Movie Review - "The Highwaymen"

In the ever-changing paradigm of how movies are delivered to the movie going public these days, at least in  the world that includes Netflix, "The Highwaymen" was released to selected theaters last March (I don't believe it ever reached a movie theater in Pittsburgh), then withdrawn two weeks later and made available only to subscribers of Netflix.  I can recall hearing some positive reviews of the movie at the time, so last night, this new Netflix subscriber decided to watch it.

The movie is billed, as you can see in the picture above, as "the untold true story" of "the legends who took down Bonnie & Clyde."  The two legends in question are a couple of aging put-out-to-pasture Texas Rangers named Frank Hamer and Maney Gualt, played by Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, who are called upon by Texas Governor Miriam "Ma" Henderson, the governor who disbanded the Rangers and replaced it with more modern police and investigators who used more up-to-date methods in tracking down criminals and preserving the peace.  Well, these modern guys were having no luck back in 1934 halting the murderous reign off terror being brought about by the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, so Henderson (Kathy Bates)  reluctantly agrees to authorize Hamer and Gualt as "highwaymen" to capture and, hopefully, kill Bonnie and Clyde, and makes it clear that she is not all that concerned with pesky little details like due process of law.  So old-timers Costner and Harrelson are off and running using methods that will make Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry Callahan look like some bleeding-heart sissy pinko.  The New York Times review of the movie called is "Grumpy Old Men meet Bonnie & Clyde."

This is a movie that sounded like it could be a lot of fun, but I found it slow moving and at times almost ponderous.  It was kind of fun watching Costner and Harrelson playing the old guys who, if they are now unable trying to chase down a teen-aged kid on foot anymore, they can still kick the asses of bad guys when the need arises.  

Bonnie and Clyde (Emily Brobst and Edward Bossert) are more like MacGuffins in this one rather than full blown characters and are seen full face on in only the climactic scene of the movie.  Unlike 1967's classic "Bonnie and Clyde" with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, this movie is told strictly from the lawmen's point of view.  In both movies, the criminals are seen as Robin Hood-type heroes by the downtrodden folks of Depression Era America ("Did Robin Hood ever murder someone in cold blood for four dollars and a tank of gas?"), and - spoiler alert! - Bonnie and Clyde come to a similar end in this one as they did back in 1967.

As another review I read stated, the story of "The Highwaymen" may tell a story closer to the truth than did "Bonnie and Clyde", but that doesn't mean that it's a better movie.  The Grandstander agrees and gives this one only Two Stars.

A couple of historical footnotes: 

• Not sure if this is true or not, but it is said that at one point, Hollywood kicked around the idea of telling the story of Hamer and Gualt with Paul Newman and Robert Redford playing the parts.
• The "Bonnie and Clyde" 1967 version is not available on Netflix.  If you want to know the story of the demise of the Barrow Gang, Netflix will only give you their version.
• Not long after the events portrayed in this movie, the Texas Rangers were reconstituted and still exist today.
• In the interest of historical accuracy, here is a picture of the real Bonnie and Clyde.  Beatty and Dunaway, they ain't!

1930's Crime Comes to Television

The cable television airwaves is experiencing a flood of mini-series about crime from the 1930's.

The first such "limited series" is TNT's "Mob City".

Commercials for this flooded the TBS air during the baseball playoffs and created interest, for me at least, in watching.  This story takes place in depression-era Los Angeles and features such real people as LA police legend William Parker, and mobsters Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel.  I caught the first two hour installment last week and am no doubt on the hook for the subsequent episodes over the next two Wednesday evenings.  The show is stylishly done with great costuming and period details, but I get the feeling as I watch that this is a story we have already seen before.  And as Bugsy Siegel goes, Ed Burns is no Warren Beatty.

The second such show is a four hour, two night remake of "Bonnie and Clyde" showing on three different cable networks.  Part One was on last night and it will conclude tonight.  This one stars in the title roles to unknowns (to me) named Holliday Grainger and Emile Hirsch.

They are attractive enough and seem to do okay in the roles, but it's hard not to keep picturing these two as you watch:

(Hey, Warren Beatty again!  What's next? A remake of "Shampoo"?)

This also brings to mind a question often raised, "Why remake a classic?"  I suppose the easiest answer is "to make a buck", but it can raise emotions, admittedly irrational at times, in  fans of certain movies when someone dares to remake one of their favorite movies. Sometimes it works ("True Grit"), sometimes it bombs ("Psycho"), and most times it produces stuff that is pretty much unmemorable.  I suspect that the 2013 "Bonnie and Clyde" will be pretty much forgotten before too much time passes while  future generations will continue to watch and enjoy the 1967 Beatty-Dunaway movie.  Hey, if this TV version does nothing but drive younger viewers to seek out and watch that '67 movie, then it will have served a good purpose.

The producers of the current B&C have thrown a bone to us, ahem, older viewers by casting Holly Hunter and William Hurt in this one.  Hunter plays Bonnie's mother, and Hurt plays the Texas Rangers who eventually hunts down Bonnie and Clyde.  He was introduced last night, but will have a much larger role in tonight's finale, I suspect.