Robert Redford’s career has come to a close. The 82 year-old actor announced that David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun would be his last film. Redford has a career that spanned over five decades, with plenty of classic films to his name, some of which are hailed as American classics. All that being said, it’s unfortunate that a film with a title such as The Old Man & the Gun doesn't allow the legendary actor to go out more with a bang.
The film sees Redford play Forrest Tucker, a career criminal known for robbing banks who breaks out of prison (for the 17th time) and proceeds to go on a spree of bank robberies with two of his criminal buddies (Danny Glover and Tom Waits). Forrest is known for his affable nature, being described as a gentleman by those who work in the banks he holds up. He never pulls the trigger of his gun, makes friendly conversation with the staff, and is even smiling for the duration of the robbery. As Forrest lays low, he strikes up a friendship with an elderly woman named Jewel (Sissy Spacek) whose mortgage he wishes to help pay off with his robbery money, all while trying to avoid being captured by detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck).
The film in a way acts as an ode to Redford’s long-spanning career, namely in the way in which it was shot. One of the film’s strongest features is Lowery’s decision to shoot the film on Super 16mm film. The director has a wonderful knack at perfectly capturing the feel of different time periods. One of his previous films was Disney’s remake of Pete’s Dragon (also featuring Redford), which took place in the 1970’s and had the feel of an older Disney live-action movie that one could see being presented by Walt himself.
And in The Old Man & the Gun, Lowery manages to repeat that “classic” sort of feel. While the film takes place in 1981, Lowery’s choice of shooting on 16mm evokes the style of Redford’s classic films from the 60’s and the 70’s. We feel like we’re transported in time, as if a now-aged Redford had traveled back to make another Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, or All the President’s Men.
Even the film’s soundtrack is reminiscent of an older 70’s flick. Made up of easy-going folk tunes (as well as the occasional older pop hit), there’s a sense of watching a Hal Ashby film, particularly the classic Being There, which has the same laid-back, breezy vibe that The Old Man & the Gun has. The music feels gentle and wishes to say goodbye to a legend as amicably as his character behaves in the film.
The movie starts off strong enough. The first third of the film is devoted to seeing Forrest’s many robberies. He calmly walks into each bank, motions to his gun, and sits down quietly with either the manager of the bank or a teller. We get many of the movie’s funniest moments from this first act. As the bank employees are clearly in a panic, Forrest in contrast is borderline motionless, cracking lighthearted jokes as the employees rush as they fill his bag. And what makes this so funny is that even though he’s robbing the place, he’s earnestly trying to cheer up someone in distress. His attempts to do so fail, but his smile is so sincere that we wind up laughing out loud at the exchange.
Once we get to the halfway point, the film suddenly shifts into autopilot and mostly operates on that level for most of the film’s remaining run time. The film becomes essentially a little slice of life, as Forrest does his best at evading the authorities. Affleck’s Hunt, who is featured heavily leading the investigation to capture Forrest, is still around, yet makes very little progress and sometimes feels like he’s just there to remind to the audience he’s still present in the movie. There are plenty of scenes of Forrest either hanging around by himself or with Spacek’s Jewel that feel good-natured, but ultimately go nowhere. We lose a lot of momentum that was built up in the movie’s first third. In an attempt to gently say goodbye to Redford, the film ended up being a bit too gentle.
Still, Redford does give an amicable enough final performance, even if isn’t a character who's as memorable as The Sting’s Johnny Hooker or the titular Sundance Kid. There’s a tender warmth that he brings with him as Forrest. He has almost a soothing nature to him, which is something that Redford actually has never really displayed in many of his previous films (with his performance in Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon being the only other exception that comes to mind), usually known for playing characters with fiery tempers. Here, he operates on a much more easy-going level. It’s a different side of him that we almost wished we saw more of, and not just for his last feature.
The rest of the cast, while all full of talented individuals, sadly aren’t used as strongly as Redford. Sissy Spacek is probably utilized the best, out of everyone else. Her character seems likable enough, but she feels more just an object of Redford’s affections and as an escape from his crime-filled days, rather than really providing anything of substance herself. There’s the aforementioned minor subplot where Forrest tries helping her pay her mortgage but that’s the most interesting thing that stems from her character and it doesn’t even last too long.
Meanwhile, Danny Glover and Tom Waits - two highly charismatic actors - are gone to total waste here. They don’t add anything insightful, nor are they particularly very funny, even though their spirits are just as high as Redford’s, matching his energy for most of their limited time on screen but not really doing anything substantial with it. They’re simply “just there.”
Casey Affleck is one of the film’s biggest disappointments, as he gives what’s easily one of his most lifeless performances - only matched by his performance in Lowery’s previous film A Ghost Story, where his character is literally lifeless. He delivers each of his lines with a totally monotonous distance, and it’s almost impossible to believe he’s able to sustain any sort of healthy relationship with another human being.
The only time where his character is used effectively is the first time he’s on screen, where he’s on line at the bank as Forrest quietly sits in the other room with the manager. The bank is robbed literally right under his nose and there are a few good laughs from just his overall cluelessness as the rest of the police force arrives on the scene. Had the film continued to play his character for laughs such as this, he would have been much more enjoyable. But instead, he feels like he just floats through each scene, doing the bare minimum to get from Point A to Point B, and nothing more.
The Old Man & the Gun is a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s a beautifully shot film with a very nostalgic sort of feel that serves as a nice little tribute to Robert Redford’s career as a whole. Redford himself gives a warm, sometimes funny performance that may not be his most memorable outing, but is certainly likable enough. On the other hand, it squanders a lot of potential to be something much more fun, losing a lot of momentum built up from its solid first third and wanders into some truly aimless territory, switching gears for the worse and misusing some wonderfully talented actors. While it’s a serviceable final film for Redford, this gun should have done much more damage.
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