Going In Style (1979)
They don’t make old guys like they used to.
Of course I love a movie about three old guys from Queens robbing a bank.
Going In Style is 1979 crime comedy-drama written and directed by Martin Brest.
When Gene Siskel reviewed this movie for the Chicago Tribune upon it’s release in 1979, he had a beautiful quote;
“In one heart tugging scene after another, we see the maturity it takes to make peace with yourself as you grow old.”
The one thing I would change about this quote is the term “heart tugging.” That makes it sound like this movie is cloying or treakly. It never gets there, in my opinion. It takes a look at old age with a certain amount of bitterness, but you end up caring about all three of these guys. You become invested in their lives, and you want them to get away with a crime.
It’s a funny, yet melancholy film, but unsentimental, which is my favorite kind of movie.
Let’s talk about our old bank robbers.
George Burns plays Joe. Burns had been in semi retirement before this film. He and his wife Gracie Allen were huge radio and tv stars in the 30’s and 40’s. After Gracie died in 1964, he stayed behind the scenes. He made his feature film return with Oh, God in 1977. Joe is our main guy. The man with the plan. Much like Burns in real life, Joe is a widower.
Art Carney plays Al. Carney had won an Oscar for best actor in Harry & Tonto, a movie that’s mostly remembered for starring Art Carney. Before that he was best known to TV viewers as Ralph Kramden’s neighbor Ed Norton on the sitcom The Honeymooners. Side note; it’s hilarious his character’s name was Ed Norton. I hadn’t connected that until reading it. Al has a nephew played by Charles Halahan, whom audiences might recognize from John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Lee Strasberg plays Willie. Strasberg was mostly known as the most renowned acting teacher in history next to Sanford Meisner and Konstantin Stanislavski. Everyone studied under him. His other most famous role was as Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II, starring most of his former students, including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, James Caan, John Cazale… seriously he taught EVERYONE. Willie’s wife and son have both passed, and he gives one of the best monologues on the nature of loss in this movie. Watching it, you go “well yeah, that’s you were the best acting teacher of all time.”
Joe, Al and Willie aren’t three former crooks, or old pros. They are regular ass old men living together in Queens, just spending their days collecting their pensions + medical benefits. They go to the park, they feed the birds, etc. It all bleeds together for them after a while. One day while they’re picking up their checks from the bank, Joe sees some money being checked into a vault. That afternoon he looks at his two chums and says “You fellas want to rob a bank?”
That’s it. That’s the movie. It’s a very bare bones premise. They are just bored as hell old dudes who want to shake things up.
This is the debut feature film by Martin Brest, who would go on to direct Beverly Hills Cop and The Midnight Run. Brest was only 27 years old at the time of filming, at which point Burns remarked “I’ve got neckties older than him.”
The thing I like most about this movie is that these old guys look like old guys. Actors today are so put together and pretty. Old guys aren’t stuffed into cardigans and khakis anymore. They’re poured into tight suits and have throbbing calf muscles.
Tom Cruise is 62 years old as of this post. Art Carney, the youngest of our geriatric trio, was 61 when he was making this movie.
So the next time you’re lamenting about growing older, just remember when the chips are down, you can turn to a life of crime at any age.
That sub header made me laugh out loud