Retirement Movies

This is a list of retirement movies. For 40ish years now, movies related to retirement, seniors and aging have been done to show our experiences in later life. Nowadays, you can find old movies on your cable stations. You can also rent movies from Amazon for a small fee, or buy them, of course.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

A British film about retirees traveling to India... check out my review here! There is one of us in all the characters and how they work out their own retirements! I loved this movie.

I have watched it several times. I love watching how the different characters evolve in their retirements.

The Artist (2011)

The Artist: rated 4.3 of 5 at Amazon

An older silent film movie star, takes a forced retirement, as silent cinema is replaced by the movies with sound, in this silent film. Meanwhile, a much younger women, who the new retiree happens to be in love with, rises to success in the new medium.

Red (2010)

Red: rated 4.2 of 5 at Amazon

"RED... Retired Extremely Dangerous"  A retired CIA agent realizes something big his happening and the Retirees are out to save the world. This is an action comedy starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren...

Up (2009) 

Up: rated 4.4 of 5 at Amazon

An unhappy senior must sell his family home after he loses his wife. His adventure shows that there is always a new reason to keep on moving... life is still around you. This is an animated film.

Get Low (2009)

Get Low: rated 4.4 of 5 at Amazon

A senior man, who has many rumors running about his life, shows up at a funeral home wanting to plan his own funeral party. He wants to hear all the stories about him that the town share. In the end he tells them about his life, and why he had been a hermit for years... and dies in peace. This is based on a true story. Robert Duvall was awarded the Hollywood Award for Best Actor in this movie.

Is There Anybody There? (2008)

Is Anybody There?" rated 3.9 of 5 at Amazon

 A family turns their house into a retirement home and a 10 yr old boy and senior meet!

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2008)

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont; Rated 4.5 of 5 at Amazon

Abandoned by her family in a London retirement home, an elderly woman finds friendship with a young writer.

The Bucket List (2007)

The Bucket List: rated 4.3 of 5 at Amazon

 Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson meet in side by side hospital beds. They both write bucket lists, what they need to do with the remainder of their lives. Then choose to "run away" on an around the world vacation, to do all they want to do before they "kick the bucket". As you might expect, with these two actors, its a great movie!

Have YOU written YOUR Bucket List yet?

Away from Her (2007)

A man coping with his wife's Alzheimer’s disease finds she likes another man who also is a patient at the nursing home.

Boynton Beach Club (2007)

A romantic comedy about falling in love at any age. 

The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2004)

The Five People You Meet in Heaven: rated 4.4 of 5 at Amazon

When an 83 year old retiree dies, this movie follows the five people he meets in heaven. 

Something's Gotta Give (2003)

 Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton find love, after age 50, after each has a fling with a younger partner. 

Calendar Girls (2003)

 A true story of older British ladies raising money for a local hospital, How? By doing a of calendar of themselves -- in the nude, no less!

About Schmidt (2002)

About Schmidt is an R-rated movie about retirement, from 2002, with Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates. 

Nicholson plays a newly retired insurance guy, who finds retirement isn't quite what he had hoped for (like so many of us). His wife dies, daughter is marrying someone he doesn't like, and life isn't good...

It's really a great retirement movie and so interesting to see how they portray this new retiree! This is not a feel good movie, so beware -- it's pretty truthful about the retirement transition and kinda sad.

The show opens showing him sitting in an almost empty office, staring at the almost 5:00 pm clock, and waiting to walk out that retirement door. Then off he goes with one last look. 
R E T I R E D...

Then there is the Retirement Party, the speeches, and his half-smile. One already retired guy does a speech, saying something like: "The retirement gifts don't mean a thing, the retirement party doesn't mean a thing, pension and Social Security don't mean a thing. What does count - you did great work and you were a productive member of society, worked for the top rated insurance carrier in the nation, well-respected by community, and have wonderful lasting friendships. At the end of his career, if a man can say I did my job and did it well... that's being rich (beyond the monetary) and you are looking at a very rich man!" Schmidt is still half-smiling...

At 6:59 am, the next morning, he is up and working on a crossword with his cup of coffee. Wife makes breakfast and you can tell his heart simply isn't in it. 

He watches TV, flipping from channel to channel, uninterested in most of it.

Dressed in a suit, he goes back into the office asking the guy who took his former job if he needed any help. Did he have any questions? Anything that needed explanation? Nope. Nope and Nope. BUT when he returns home, he tells his wife they DID need help with "Loose Ends"... 

He writes an introduction letter to an Adopted Child and gets some of the underlying stress off his chest about the new replacement worker, talks about wrinkles and ear hair, and where he thought his life was headed early on - before family. He talks about his wife of 42 years, and everything that irritates him about her. Then his daughter...

This is where the wife dies. His minister talks about anger, and why it's ok. Daughter returns home. Funeral done and over. He is alone.

His sad single life begins... he tries an RVing adventure, travels down memory lane, attends his daughters wedding. He is a Lost Soul, just simply not happy with life, and doesn't seem to know what to do or who he is. Sound familiar?

** THE END **

Hey - Did you expect me to spill the beans on the whole movie? This is it... if you are new to retirement, this is an especially thoughtful movie!

Grumpy Old Men (1993)

A lifelong feud between two neighbors since childhood only gets worse when a new female neighbor moves across the street. Don’t forget about Grumpier Old Men as well!

Baby Boom (1987)

Diane Keaton is a single, educated attorney, and she suddenly adopted a little girl... and moved to the country. 

Kinda like the retirement transition for many of us, she is clearly "lost". Her life transition is a great comparison to our own retirements....

At one point she screams out something like: "I'm from Harvard, I was a professional, I used to be cute, I need work, I need sex, I need dinner meetings...." and more. Does that sound kinda familiar? Yep!

She is suddenly both playing the mom and the country gal... lost in her self, no professional identity, what now?  She says: "I moved here from NY, thought the country would be good for me... put things into perspective." 

Yep, the grass is always greener, isn't it?

When you are 30, 40, whatever -- the idea of retirement is everything you ever dreamed of and you just can't wait to get there. Give me time off work, time to play with the kids, time to read a book, perhaps to smell the roses.. sounds so good!

That is, until it's YOU who has retired and needs to figure out who you are and what you will do for the next 20-30 years!? You can only smell the roses so long, the kids are long gone (or so we'd hope), it's just not that simple.

Anyways, back to the Baby Boom movie, it now looks like she is both falling in love, developing a new career as a baby food entrepreneur, and finding happiness in her new country world!

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

After backing her car into her neighbor’s yard, a wealthy, spunky Jewish widow in the 1950s is no longer allowed to drive and her son insists hiring a driver. At first, Miss Daisy is resistant to all change and refuses to go anywhere with “some chauffer.” However, she is eventually won over by his natural good graces and the two slowly develop a friendship of sorts. The movie chronicles their 20-year relationship that slowly transcends their differences.

Cocoon (1985)

 A group of seniors trespass to secretly swim at the pool at the house next-door to their senior living facility, and suddenly find themselves restored with youthful energy and vigor. They soon come to find that the pool is actually storing alien pods. The seniors offer to help the aliens return the cocoons back to their home planet, and, as a reward, are offered something unusually magnificent.

On Golden Pond (1982)

A retired professor, and his wife, have had a summer cottage there since early in their marriage.