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The Highwaymen

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The Highwaymen

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Summary

Frank Hamer and Maney Gault are former Texas Rangers, who used to serve side-by-side in the pursuit of justice. When Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow begin their crime spree, resulting in the deaths of numerous law officers, the authorities implore Hamer and Gault to return to active duty.

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Andrew Collins

Director of the 2004 retelling of The Alamo, John Lee Hancock, and Young Guns screenwriter John Fusco replay the ballad of Bonnie and Clyde from the point of view of the two retired Texas Rangers who, on 23 May 1934, ended the pair's deadly crime spree in a hail of bullets. Paunchy Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and his recovering alcoholic partner Manny Gault (Woody Harrelson) are Depression-era equivalents of the two minor characters in Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (which demoted Hamlet to a cameo). Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are similarly sidelined here, glimpsed in long shot or a close-up of Bonnie's heels. It's an original if predominantly talky approach, handsomely staged in Louisiana, with a light piano score from Thomas Newman and an ear for the times ("Jiminy Christmas!" exclaims a pious Costner). Although more male-oriented than Arthur Penn's 1967 account (Kathy Bates appears as Texas governor "Ma" Ferguson and Kim Dickens as Hamer's wife), you'll still cheer on our out-of-date lawmen on as they eschew wiretapping and other new-fangled novelties in favour of getting the job done the old way. Hancock turns the outlaws' fame into a narrative device and succeeds in rescuing Hamer's reputation after he was played as an incompetent in Penn's Bonnie and Clyde.

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6.9/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameFrank HamerKevin CostnerManey GaultWoody HarrelsonGovernor Ma FergusonKathy BatesLee SimmonsJohn Carroll LynchGladys HamerKim DickensTed HintonThomas Mann (2)Henry BarrowWilliam SadlerIvy MethvinW Earl Brown

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Crew

rolenameDirectorJohn Lee Hancock

Details

Theatrical distributor

Curzon Artificial Eye

Released on

2019-03-29

Languages

English | Spanish

Guidance

Violence

Formats

Colour

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