The Newton Boys

This movie was much better than I expected. Interesting true story told of a band of unusual bank robbers. Almost gentlemen bandits, if you will. McConnaughey, Ulrich, Hawke, and D'Onofrio do a great job with the brother's characters. The end credits are definitely worth watching this for.

What makes "The Newton Boys" so interesting is that it is based on a predominantly true story. Lead by Willis Newton (Matthew McConaughey, a Texan) who had big dreams of drilling for oil in the boom years after WW I, the 4 brothers used explosives to crack open safes all over the USA and Canada and robbed the banks. Willis' rationale, "We're helping to keep insurance companies in business. If there are no bank robberies then there will be no need for insurance." For reasons I don't understand at all, round safes cannot be opened like rectangular safes, so they eventually had to resort to train robbery. They were eventually caught, tried, and convicted. After serving a little time (max. 5 years) most of them retired to Uvalde, Texas, a small town west of San Antonio and in the "texas Hill Country" so popular with motorcyclists. Most of them lived long lives and died in Uvalde.

Julianna Margolies was excellent as Willis' love interest. They eveidently stayed together into old age, even though they never married.

Pretty good film.

In a way, it seems like a waste to gather Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich, and Vincent D'Onofrio for this movie, because they should've been able to do something great, although, if it weren't for them, it would have been boring. It is a straightforward assembly of the facts of the incredible run of 80 bank robberies by the Newton brothers. Then they go for the big one, a train robbery of Federal Reserve funds. It is entertaining, but I was most entertained during the running of the credits. Over to the left, they show clips of Joe Newton at about age 79, on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, interspersed with film clips of an interview with Willis Newton in his 80's, both giving their views of what it was like and how they felt about what they had done. After seeing Hollywood's version of their lives, it was interesting to see what they were like in old age.

"The Newton Boys" begins as an old movie, with old wasted colors, kind of black and white. This is the way we meet the players (what actually are the actors), and together with a very happy music (that also seemed old), the credits are simple; maybe boring. "If the movie is in black and white, I won't watch it", said my friend Matías. In fact, the movie started and it was in colors, and very nice colors by the way.

We see Willis Newton (Matthew McConaughey) and before we notice we are in Texas; with the horses, ranches, and the cowboys that always seem good people when they mostly do bad things. Maybe it is because we love to hear them talking, and the cast of this movie is very convincing in that aspect. Soon Willis encounters two younger guys, riding some difficult horses. These are Jesse and Joe Newton (Ethan Hawke and Skeet Ulrich), also cowboys and Willis' brothers. Now we're living the true story of the Newton Brothers.

With the help of Brentwood Glasscock (Dwight Yoakam), alias Glass, and later with the last brother Dock's (Vincent D'Onofrio) collaboration, Willis and his gang robbed a lot of banks and one train that got them to their end. Well, not their end because, unlike any regular cowboy, the Newtons reached ages surpassing the 70 years.

With his writing partners, director Richard Linklater created his adapted vision of the story, located in the pages of Claude Stanush's book. His own vision of these enchanting cowboys that made up stories to beautiful women, drank a lot and lived a full life. Stanush, Linklater and Clark Walter achieved something wild in terms of screenplay, because I'm not sure if a man could live the situations these characters experience, but who knows? In other cowboy movies like "American Outlaws" these things occur, and it's all about the characters. In "Outlaws" it was the excellent Colin Farrell, now it is a whole talented ensemble.

I'm a fan of Richard Linklater's work. And admirer of his camera, settings, colors...The respect he has for his colorful characters, without caring how surreal they can be at times, when he is telling a real story. Led by McConaughey's Willis (who makes a more charismatic leading man than Farrell), usual in Linklater's filmography, Ethan Hawke follows, in good shape as always; he commits more with Linklater than with any director. Then we have a gifted Skeet Ulrich in one of his most natural and charming performances; he isn't getting many jobs today, but here it was a great work. As always, Vincent D'Onofrio sticks to what is requested of him. It is also to notice Dwight Yoakam's efforts, in his most remarkable appearance; now I won't forget about him. Everyone else fulfills, and the women I was talking about, Louise Brown has an important part, played convincingly by the always good Julianna Margulies.

It was some weeks ago, that a friend of mine told me he did a work about a director's filmography. He had chosen Woody Allen. I hadn't done the work, but he asked me: "Who would you choose?". "Richard Linklater", I answered.

Though not on par with some of his more noted works such as Dazed and Confused or Before Sunrise, The Newton Boys is still a noteworthy film by Richard Linklater, focusing on the all-to-real story of the four Newton brothers from Ulvade, Texas who ended up robbing over eighty banks and a train in just four years before finally being arrested and imprisoned in 1924.

What Linklater does here that is most interesting is his use of music and detached style of shooting. Nearly all of the music on the soundtrack consists of blues-infused, upbeat country style which is consistent with the setting of this movie but not necessarily the tone. There is a dark underlying element to this story, most notably in the evolution of the main character Willis, played so wonderfully and engagingly by Matthew McConaughey it makes one shake their head as to why he would continue to make useless romantic comedies these days. Willis begins the film as bright, optimistic, a loyal son and brother but upset about the way justice is mistreated in south Texas. Determined to right this wrong, he becomes enamored with the idea of robbing banks, justifying it by claiming that the banks are the real thieves and his form of stealing would simply be a little thief taking from a big one.

Though many of the subsequent scenes are nothing original in this genre, simply derivative of Bonnie and Clyde or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the four leads are all very engaging and likable, especially McConaughey and Ethan Hawke. Linklater keeps the audience at a distance with the use of the awkward music and the lack of character depth. In many cases, the supporting cast is simply that rather than an opportunity to reflect the brothers' view of their lives and worldview. Nevertheless, the film is as a whole better than the most recent of its kind. It has an innocent-like quality to it thanks to the fervent belief of Willis Newtown: doing this was simply a way to make money and for that reason there was no reason for them to stop.