The Old Man & the Gun stars Robert Redford in his marketed final acting role (it wasn’t) as a real life bank robber and leader of the Over the Hill Gang in an adaptation of The New Yorker article with the same title written by David Grann. Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck also star in this film. It is ninety-three minutes long.
I knew that I would see The Old Man & the Gun, but resolved not to see it in theaters because I don’t give money to support Rapey Affleck; however I was tempted for aesthetic reasons. Now I will never know whether or not on the big screen, it succeeded where Mapplethorpe failed. I was most attracted to the film’s commitment to the 80s aesthetic. Even the font of the title in the promotional posters is from an earlier time. In Mapplethorpe, it hurt the movie because it always reminded me that I was watching a movie, and I could not fully lose myself in the story. On the small screen, it added warmth and suffused the film with a golden appreciation that culminates in various clips from Redford’s other films, which probably made the transition to these clips less dissonant.
The Old Man & the Gun is really a reward to Redford fans and a lifetime tribute to Redford more than a biopic of the late years of an aging robber. If you’ve seen all of Redford’s films (I have not), you have to see this film. This movie is your Avengers: Endgame. This movie is just using the nostalgic appreciation for the gentleman robber as a thin veneer to direct much deserved compliments at the acting legend and to express a yearning for an earlier period of movies rooted in acting, story and craft, not spectacle, so if you’re looking for a true crime drama, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
The Old Man & the Gun also addresses mortality and aging in a way that is more tolerable than most American movies though I still think that it does not come close to touching the hem of a French film’s metaphorical garment. It shows more maturity than Ridley Scott’s toddler tantrum against death, which can essentially be summed up as, “It’s not fair,” complete with foot stomping and folded arms across his chest. Unexpected (criminal) excellence demands that Affleck’s character, an aging detective gaping into the maw of routine and boredom in spite of having a good life and a successful career, step up his game in response. He goes from sleep walking through his beautiful life to rediscovering why he made his life choices and living fully. The movie is about choosing to live beyond the borders of comfort and routine that life shoves you into which becomes a living tomb. The movie pulled all the stops to make us like Affleck. He has a black wife and two adorable biracial children. The viewer is supposed to relate to his character as an entry point to understanding and appreciating the criminal protagonist.
The Old Man & the Gun suggests that this is the key to the protagonist’s psychological profile. The sound of a clock ticking is not just a tool of the trade, but a reminder of the ephemeral nature of life, which is disguised by routine’s fake inducement of life feeling eternal through boredom. It is a deception soundly rejected by the protagonist. Instead he chooses to fully engage with the people before him and make a human connection, accomplish each task fully and well then raise the bar. He is not just stealing money, but cheating death of the spirit and the body.
Did I like the movie? The Old Man & the Gun is a solid movie, but I was unable to watch it in a vacuum and leave the outside world behind. I was specifically annoyed at the real man behind the movie, not necessarily the movie itself. I resented it because I knew that it was based on a real story. Only in America can an aging white man with a gun get compliments about being affable while unarmed black children, women and men or armed black children, women and men in states with open carry laws get executed. Your life’s desires are so important that they have to impact strangers, endanger their lives literally and possibly forever destroy their psychological well being because you want a movie made about you and want to live fully, and I’m supposed to be rooting for you? Hell nah! The same system that deems him as harmless (to be fair, he does get shot when he gets captured, but he still lived) or not a threat in spite of his literal actions because of his demeanor and looks judges law abiding people living their lives as more of a threat and deserving of fear to their safety because of the color of their skin, not the content of their character. Fuck Forrest Tucker. And do your damn job, mid-life crisis cop! Please tell me that didn’t happen in real life, and it was just a cutesy plot device because my tax dollars are crying out for justice.
Also I’m not into this growing movie genre of winking at the realities of aging by showcasing old people being naughty and further minimizing their criminal actions by using a United Colors of Benetton aesthetic to accept it by making a nod to diversity. I don’t begrudge the superb Danny Glover from getting a paycheck, but there was no black guy in Tucker’s crew. The casting is (consciously or subconsciously) referencing movies like The Bucket List or Lost Vegas to endear us to them by applauding their forward thinking, casually diverse friendships that were ahead of their time. I’m cynical and have seen too many movies that cast white actors in roles whose real life counterparts were not white. Sometimes I’ll applaud the switch, and in this case, I’m not necessarily against it, but I do question why it is being done in The Old Man & the Gun, especially since the implication is that Glover’s character ends up being the Judas of the group. Side eye.
I appreciate The Old Man & the Gun, and highly recommend it to any fans of the director or the cast, particularly Redford, but I did not love it, and I think that the movie wanted me to. I just couldn’t, but I don’t begrudge those that could. Would pair perfectly with The Mule if you are looking for a thematic movie marathon. Fun fact: Tucker originally wanted Clint Eastwood to play him, but because he didn’t have an agent, he couldn’t get Eastwood to look at his script. Tiny violin plays.
Shout out to Tom Waits for nearly stealing the movie in one scene.