Perguntas frequentes

Took place mostly in 1981.

Like in the movie, the real Forrest Tucker embarked on his life of crime when he was a teenager. He was first arrested in 1935 for stealing a bicycle, and he first landed in prison at age 15.

Yes. While an inmate of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the 1950s, Forrest Tucker (prisoner AZ1047) managed to escape when he was transferred to a county jail in November of 1956 to await a court appearance. Tucker complained of pains in his kidneys and was hurried from the jail to a Los Angeles hospital. Guards were placed at every door. While their heads were turned, he broke a pencil and stabbed himself in the ankle. The injury forced the guards to remove his leg irons. As they ushered him into the X-ray room, he sprung up and strong-armed two guards then fled out of the hospital. He was caught a few hours later in the middle of a cornfield, still in his handcuffs and hospital gown.

Yes. Together, Forrest Tucker and his accomplices were dubbed the Over-the-Hill Gang by the authorities who pursued them. John Waller, who broke out of San Quentin with Tucker in 1979, is portrayed by Tom Waits in the movie. Danny Glover's character, Theodore "Teddy" Green, was a fellow bank robber and escape artist who Tucker had first met in Alcatraz in the 1950s. He was reportedly a Greek American, not an African American like in the film. The Over-the-Hill Gang is believed to have committed as many as sixty robberies in a single year.

Yes. Like in the movie, the real Forrest Tucker carried a gun during his heists. He described it as being an essential "prop" necessary for any bank robbery. He thought of himself as being similar to a stage actor, someone who could hold a crowd's attention with the sheer force of his personality. He was never reported to have shot anybody and says he would normally just flash the gun so the tellers understood the situation. "To me violence is the first sign of an amateur," Tucker said.

Yes. In the movie, Casey Affleck's character, 40-year-old Texas lawman John Hunt, chases Robert Redford's Tucker from Texas to the East. A broadcaster challenges Hunt, saying, "Here's hoping time doesn't catch up with them before you do." Hunt was indeed inspired by a real person, a 40-year-old sergeant who had worked for the Austin police department. "They were the most professional, successful robbers that I ever encountered in all my years on the force," Hunt, now retired, told The New Yorker. "They had more experience in robbery than we had catching them."

Yes. In the 1990s, Tucker wrote two manuscripts chronicling his life, the 261-page Alcatraz: The True Story and a more ambitious account titled The Can Opener. In Tucker's eyes, a Hollywood movie was the ultimate culmination of his life as an outlaw. "I called Clint Eastwood's secretary, but she said, 'Unless you have an agent, he won't read it,' " Tucker said. Convinced that he needed to become legendary like Bonnie and Clyde, a 78-year-old Tucker went back to robbing banks in 1999. He passed away in prison in 2004, more than a decade before his life story was turned into the Robert Redford movie.

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