| Going in Style | |
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Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Martin Brest |
| Produced by | Tony Bill Fred T. Gallo |
| Written by | Story: Edward Cannon Screenplay: Martin Brest |
| Starring | George Burns Art Carney Lee Strasberg Charles Hallahan |
| Music by | Michael Small |
| Cinematography | Billy Williams |
| Editing by | Carroll Timothy O'Meara Robert Swink |
| Release date(s) | December, 1979 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 97 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Going in Style is a 1979 caper film written and directed by Martin Brest. It stars George Burns, Art Carney, Lee Strasberg and Charles Hallahan. The casino scenes were shot at the Aladdin Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Joe (George Burns), Al (Art Carney), and Willie (Lee Strasberg) are three senior citizens who share a small apartment in New York City. They live off social security checks and spend their days sitting on a park bench, reading newspapers, feeding pigeons, and fending off obnoxious children.
It is a dull life, and finally Joe is driven to suggest something radical to break the monotony: why not go on a stick-up? None of them has a criminal history (though Joe claims he "did some stealing during the war"), but just planning the bank robbery fills them with optimism. Al surreptitiously borrows some pistols from the collection of his nephew, Pete (Charles Hallahan). The trio, disguised with novelty Groucho Marx-style glasses, pulls off their heist to the tune of USD$35,000 dollars.
Unfortunately, the excitement is too much for Willie, who suffers a fatal heart attack the same day. At his funeral, Joe and Al decide to give the bulk of the money to Pete and his family without telling him where it's from. They decide to splurge with the rest on a whirlwind excursion to Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, the eccentric robbery has become a colorful story for the media and the police are closing in on the amateur criminals. The night after their return from Vegas, where they excitedly win even more money gambling, Al dies in his sleep, leaving Joe by himself.
On his way to Al's funeral, Joe is arrested. When Al's nephew arrives to visit Joe in prison and says he'll find a way to legally free Joe, Joe asks Pete not to bother. Joe explains that he gets three square meals a day and generally is getting "treated like a king around here", due to the police hoping he'll reveal where the stolen money is. The movie ends as Joe is being escorted back to his cell. He looks mischievously at Pete and says, "Besides, no tin-horn joint like this could ever hold me!"
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