How Long Is “This Is Not a Robbery”?

J.L. Roundtree spent most of his life living the high life. Roundtree was a well-to-do businessman who juggled a handful of lucrative operations and spent his free time enjoying his fortune with his wife and stepson. However, when a bank called their note on a shipping concern Roundtree had bought, his small empire collapsed, and he was forced into bankruptcy. After losing his money, Roundtree's wife and stepson both died, and the once-happy man underwent a strange transformation. Well into his eighties, Roundtree began drinking heavily and smoking marijuana, he grew his hair long and embraced a bohemian lifestyle, he fell into a relationship with a hooker less than half his age, and took up a new hobby -- robbing bands. Roundtree managed to knock over at least three small banks, armed only with an envelope and a threatening demeanor, and he may have pulled more bank jobs before the police finally caught up with him. Filmmakers Lucas Jansen and Adam Kurland tell the strange tale of Roundtree's rise, fall and latter-day life of crime in the documentary This Is Not A Robbery, in which friends and family members help tell the tale of America's oldest convicted bank robber. This Is Not A Robbery received its world premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.