The Newton Boys

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.

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.

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.

The Newton Boys were a colorful collection of brothers who robbed banks. In this bizarro world I think we're supposed to be inspired by Willis (Matthew McConaughey, Joe (Skeet Ulrich), Jess (Ethan Hawke), and Doc Newton (Vincent D'Onofrio). They managed to rob countless banks and pull off the biggest train robbery in U.S. history, all without killing anyone. Bravo... I guess.

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.