The Old Man & the Gun: Redford’s Final Film!

If you are a Robert Redford fan, this film is a MUST-SEE, since he has declared this to be his final film!  I've been a big fan of his ever since "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969).  I even named my long-ago-deceased Abyssinian cat "Redford" because he was so good-looking! The film is about an actual bank robber, Forrest Tucker (Redford), who had the unusual compulsion to rob banks.  He robbed well over 100, and, although he was caught numerous times, he escaped all but the last time he was caught.  The movie takes place in about 1981, when he went on a bank robbing spree with two friends, Teddy (Danny Glover) and Walter (Tom Waits).  They were known as the "Over the Hill Gang."  (There's a nice symmetry between this film and "Butch Cassidy," since Sundance was a member of the "Hole in the Wall Gang" and robbed banks, too!) By the way, while I am discussing robbing banks, it would be remiss of me not to mention one of the fundamental principles of medicine – "Sutton's Law," named after the great bank robber, Willie Sutton.  Someone asked Willie why he only robbed banks, and he replied, "Cause that's where the money is!"  In medicine, this means that one first rules out the obvious cause of a medical problem before going on to investigate the obscure ones. In any case, Tucker is a gentleman who robs banks more with his charm than by scaring anybody.  He shows his gun to the teller or manager, but he never takes it out of his sport coat.  While being chased by the police after one robbery, he pulls his car over to the side of the road and hides by pretending to help Jewel (Sissy Spacek) whose car has a problem.  The cops don't realize what's going on and just speed on by.  At least half the movie is about Forrest's and Jewel's relationship, and they are wonderful together.  Jewel also has some horses on her property, which prompted me to recall Sundance riding his horse.  It's a pleasure to see such superb acting by two masters of their craft. John Hunt (Casey Affleck) is determined to catch Tucker and relentlessly follows Tucker's trail, much like Tommy Lee Jones as Inspector Gerard in "The Fugitive."  It's a low-key, entertaining movie that's worth seeing on the BS for the two great performances.  Assuming Redford means what he says (and isn't like Brett Favre!), it's a fine performance on which to end his career.