On the surface, The Old Man & the Gun is the story of Forrest Tucker, a serial bank robber and fugitive who flitted in and out of jail from age 15 until his death at 83.

But for most intents and purposes, The Old Man & the Gun is actually the story of Robert Redford, an actor who built a career by playing charismatic outlaws just like Tucker. Heralding his possible retirement , the film doubles as commentary on Redfords legacy, awash with nods to the six-decade tenure that made him one of Hollywoods primo leading men.

A lot of times, when youre telling a true story or youre trying to tell someones life story, you think, What actor would be right for this part? Who could pay this character? director David Lowery said. And in this case, it was more, How can we make this true story work for Robert Redford? That was my North Star in telling it: How can I take the facts, which are too good to be true and are numerous, and shape them around the last great movie star that we have in this era in cinema history?

It was Redford who first thought Tuckers lawless enterprise had the right intrigue for the big screen. A fan of Lowerys breakout film, the atmospheric crime romance Aint Them Bodies Saints, Redford approached him with the 2003 New Yorker profile chronicling this blue-eyed smoothie who had also become perhaps the greatest escape artist of his generation, a human contortionist who had broken out of nearly every prison he was confined in.

Lowery then spent a few years developing the project in the interim, he and Redford also made Disneys splendid live-action Petes Dragon and along the way realized that The Old Man & the Gun should be far more than a familiar tale about a charming antihero.

Lowerys initial script hewed to the facts: Tucker, a thief and bank robber who spearheaded the so-called Over-the-Hill Gang, fled prison 18 times successfully and 12 times unsuccessfully, as he told The New Yorker reporter who visited him at a Texas penitentiary not long before his death in 2004. Suspected in at least 60 robberies spanning a one-year trek across Oklahoma and Texas, Tucker was a hard-edged crook who picked up John Dillingers torch with a calm demeanor, piquant grin and surprising saxophone skills. Wearing an apparent hearing aid that was actually a police scanner, his transgressions took him to Massachusetts and Florida and made him the subject of a California manhunt.

But Lowery retrofitted Tuckers saga to benefit Redfords charisma, adding a screwball tempo and folksy score to the proceedings. It became the story of an iconoclast who captured the nations attention with a wink and a smile, just like Redford did in the films that made him famous (The Chase, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting). If you cant help but fall in love with the Tucker of The Old Man & the Gun, thats the point. The protagonists crimes, as one character observes, arent so much about making a living as they are experiencing thrills wherever they can be found. In keeping, the role requires someone audiences wont hesitate to embrace even when Tucker 0makes bank tellers cry and lies to his new love interest (Sissy Spacek).

The 37-year-old director, who also made last years hypnotic A Ghost Story , didnt know it might be Redfords swan song when he was writing the script. Should the actors threat of withdrawal hold steady, The Old Man & the Gun is an ideal sendoff, leaving us with a tour of his career that any performer would envy.

Heres what Lowery had to say about seven Redfordian allusions in his movie, which opened in theaters on Friday.