The Newton Boys

Fans of the Director will probably be disappointed in this rather straight telling of the Real-Life, dirt poor Bank Robbers. There is a colorful often made story of Anti-Heroes waiting to be told here, but for some reason, while engaging and fun this Movie kind of disappoints and at the same time is a somewhat amusing, if not a terribly interesting misfire.

Here the talented and usually off-kilter Director has been restrained by the conventions of the Genre. It is all handled with taste and is a tactful representation of likable Criminals who never killed anybody, but they did rob 80 banks. That in itself is a feat worthy of any Comic Book Character.

There is a standout cast and the Movie looks great. But in the end it kind of loses momentum, but is never completely unworthy of the gist it created. Not a bad diversion and is Worth a Watch as a rather lightweight entertainment that will let down more viewers than it captures. A bit different and deserves more credit than criticism.

History is history and Hollywood is well...Hollywood. This is a fact-based drama that chronicles the exploits of the bank robbing Newton brothers(Matthew McConaughey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ethan Hawke and Skeet Ulrich)who robbed over eight banks from Texas to Toronto in the 20's and 30's. Along with them a friend(Dwight Yoakam)who knew his way with nitro.This makes for exciting explosions on screen with clouds of money to go with gunshot blasts and whining getaway cars. The prolonged career in crime is capped off with a three million dollar mail train heist outside Chicago. This finally landed the boys in a court room and behind bars. By all means don't walk out on the closing credits for you get to find out what happened to each of the principle players. Also in the cast are: Julianna Margulies, Charles Gunning, Chloe Webb and Casey McAuliffe. There is the claim that the Newton boys never killed a soul during their robbing the bigger thieves...the banks.

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.

The Newton Boys tells the story of Willis, Joe, Jess and Dock Newton, four brothers who become some of the most notorious bank and train robbers the history of America has ever seen. And they're based on real life events and people, making it all the more exciting.

What really keeps this movie afloat are the actors. McConaughey, Ulrich, Hawke and D'Onofrio are all versatile and personable actors, breathing life into their characters by their sheer presence. The story is told largely from McConaughey's point of view and it's actually one of his better performances and fits his usual mannerisms perfectly, unlike in some other movies where they are somewhat distracting.

The plot is also entertaining, though because it's based on real life it ends up being somewhat repetitive until the final third when the big twists start rolling. Not that the first two acts aren't interesting, but they don't raise the stages the same way a fictional story would. It's not a huge problem, but it's noticeable, especially if you've seen a lot of gangster films.

In the end The Newton Boys is well worth a watch if you're into the idea that sometimes real life is more exciting than any movie and/or if you're looking for a good gangster/robber movie to check out.

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.