Old Friends: Buddy Flicks for the Senior Set

This week’s release of the poignant and funny ‘Going in Style,’ starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin as retirees who want to knock off the bank that ripped them off, proves the buddy-flick genre can get even better with age… literally.

When unlikely friends Edward (Jack Nicholson) and Carter (Morgan Freeman) find out they each have less than a year to live, they decide to make the most of the time they have left and compile a list of things they want to do before they kick the “bucket.” Then they set out on the ultimate road trip.

In this tale from director Ron Howard, three retiree pals (Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn and Wilford Brimley) discover the fountain of youth... with a little help from some alien friends. Energized by the magic elixir, the trio rediscovers a youthful joy and exuberance they long believed was lost. Oscar was energized as well, awarding Ameche Best Actor honors for his performance.     

This movie classic about two divorced middle-aged friends who become roommates after their marriages fall apart stars Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. They quickly learn their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day.   

The gold standard of old-guy buddy movies, this comedy reunited 'Odd Couple' stars Matthau and Lemmon as feuding neighbors fighting for the affections of the same woman. Great friends offscreen, the movie marked their sixth of 10 pairings.

Based on the Neil Simon play, this classic comedy stars George Burns and Walter Matthau as an aging vaudeville duo that agrees to reunite for one final performance... despite the fact they haven't performed together--or spoken--in more than 20 years.  

Set in the segregated South, this buddy flick centers around an unlikely pair of old friends -- an elderly Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur. Featuring an all-star cast including Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy and Dan Aykroyd, the film was an Oscar darling.

A follow-up to the unlikely hit ‘Red,' this fan favorite is a buddy flick wrapped in an adventure movie. While trying to lead a normal life, retired C.I.A. agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing nuclear device.

'The Hangover’ for the senior set, the four leads were a combined 281 years old at the time of the film’s release: Kline, 66; Douglas, 69; De Niro, 70; and Freeman, 76.  

Old guys rule... the free world in this campy comedy about two former U.S. presidents -- and hated rivals -- who join forces and risk their lives to expose the current, corrupt Oval Office occupant. The 61-year-old Jack Lemmon did all of his own stunts. 

After 30 years in prison, train robbers Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster reenter society and a world of newfangled phenomena they know nothing about. Their solution? Engineer an elaborate do-over of the crime that put them away in the first place. 

Robert Redford and Nick Nolte play two old friends hiking the Appalachian Trail, but they have wildly differing opinions on what the word "adventure" means.