Movies about Retirement @topretirements @LucyBurdette

Terrific blog in a second. but first:

BREAKING NEWS: TRUST ME  is $1.99! by Red Hank's psychological thriller was on all the best-of lists as one of the year's buzziest books--the starred review from Booklist said: "A knockout." Anyway! May we say: grab it now? Here's the link. 
And now back to our regular programming!

John and Lucy at Marigold Hotel

LUCY BURDETTE: I’m super-excited about today’s guest too—and not just because I’m married to him! When my husband John Brady retired from his regular job 13 years ago, he decided to try building an Internet-based website. He had the smart idea of helping Baby Boomers figure out their best place to retire. TopRetirements.com has grown to feature reviews of 4000 towns communities, and a weekly newsletter, free to subscribers. His articles are about all aspects of retirement from the serious - when to take Social Security and how to test your social security IQ or how to survive if you haven't saved enough money - to the whimsical - worst places to retire, bucket list items, and the seven deadly sins of retirement. (PS from Lucy, I won't ever forget the day I answered his phone and it was the office of the Governor of Illinois--unhappy that the state ended up on his "worst" list.) Today I invited him to share one of his favorite topics. Welcome John!

John Brady (aka Mr. TopRetirements): Coming of age movies like The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Easy Rider, and 2001: Space Odyssey became cultural icons for us baby boomers, back in the day. Producers of these blockbusters found huge audiences among our generation. Hollywood is still making movies for us today. Many aspects of the plots and characters are the same (love and loneliness, finding yourself), everybody is just a lot older! 

Here are my top 10 movies (including one TV series) for baby boomers that touch on the topic of retirement. I hope that you will add your favorites too. I started the list with more recent movies, then go on to some oldies but goodies. Most are classics, definitely worth watching again.

The Leisure Seeker. (2018) Academy Award winner Helen Mirren and two-time Golden Globe winner Donald Sutherland star as a runaway couple going on an unforgettable journey in the faithful old RV they call The Leisure Seeker. Their destination? Key West, and the Ernest Hemingway House. (Note from Lucy: We were so excited to see one of my writer pals featured as a guide in the Hemingway Home!)

The Quartet (2012) Once-popular opera diva Jean Horton (Maggie Smith) creates a stir with her arrival at Beecham House, a home for retired performers. No one feels the uproar more than Reginald (Tom Courtenay), Jean’s ex-husband, who still smarts from her long-ago infidelity.

Cocoon (1985). An all star cast includes top-drawer stars like Jessica Tandy, Don Ameche and Hume Cronyn. Fabulous story of people in a retirement home who discover a fountain of youth – courtesy of aliens who have invaded a swimming pool. Directed by Ron Howard

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011). Great cast of retired Englishmen and women seeking a retirement haven at an Indian Hotel that is a little short of what it promised. Love and loss. Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith. The sequel is The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

In Her Shoes (2005) Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine). Based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner, a lost adult daughter comes to live with her mother in a Florida retirement community. She definitely livens things up for the old guys as she finds herself. Meanwhile her relationships with her mother, sister, and grandmother go in many different directions.

The Bucket List (2007) Old guys out for some last kicks before one of them, terminally ill, checks out. The Bucket List is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Reiner, Alan Greisman, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, written by Justin Zackham, and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

Under the Tuscan Sun is a 2003 American romantic comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by Audrey Wells and starring Diane Lane. Based on Frances Mayes’ 1996 memoir of the same name, the film is about a recently divorced writer who buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will lead to a change in her life.

Grumpy Old Men (1993). Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau are a pair of widowers who live lonely lives but enjoy some activities together. The character played by a beautiful Ann-Margret revs up jealousy between them. Darryl Hannah and an IRS Agent enrich the plot.

Mr. Belevedere Rings the Bell (1951). An urbane, sharp-tongued expert (Clifton Web) on how to stay young interrupts a lecturing tour to prove his theory at a dilapidated old people’s home. We haven’t seen this one but our movie expert friend Deb said: “I highly recommend Mr Belvedere Rings the Bell. It is much of a mindset on retirement years. I saw it when I was 15 and it made a huge impression on me”.

Grace and Frankie (TV). Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are newly divorced, and their ex-husbands are a new couple. Funny and pithy in LA and Malibu. Netflix. There are at least 5 seasons.

What are your favorite movies that have some kind of retirement theme? (And another PS from Lucy, John is happy to answer any of your questions about retirement today, too.)

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