Based on a true story, “The Old Man and the Gun” is — at least at first glance — a simple flick. It’s a well-paced, well-shot and well-told film about Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), a veteran criminal who even at 70 years old has a penchant for robbing banks.
The film opens with a bank robbery. Soon enough, we see Forrest stopping to help a woman, Jewel (Sissy Spacek), pulled over on the side of the road, allowing the police to pass him without a clue as to where he came from.
Stuck on the highway with a broken-down truck, Jewel takes Forrest’s offer to drive her back home. In exchange, she buys him coffee and a piece of pie. This scene gives us a glimpse at Forrest’s softer side. As Forrest, Redford is a flirty and sweet grandfatherly type.
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Even while robbing banks, Forrest is the same character. In one scene, Forrest walks up to the manager of a bank and gently opens his coat, revealing the revolver he always carries on him. The manager leads Forrest to his office, where Forrest asks him how his day is going. Not too well, says the manager.
“Well, the day’s still young,” Forrest says to the manager with a sly smile.
Forrest’s charm and gentlemanly nature don’t go unnoticed by the people he robs.
“He was also sort of a gentleman,” says that same bank manager in an interview with the police after his bank was robbed by Forrest.
“Very polite,” says another.
“Seemed like a very nice fella,” says yet another.
Like the characters he robs, I couldn’t tell whether I should hate Forrest as a criminal who takes advantage of innocent people or love him as the gentlemanly old geezer he is. By the end of the film, I still couldn’t tell.
I admired director David Lowery’s ability to show Forrest’s long history of criminality while also withholding judgment. In the world of the movie — as in the real United States — Forrest is allowed to simultaneously be a criminal and a good man.
The film seems to argue that Forrest doesn’t commit crimes because he’s bad, but because the sense of danger fulfills him. Lowery makes sure to remind us that Forrest rarely, if ever, uses his gun, and he always does his jobs with a smile.
In a shot that perfectly sums up the duality of Forrest Tucker, he steps out of his car after a long police chase and looks knowingly at the camera. His hands are high in the air, while a smirk crosses his face.
When the film is not focusing on Forrest’s latest heist, we get to see two different characters’ subplots: that of John Hunt (Casey Affleck), a detective who is following Forrest’s trail closely, and Jewel, who hesitantly continues a relationship with Forrest despite not knowing all the details of his background.
Both of these characters and their own stories are treated with dignity and detail. Their storylines end with brief moments of closure, even though they’re not tied up neatly with brightly colored ribbons.
“The Old Man and the Gun” features lots of close-ups and zooms. Two back-to-back sequences — one set at John’s police station and another set at several banks Forrest is robbing — feature spinning shots that eloquently signify time passing. This decision helps the general pacing of the movie.
Redford’s final film is not a violent crime drama, and if that’s what you’re looking for, you might want to stay away. Instead, it’s a beautiful character study of a flawed man and a meditation on aging, ambition and the uniquely twentieth-century American desire to break free from society.
