconcerned about the police cars whizzing by. He has that kind of cool. 

            The motorist he saves turns out to be a mature woman named Jewel, played by Sissy Spacek, whose spunky and down-to-earth personality provides the perfect foil for Tucker’s cordial wit and upbeat style. Their flirtation turns into a friendship that grows deeper as the story progresses. 

            There is also, of course, a chase; a laconic police detective played by Casey Affleck links Tucker to a series of bank heists and ultimately identifies him as the bandit. Tucker is, after all, appearances aside, a criminal, but he is an unlikely anti-hero in that he is not brash or loud or violent. The only evidence of any antisocial behaviors is the actual robberies themselves. Tucker doesn’t even seem to be in it for the money. He stashes most of his loot in an old house, not seeming to have much use for it. 

            One of the pleasures in watching this movie—and there were many—was the pacing, which was unexpectedly relaxed and low-key, much like the protagonist. The film, in fact, reminded me of films of the sixties and seventies that took their time telling their stories: films like Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, or Anatomy of a Murder.

Even the film stock, grainy and dark, harks back to earlier times. 

            The acting is superb. Redford is iconic in his—supposedly—final role, and Spacek is utterly fetching as a no-nonsense down-to-earth single woman. Affleck is an understated study of determination and perseverance, plodding along like a distracted bloodhound. Danny Glover and Tom Waits turn in marvelous performances as Tucker’s accomplices.  

            This is a film that could easily have been made into a formulaic Hollywood crime flick; it was all there in Tucker’s story: the robberies, the chases, and the escapes. Lowery, however, in his screenplay, chose to emphasize the elegiac nature of his hero’s trip across the Southwest. It seems a fitting swan song for Tucker, and also for Redford. 

            The title The Old Man and The Gun is reminiscent of Hemingway’s classic The Old Man and The Sea, and like Hemingway’s Santiago, the poor fisherman who braved the elements, fatigue, pain, and hunger to fulfill—and attain—his dream, only to see it ripped apart, Tucker’s quest to be, “the man a ten year-old me would have been proud of”, is ultimately impossible. 

            Tucker’s vision, his desire to be simultaneously courtly and criminal, is embedded in his gracious and affable style, and try as he might, his gentleman bandit would never be a part of mainstream society. But that was probably okay with him; he wouldn’t have wanted that, anyway—not completely—just as Redford never would have wanted to be known only as a part of mainstream Hollywood.  

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