The Old Man & The Gun: Review

Ok, this is how you make a movie.

The Old Man & The Gun follows the story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), a lifelong criminal in his 70’s who’s recently escaped prison, and John Hunt (Casey Affleck), the detective out to catch him. Based on the real life criminal, Forrest is a cool, well-dressed gentleman who commits a string of bank robberies across the country and befriends you while you’re getting robbed. Playing in the background is either some easy listening jazz or a folksy acoustic song; a perfect juxtaposing to illustrate the contrast his victims feel between the dangerous position he placed them in and the polite and charming impression he leaves them with. In one scene, he tells the weeping teller not to cry, saying with a smile that “you’re doing a great job.”

John Hunt himself is also easy going; a quiet detective who both wants to catch Forrest with the typical efforts of a conspiracy theorist but also is at most only annoyed when the case is taken away from him. These two characters may have different motivations, but they share the same drive – that they just gotta do it.

The whole movie is as laid back as can be – in movies and tv shows of the same genre, you’d have the adversaries entrenched in their work and confrontations so tense that you know for sure someone’s going to die. Meanwhile, in Forrest’s down time he develops a sweet romance with Jewel (Sissy Spacek!) and we also see tender moments between John and his family. Neither character is ever actually seen holding a gun.

This movie accomplishes something that I desire in any film – an excellent story told with all the elements of a movie working in perfect step to tell that story. No scene felt extraneous, no line of dialogue out of place, and an easily lovable cast.