Movie Details
| Title: | The Old Man & The Gun | |
| Director: | David Lowery | |
| Year: | 2018 | |
| Genre: | Crime | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 12.26.25 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 12.26.25 | Internet | I've found myself listening to several ringer podcasts lately. I tried a few a couple years ago and found them too sportsy, which makes sense considering it's Bill Simmons' podcast network. It also makes sense that sports people would like the stats element of movies. There are lots of names and numbers involved if that's your preferred way to discuss film, but I've had difficulty listening to any movie-related podcast because it's all just opinion and I have my own. However, I can see the allure of listening to someone i respect talk about movies in the hopes of discovering something good I haven't seen before, and Tracy Letts has been on there a bunch talking on various topics. I respect his opinion quite a bit and find him entertaining when talking about movies so I listened to a Robert Redford hall of fame podcast where they went through his entire filmography as an actor and director and chose what they thought were his best ten. In that podcast, they all agreed that All is Lost is great but they had another pick for a late-career entry which is this movie. I was not planning on seeing this movie. I didn't know anything about it really, but Redford started showing up in a lot of random shit around this time. I attributed it to him wanting to keep busy in his later years, which is fine for him but not necessarily great for audiences. However, when the Ringer people opted to add this to the hall of fame over All is Lost, that got my attention. Because I loved All is Lost. That 100% should be the showcase of Redford's later career. A singular isolated performance where he carries the whole movie with barely any dialogue? With him out on open sea? That's a bold uncompromising vision of a film right there. So how does this compare? Well, I can kinda see why they picked this but I still prefer All is Lost. Basically, go watch All is Lost. But this has a fantastic supporting cast in Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck and Danny Glover and Tom Waits and, like, one shot of Keith Carradine and two shots of John David Washington with a cameo from Senator Clay Davis himself, Isiah Whitlock Jr. The story is also good, telling a mostly true account of a group of elderly bank robbers active in the midwest in the early 80s. Redford plays a charming affable gentleman of a bank robber who gets the loot with barely a flash of his gun but mostly a good attitude and kind nature. David Lowery directs his script well. Nobody seems out of place or gives a false note in their performances, and there's an air of light-hearted fun that tells you the movie won't end in too much tragedy. Kind of like Midnight Run a tiny bit in that way. Mostly I think the Ringer folks love this movie because it's basically a tribute to Robert Redford and his career. The role is tailored to his persona and lets us have the kind of fun his best movies from fifty years ago evoked. It's a good movie and I had fun watching it. I'm glad I watched it. I'd still put All is Lost on my hall of fame list over it but that's just me. Still good. |
