2018’s The Old Man and
the Gun, written and directed by David Lowery.
Starring Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Tika
Sumpter, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, Ari Elizabeth Johnson, Teagan Johnson, and
Gene Jones.
What is it about?
Octogenarian Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), and his senior
partners Wally (Tom Waits) and Teddy (Danny Glover), spend their time robbing
banks. Despite their age, they’re quite prolific. However, Tucker’s exploits
attract the attention of burnt out cop, John Hunt (Casey Affleck). Chasing
Tucker seems to give him more of a connection to his wife, Maureen (Tika
Sumpter), and 2 children (Ari Elizabeth Johnson and Teagan Johnson), but his
focus on Tucker makes a new romance that Tucker is pursuing with Jewel (Sissy
Spacek) all the more fraught. Will Forest be able to go gently into the night,
or spend the rest of his golden years in a jail cell?
Why is it worth seeing?
A sentimental goodbye to a Hollywood icon, Old Man and the Gun’s attractions are in
watching a couple of certified Hollywood legends pour on the charm. Watching the
inimitable Redford woo Spacek, who just could be aging better than him herself,
is a real treat. It’s in those eyes, still twinkling at yet another downplayed
rascally quip, another subtle flirtation- always with such polite folksiness. Like
her, we are helpless to his magnetism. As the real historical photographs and film
footage of Redford testify, the guy’s always been a real looker, and the
contrast with Redford’s current physical appearance, imbues the grain of the story
with a pang of aging nostalgia.
However, its story, of the ultimate boomer’s swan song, doesn’t crackle with that same wit. It’s hard to come to grips with the film, so in love with its aging star, can’t reconcile a truth that his character continually runs but can never hide from- he’s actually a deadbeat. Sure, he’s always proper, always robs banks in a suit with a gentle smile, is always ready to give an incongruent and condescending piece of advice to trembling bank clerks or terrified carjacking victims of his (who have their children in the backseat). We find truths in his history- not the legend of how many prisons that he broke out from, or how many banks he robbed- but of family that he has abandoned, and not once does he indicate a shred of insight regarding his non negotiable human connection. He may lie about it- but that doesn’t make him any more sympathetic. It’s almost as if Jack Foley, George Clooney’s irresistible thief in Soderbergh’s 1998 masterpiece, Out of Sight, just barreled on for another 3 decades. But even Foley seemed to have the wisdom to admit that his lifestyle needed to be as bachelor-esque as possible, and he took care of his friends- and it was even in a different movie about robbery that he only lied about being a thief. Trying to frame Forest as a sympathetic (or even tragic) figure is a transaction denied.
Writer/Director David Lowery’s story also buckles whenever Redford isn’t on the screen. It wastes peak Tom Waits (watch for a hysterical scene where Redford and Glover try not to crack as Waits riffs on his thoughts on the holidays), and Affleck’s cop character, also feels under developed. Despite Affleck’s precocious children’s hammy attempts to describe how chasing Forest gives him a sense of purpose, he doesn’t really seem to have much. He starts off literally sleeping on the job, and except for a notable kitchen encounter with his wife, finishes as quietly as he was narcoleptic to start. It all takes us places that aren’t that worthy of remembering. Maybe it’s true that people don’t change, and that criminals can’t be rehabilitated. OK boomer.
However, its story, of the ultimate boomer’s swan song, doesn’t crackle with that same wit. It’s hard to come to grips with the film, so in love with its aging star, can’t reconcile a truth that his character continually runs but can never hide from- he’s actually a deadbeat. Sure, he’s always proper, always robs banks in a suit with a gentle smile, is always ready to give an incongruent and condescending piece of advice to trembling bank clerks or terrified carjacking victims of his (who have their children in the backseat). We find truths in his history- not the legend of how many prisons that he broke out from, or how many banks he robbed- but of family that he has abandoned, and not once does he indicate a shred of insight regarding his non negotiable human connection. He may lie about it- but that doesn’t make him any more sympathetic. It’s almost as if Jack Foley, George Clooney’s irresistible thief in Soderbergh’s 1998 masterpiece, Out of Sight, just barreled on for another 3 decades. But even Foley seemed to have the wisdom to admit that his lifestyle needed to be as bachelor-esque as possible, and he took care of his friends- and it was even in a different movie about robbery that he only lied about being a thief. Trying to frame Forest as a sympathetic (or even tragic) figure is a transaction denied.
Writer/Director David Lowery’s story also buckles whenever Redford isn’t on the screen. It wastes peak Tom Waits (watch for a hysterical scene where Redford and Glover try not to crack as Waits riffs on his thoughts on the holidays), and Affleck’s cop character, also feels under developed. Despite Affleck’s precocious children’s hammy attempts to describe how chasing Forest gives him a sense of purpose, he doesn’t really seem to have much. He starts off literally sleeping on the job, and except for a notable kitchen encounter with his wife, finishes as quietly as he was narcoleptic to start. It all takes us places that aren’t that worthy of remembering. Maybe it’s true that people don’t change, and that criminals can’t be rehabilitated. OK boomer.
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