The Old Man and the Gun (2018)

Based on true story the new film The Old Man and the Gun is set (mostly) in the year 1981, and it plays like a move from 1981, which is one of its chief pleasures. The movie is not rushed, it plays slower and is less interested in action then it is in character study, even the film stock has a dated look to it. If this movie had been made in 1981 Burt Lancaster would have played bank robber Forrest Tucker, and Ava Gardner the widow farm lady he falls for. Today we have Robert Redford as Tucker and Sissy Spacek as his love interest Jewel, it's nice to see them. Casey Affleck is John Hunt, the Texas cop who is leading the investigation into the series of bank robberies committed by a group of old men dubbed by the media "The Over-the-Hill Gang". Who would have played detective Hunt in the 1981 version of this story? Well Robert Redford would have been a good candidate. ***