Retirement Robbers
Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine on first jobs, financial advice—and their new movie, Going in Style, in theaters April 7.
In the movie Going in Style ,a remake of a 1979 film that starred George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg, a trio of rascally retirees come up with a zany plan to rob the bank that misappropriated their pension funds.
“They’ve been robbed so they go out and steal the exact amount of their pension,” says Michael Caine, 84, who plays Joe in the film. “They did it not thinking they were committing a crime. They were only getting back what was stolen from them in the first place.”
“The plan was, if they got more money than they were owed, then they would give it to charity,” says Morgan Freeman, 79, who plays Willie. “They spread it around thinking everyone should get a piece of the pie.”
The fact that the characters were victims of corporate greed is relevant then and now, the actors say.
“Blimey, yes—the film feels very topical,” Caine says. “It feels very fresh.”
“We’ve gotten robbed by banks and insurance companies for such a long time,” says Alan Arkin, 83, who plays Albert. “The only security you have is in the people that love you. That’s the only security I feel.”
During Parade’s recent interview, all three actors seem to revel in each other’s company, ribbing one another and finishing each other’s sentences. Caine and Freeman have worked together in five previous films, including three Batman movies. All three agree they’ve found a pretty good way to make a living, especially when compared to their first jobs working as newspaper delivery boys—something they all have in common.
EARLY MONEY LESSONS
“I asked my dad for a suit and he told me to get a paper route,” says Caine, laughing. “I did, and that’s how I bought my first one!” Caine also remembers his father’s financial advice. “He said
to buy real estate. If it’s a building, you can’t run off with it!”
Caine, who grew up in London, was a budding entrepreneur who also crafted homemade jewelry boxes. “They were for cheap jewels,” he says. “I’d make them out of cardboard or plastic, and people bought them.”
Freeman learned his early money lessons in Memphis, where he was born. “My mother would tie up a dollar in change in a corner of a handkerchief and put it under the mattress,” he says. “She didn’t ever want to be completely broke.”
Providing for the next generation matters to Freeman. “I gave my kids a bunch of money and said, ‘This is it,’ ” Freeman says. “I told them that when I die, their inheritance is whatever money they have left.”
NOT RETIRING
Lucky for fans, these three actors say they will never retire from the screen.
“What are you going to do, sit and watch TV?” Caine asks. “You don’t retire from the movies. I’m not doing a job I hate just to earn money. Why give up something you really enjoy and you can physically still do?”
Arkin is optimistic about the future, though he remains ever vigilant about forthcoming roles. “I always ask, ‘What page is my character on a gurney?’ ” he says with a laugh. “I look at the script and wonder when. Then I see: ‘In this movie, I’m not on a gurney until page 106!’ ”
Now that’s really going in style.