Hans Steek die Rubicon Oor: Growing old disgracefully

Ninety-year-old widower Hans (played by beloved veteran actor Pierre van Pletzen, aka 7de Laan’s Oubaas, won Best Actor at Silwerskerm for this role) loses his prized independence when he’s forced into a repressive retirement home. But Hans is no mouldy oldie! He still has fire in his belly and he’s going to spread it to the rest of the residents, sparking a revolution against the home’s rule-obsessed management. It’s all about growing old on your own terms, while breaking down those wire-mesh doors used to keep you from exploring your golden years. Based on the hit novel by Rudie van Rensburg, Hans Steek die Rubicon Oor raked in three Silwerskerm awards, including Best Feature Film, and eight SAFTA nominations, and was also South Africa’s most popular local movie local movie at the cinema in 2023.

And it’s not the only story about putting the fire in retirement! Get ready for some older, bolder mischief…

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10 more golden oldies

1. The War with Grandpa: Live action family comedy based on Robert Kimmel Smith's 1984 book of the same name. Granddad Ed (Robert De Niro) is forced to move in with his daughter’s family after he accidentally steals from a grocery store because he couldn’t figure out the self-checkout counter. When his grandson Peter (Oaks Fegley) is forced to give up his bedroom to grandad, he launches a prank war to get it back – not knowing that his target, grandad, is an expert prankster who’s gleefully ready to make payback into his new mission.

2. Ouma Olive: With her 80th birthday approaching, widow Olive Brits (Antoinette Kellerman) is sick of the rest of the people in her posh retirement village. To make the future seem even bleaker, her daughter announces on Mother’s Day that she’s moving to Canada with Olive’s only grandchild. That leaves Olive with only her estranged, troublemaking son, Markus (Ludwig Binge). But when Markus is sentenced to do community service at Olive’s retirement home, he discovers her hidden talent: give her a whiskey or two and a microphone and she’ll make people laugh. With Chris van Niekerk, June van Merch, Abduragman Adams, Pierre van Pletzen, Tinarie van Wyk Loots, Veronique Jephtas, Susanne Beyers and Roeline Daneel.

3. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa: Jackass prankster Johnny Knoxville slathers on the old age makeup and prosthetics to play 86-year-old Irving Zisman in this hidden camera prank comedy film. There’s a loose storyline, but the real core of the story is the unsuspecting Americans who run into Irving and have to wrestle with their respect for the elderly, and their outrage at what the old bumbler gets up to. Irving crosses the country in a road trip, with the body of his late wife in the trunk of his car, and his grandson Billy (Jackson Nicoll) in the passenger seat, disrupting everything from golf courses, to child pageants, to funeral parlours. 

Also watch: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa 0.5

4. The Last Rifleman: Vivid memory and the perspective that time grants go up against one another in this drama film inspired by the true story of Bernard Jordan. Pierce Brosnan plays 92-year-old World War II veteran Artie Crawford, who escapes his care home in Ireland to journey to France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Along the way he shares his story with German and French survivors, including one man (Jürgen Prochnow) who was recruited into the Hitler Youth.

5. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: This charming and touching film is based on Rachel Joyce’s 2012 novel of the same name. Pensioner Harold Fry (Jim Broadbent) leaves his wife Maureen (Penelope Wilton) and their desperately dull life in retirement to walk 600 miles across England (966 km – Johannesburg to East London is about 955 km) to visit his dying friend, Queenie (Linda Bassett). To his wife’s frustration and bystanders’ slow-dawning delight, he sets off walking on whim after realising that his stiffly formal “get well soon” letter is hardly going to be an adequate goodbye. 

6. Sometimes Always Never: This tragicomedy about miscommunication is based on the short story Triple Word Score by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Adam (Bill Nighy), an eccentric, dryly witty Scrabble addict and retired tailor, reaches out to mend his relationship with his son Peter (Sam Riley), years after Peter walked out during a fight over whether the word “Zo” is admissible in a Scrabble game. Of course there was a lot more to the fight, including years of Frank always having the correct word on the board, but never in his mouth. 

7. Steek vir Steek: How much fun can you have in just 30 minutes? A lot if you catch Jaco van Bosch and Jacqueline Viljoen's Silwerskerm movie! When a group of knitting circle ladies find out that the owners of their retirement home are looking to sell it out from under them, they have to come up with a scheme to raise the funds to rent their own place together. Receptionist Koekie (Jacqueline Viljoen) and resident Rita (Susan Coetzer) have a brainwave – how about creating a dating app to match retired men and women? But when the home’s new owner Gertjie (Andrew Jordaan) catches wind of the scheme, he’s furious, especially when he finds out that Rita has matched with his grandfather!

8. Hacks Season 1-3: Comedy drama series Hacks follows the efforts of legendary 76-year-old Las Vegas-based comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) to revive her act to capture the attention of a new generation of fans, with the help of her younger writing partner, Ava (Hannah Einbinder). Deborah comes fully loaded to every battle of wits, whether she’s getting her housekeeper and estate manager Josephina (Rose Abdoo) to insult Ava’s appearance, playing the long game to torment her sister Kathy (J Smith-Cameron), or turning her daughter DJ’s (Kaitlin Olson) AA meeting into an impromptu stand-up set. The series has racked up 99 wins in major awards including nine Emmys and four Golden Globes.

9. Ouboet & Wors Season 1-2: What happens when Ouboet (Frank Opperman) and his family pack up and leave Orkney? They find themselves on the outskirts of Johannesburg, where Ouboet and his bestie Wors Visagie (Willie Esterhuizen) go into business together, while their wives Yollie (Sally Campher) and Molly (Lizz Meiring) keep their husbands on their toes, and the “kids”, like Hendrikkie (Kaz McFadden) and handyman and driver Gielie (Wynand von Vollenstee), do their best to keep the old uncles from running amok with clever schemes. We also meet our old Ornkney Snork Nie friends like  Vetkoekpaleis’s Boeboe (Liane Heyl), who now runs the salon Beauty with Boeboe.

10. Huis Lelieveld: In the series finale of Ouboet & Wors, Molly (Lizz Meiring) loses her job as a dentist’s assistant when her employer decides to emigrate. But you can’t sink Molly Visagie! The spin-off series, Huis Lelieveld, sees Molly take up a position as the new matron at a retirement home filled with quirky staff and zany residents. According to series creator Willie Esterhuizen, who’s also back as Wors, our golden oldies are just young people in older bodies - the mischievous schemes and antics don’t have to stop when the hair falls out. Just look out for Tannie Poppie (Hélène Truter), whose tongue never tires as she keeps the gossip flowing, and her fellow residents, Fleur Pot (Elma Potgieter); Gielie's mom, Martha Goosen (Karin van der Laag); Brand Louw (Cobus Visser); and his wife Blaartjie Louw (Yvonne Schoeman).