The Old Man & the Gun: Perfect Retiring Match

Release Date：Oct/19/2018
Genre：Comedy/Crime/Drama
Director：David Lowery
Cast：Robert Redford、Casey Affleck、Sissy Spacek、Elisabeth Moss

Viola's Rating: 8.1






Besides the announcement of the 91^st Academy Awards nominees, one of the biggest breaking news recently is the retirement of celebrated actor Robert Redford after playing his final role in the feature film, “The Old Man & the Gun”, which was released on October 19^th, 2018.

Based on the true-life story of an American career criminal, Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), who escaped from prison “18 times successfully and 12 times unsuccessfully”, the script of the film is based on David Grann's 2003 article in The New Yorker titled "The Old Man and the Gun". This dramatic, criminal comedy caper focuses on Forrest Tucker’s audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

With Oscar-winning leading cast Casey Affleck, Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek, “The Old Man & the Gun” is no doubt pure ecstasy for the audience. Just like his character in “Manchester by the Sea”, Detective Hunt whom Affleck acts as in the flock is pretty humble while chasing Tucker is beginning to revive his passion. On the other hand, Redford and Spacek demonstrate how age doesn’t affect a bit when it comes to romantic relationship.

One may wonder how Tucker did it, but Carlos “Kaiser” Raposo in “Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never to Play Football” and Frank Abagnale Jr. in “Catch Me If You Can” both have the same background. Fascinating enough is what they did is no longer possible in the modern world, but this is also the reason why their cons could be turned into motion pictures.

As Redford is going to retire after “The Old Man & the Gun”, there are a bunch of Easter eggs for his aficionados to look forward to. While displaying all the famous prison escapes of Tucker, the movie features a host of footage from Redford’s previous works as a tribute to him.

In addition to the old images of Redford, since the ambience of “The Old Man & the Gun” is very happy, light-hearted and relaxed instead of the usual tense of a crime movie, there are humorous lines and nostalgic scores, taking moviegoers back to Texas in 1990s.

Robbing banks and western atmosphere might remind audience’s memory of “Hell or High Water”, and “The Old Man & the Gun” pretty much presents the similar police chases, but according to Tucker, he doesn’t do all these to “make a living” but merely “living”, which gives the picture interesting vibes.

All in all, “The Old Man & the Gun” is an amazing enjoyment, and with the old man Robert Redford starring, a feature film related to guns suits him well. Fans or not, “The Old Man & the Gun” is an undoubted success and the perfect match for retirement.

Picture Credit: IMDb