About the Film
Written and directed by David Lowery, The Old Man & the Gun is based on the true life story of Forrest Tucker who became a bank robber at the age of fifteen. In the film, we see him as a seventy-year-old man who continues to rob banks and struggles to escape from police officer John Hunt. What makes this cop-catch-thief film different is, as it is described in the movie itself, the older-than-usual bank robber. He is not the ordinary young, difficult to spot, ‘catch me if you can’ type of robber. He is an old and very humane, emotional criminal and escape artist. Tucker himself does not consider making a living his ultimate objective; he talks about really ‘living’ and experiencing life. The script addresses that multiple times, and portrays the robber as a sensitive aging man.
His journey is not about incredible chases and well planned crimes; his victims remember him as a warm, simple man. Playing the lead character of The Old Man & the Gun is Robert Redford, who adds a lot of self-confidence and good looks to the role, and an iconic smile to the robbery scenes that makes him look like he is borrowing the money instead of stealing it. In contrast, the police officer chasing him, John Hunt, has a stern frowning face that makes the robber all the more forgivable and loveable.
When you find something you’re good at, you stick with it. For Robert Redford, that’s acting. For Forrest Tucker, it’s robbing banks. No one really wants to see men like this retire, but if they must, it might as well be in a film as reflective as this one.
