Take Art Carney out of the sewer and he's a pretty good character actor. You didn't get a sense of his range as an actor while portraying Ed Norton in "The Honeymooners". Here he's joined by George Burns and Lee Strasberg as retirees trying to make ends meet as their lives hit the doldrums sitting on park benches and watching the rest of their years pass by. One thing I had to check was the ages of the three actors in the picture; Carney is actually the youngster of this group at sixty one when the film was made. Strasberg was seventy eight and Burns was eighty one with another two decades to go!

Once all the shenanigans with the bank job are out of the way, the story turns poignant for Joe Harris (Burns) as he has to endure the passing of his two long time buddies. Burns as expected is wonderful in the role, though I wish director Martin Brest had made him a gentler curmudgeon in that scene with the bratty looking kid in the park. He cursed the kid out twice and that didn't seem in keeping with his character. But then again, he concocted the robbery scheme and threw caution to the wind at the gaming tables. For the sake of the story, I'll go along with the seventy grand haul in Las Vegas, but it does make you wonder if they could have pulled it off for real.

Apart from the story, I did a major double take when the camera panned that cemetery that was filmed for the movie. Holy cow - it was huge! So much so that I had to look it up. Assuming it was in or close to the Astoria, Queens neighborhood the three elderly gents lived in, a search came up with the Calvary Cemetery in Astoria. It's one of the oldest cemeteries in the country, and one of the largest in terms of interments with, get this - over three million burials! It's always very cool when a movie leads me to an interesting bit of trivia like that. So now you know too.

Three elderly roommates on Social Security decide to rob a bank in "Going in Style," a 1979 film directed by Martin Brest. It stars three great masters: George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg, who is probably more famous as an acting teacher.

These three spend their final years sitting in the park, watching children play, the birds, and occasionally talking. Joe (Burns) comes up with the idea, and the other two go along. Wearing Grouch Marx disguises, they walk into the bank with guns and tell everyone to hit the floor. The bank manager thinks they're joking until Joe shoots the clock.

The big problem the guys have is, what are they going to do with all the money? They don't really need it for anything.

The performances in this film are marvelous, particularly from Burns, who has the largest role. He can make you laugh and break your heart. In one scene, when Al's (Art Carney) nephew and his family take Al to their place for a few days, Joe sits alone and looks at his old photos. A very touching scene.

All of these men demonstrate the emptiness of old age when one feels he is no longer useful, when most friends and family are gone, when you're not sick but not well either. Life becomes a series of endless days. On the other hand, they take each day as it comes and something like a bank robbery doesn't intimidate them too much. They've seen it all; there aren't too many surprises left.

There actually is quite an age difference among these three men. Burns was 83 at the time of the film's release; Carney was actually 22 years younger, and Strasberg was four years younger than Burns. Strasberg is obviously the most frail. He died three years after this film was released.

Sweet film, showing again that old age isn't for sissies.

A classic that is almost forgotten in the wake of a mediocre remake that never matched it, this one of the highlights of George Burns' great 70s and 80s revival films, up there with Oh God! And costars Art Carney and the legendary Lee Strasberg as his cohorts. A great caper film that is so much more-about growing old, friendship, family, and living life to the fullest. A real gem and one of Martin Brest's best (also a rare screenplay by him) films.