The Highwaymen (2019)

Review

132min

Genre:       Fact-based, Crime, Drama

Director:    John Lee Hancock

Cast:         Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, Kathy Bates…and more

Writer:      John Fusco

-Synopsis-

When the resources of the Texas governor’s office, state law enforcement and the FBI aren’t enough to ensnare a band of brutal outlaws and perverse folk heroes in 1930s depression era USA, the governor goes old school—bringing a pair of grizzled retired lawmen back into the fold to track down the notorious ‘Bonnie and Clyde‘, and stop their murderous front-page crime spree in its tracks . . . in this Netflix tale based on a true story.

Having forged a career built on stories about real people, director John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks, The Founder) teams up with Netflix and writer John Fusco (Young Guns, Hidalgo) to tackle a long-gestating film project, creating a pseudo-Western crime drama which redresses the balance from decades of TV and film depictions of the Bonnie and Clyde story, taking the focus off the criminals and placing it on the men who stopped them—and telling an American tale of scandal and morbid celebrity obsession which rings truer than ever.

Kevin Costner stars as legendary turn-of-the century Texas ranger Frank Hamer, retired and living the quiet life in the modern world when his skills become in demand as the state governor ‘Ma’ Ferguson (Kathy Bates) approves and corrections chief Lee Simmons (John Carroll Lynch) recruits him to stop the unstoppable and deadly Bonnie and Clyde, teaming up with his former partner Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) to take out the dastardly duo and their crew. But the hunt proves tricky as they find their targets protected by local communities while encouraged by the scandal obsessed public and struggling working classes, resentful of authority—leaving the lawmen zigzagging across state lines on the way to stopping the violence with the only thing that can . . . more violence.

‘The Highwaymen’ may boast a few shootouts, chases and some graphic violence, but it’s pretty far from being a detective crime-thriller, and goes nowhere near true action film territory. Instead Hancock crafts a measured crime period piece and character drama with Western motifs, taking the focus off the notorious criminals who drive the narrative while depicting them in fleeting glimpses almost like spectres—essentially treating them like walking (and driving) MacGuffins—while shinning the spotlight on the men most responsible for bringing them down, thereby correcting the farcical and wholly inaccurate depiction in the classic 1967 Warren Beatty-starring film.

This is also very much a cinematic snapshot of a distinct American era, beautifully re-creating the mid 1930s—cars, clothes, guns and all—while cinematographer John Schwartzman (Armageddon, Jurassic World) captures the stark beauty of the plains and landscapes of the American heartland.

Yet ‘The Highwaymen’ is clearly designed to be a somewhat socially conscious period picture with timely echoes, delving into the dark crevasses of American culture and celebrity obsession, exposing a large section of the society which helped to turn callous outlaws into trend-setting folk anti-heroes, and the scruple-less media ravenous for scandal who lapped it all up . . . sound familiar?

It would be easy (albeit curious) to criticise the film for not showing Bonnie and Clyde in a more flattering light, as so many depictions have done before, and perhaps fairer to expect something more when it comes to a motivation (if not quite justification) for their crimes, including Clyde Barrow’s resentment of law enforcement borne out of his treatment while incarcerated—but that would sort of missing the point of the film.

With the story revolving around the highwaymen themselves—an ageing pair out of their time—the film largely hinges on the performances and chemistry between its two leads, and luckily the dependable veterans deliver. Woody Harrelson is charismatic as always as the more colourful and reluctant outlaw hunter, while Kevin Costner channels his previous iconic lawman experience in ‘Wyatt Earp’ to play the stoic and unflinching Frank Hamer—a hard but just and determined operator with integrity, whose legend the film barely touches upon. And ‘The Highwaymen’ underlines its credentials as a self-reflective piece by having the partners question their past exploits, and the consequences of a life of violence . . . if not be somewhat haunted by them.

Yet despite the strong central performances and a compelling basic premise, ‘The Highwaymen’ is far from a revisionist crime movie classic, proving a tad too deliberate and occasionally downright slow, a bit baggy and overly long, while delivering an unapologetically one-sided narrative. Ultimately it amounts to an informative, reasonably nuanced and enthralling but unspectacular and occasionally sterile crime biography, which plays more like a by-the-book period crime drama than the southern American lawman epic it probably hoped to be.

The Bottom Line…

A biographical crime period piece and ponderous character drama which redresses the balance in the Bonnie and Clyde story, while shinning a reflective spotlight on a forgotten US lawman. ‘The Highwaymen’ may not be the most free-flowing and engrossing outlaw and manhunt movie in recent memory, and it doesn’t exactly jump off the screen—but John Lee Hancock’s latest proves a solid and reasonably captivating crime drama . . . with plenty to say about the dark side of American culture.

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