Directed by:
John Lee HancockScreenplay:
John FuscoCinematography:
John SchwartzmanComposer:
Thomas NewmanCast:
Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, Kathy Bates, Kim Dickens, John Carroll Lynch, W. Earl Brown, Thomas Mann, David Furr, William Sadler, Jesse C. Boyd (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Kevin Costner plays legendary lawman Frank Hamer and Woody Harrelson will play his long-suffering sidekick Manny Gault. Though both men were out of the Rangers by the time Bonnie & Clyde started their robbery reign, they were commissioned as special investigators, coaxed back by a consortium of banks to assemble a posse and end the robbery spree of the notorious gang reputed to have killed 13 cops - and others. The Highwaymen takes the vantage point of the formidable posse headed by Hamer, an old style Texas Ranger who’d survived 100 gunfights and killed 53 people. (South by Southwest Film Festival)
(more)Reviews (10)
Really genuine “too old for this shit" classical, old school, Western in a long time. And the fact that it takes place in 1930s when the economic crisis is in full swing and the cars are covering endless distances instead of horses, doesn´t change it at all. Slowly (I really mean very slowly) flowing, based on the central duo, beautifully captured and played. It's openly “McCarthy's" style, that´s for sure. In other words, it´s seemingly “only" genre movie with melancholic ambiance that is hard to resist. Its captivating (non) pace will either put you to sleep reliably or enchant you completely.
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Nice but bland, The Highwaymen is a safe bet. Any hopes of originality for this version of the famous story die in the first third with the clichéd exposition of the main characters. And the rest of the movie does nothing to counter this assumption. But it’s not boring - Costner and Harrelson hold the movie together with their performances and Costner’s talk with Bonnie’s dad (William Sadler) goes deeper. The final shootout wasn’t all that hair-raising in real life, so the movie cannot have the epic climax that a flick in this genre needs.
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Netflix once again stumbled upon a good director and a solid premise. Add in the superb acting performance by Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson and you will think that a quality viewing experience is guaranteed. Too bad that given its two-and-a-half-hour running time, the film is very slow-paced, which in the second half of the movie becomes quite a hindrance. Anyhow, the premise is great. I liked it. It’s definitely worth watching. Several scenes are really wonderful, but cutting it short by an hour wouldn’t hurt.
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After Triple Frontier, Netflix pulls another ace from its sleeve, a macho western/gangster flick set in the 1930s, where the excellent Texas Ranger duo of Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson are hot on the heels of the legendary Bonnie and Clyde. John Lee Hancock perfectly captures the feel of 1930's American South (the costumes, the cars and the guns a thing of beauty) and it's safe to say he gave the two stars a chance for a solid comeback, as they both do an excellent job. In terms of direction, acting, visuals and atmosphere, the film is flawless, the only issue may be the slower pace, but I had a decent time throughout. The highlights are definitely Costner purchasing a gun, Woody's solo in the bathroom, the bandit story and the final carnage. "Clyde might be the king, but I am a Texas Ranger! You little shit!" 80%
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Classic storytelling, a captivating visual aspect and precise acting performances. Pot-bellied Costner is an uncompromising tough guy and Harrelson delivers the necessary human dimension, where his story just before the end works much better than the climax, when they shoot Bonnie and Clyde full of holes. Hancock smuggled into the picture a dig at the current state of affairs, where the masses and the media deserve nothing but contempt. The slow tempo with emphasis on depicting the characters works excellently and Newman’s music is very nostalgic. This type of picture is woefully lacking at movie theaters, like meat in a veggie burger.
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An atmospheric, non-action crime film set in the 1930s that bears a little resemblance to Untouchables and Public Enemies in terms of expression, but falls short in terms of direction, scene composition, escalating tension and action. Costner and Harrelson are the draws and their cynical duo is the highlight of the film. Unfortunately, the main villains are given woefully little space and everything around them is basically insufficient. Not great enough as a robust crime drama, OK as an intimate drama between two obsolete detectives, but the ambition was obviously higher. But Netflix can check it off the list anyway.
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I love these films - quiet slow melancholy, nostalgic reminiscing about the old days, and the sympathetic main characters and their interesting story. Everyone knows or guesses how it turns out, but it's not about the destination here - it's about the journey. The Highwaymen is, in short, a great “modern" western about two retired cowboys and their (last?) chore, and Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson literally shine in it (a big thanks to anyone who thought of putting these two together). The film keeps its distance from Bonnie and Clyde, but it's only to the benefit of the cause - they don't put as much attention on each other and act as a creeping, uncalculated evil (the closest we get to them is when Hamer and Gault get to them, but that's too late, of course), dangerous because of what they've already done and what they can do, and what celebrities they've become. There are a lot of question marks and exclamation marks throughout the clear and familiar story that still apply, and I get the impression that this is not only the best Netflix film I've seen so far, but one of the best films ever. I could watch the scene with Clyde's father over and over.
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A wholesome homage to westerns that revives classical traditions like its likeable heroes. Viewers hungry for shootouts and darkness won’t be satisfied, but the neglected fans of the kind of genre flicks that back in the day were created like on a treadmill should be elated. If you liked the recent Hell or High Water and don’t mind an even more sedentary approach, this should be the film for you. And although a deeper look into the psychology of the characters, giving them more original conflicts, and not relying so much on proven templates wouldn’t have hurt, I actually enjoyed the slightly generic concept, I felt good in the company of the heroes and at one point I had no problem accepting the pace and the ambitions. Costner and Harrelson, especially, are very good, and Hancock was a surprise.
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This was so terribly ordinary, I'd be hard pressed to find a more mediocre film. Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson play two retired rangers who are called in to catch criminals who go around killing people on sight. The problem is that we don't get any info about the two protagonists or their background, so we as viewers can't build any kind of relationship with them, and we don't get any scraps of information about the two bad guys anyway; we don't even see them on screen until the end, so we don't really know who they are. The result is a two-hour wandering from place to place and just riding on inertia until the end, which can't even be called a finale, because nothing happens there either. And so I ask, what was the film supposed to give us? Visually and technically, it is "okay" and the acting is also okay (although frankly neither Costner nor Harrelson have much work with, as apart from their occasional dialogues and cold faces we get almost nothing), but the script is just incredibly dry and punishingly empty. Very poor.
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An old-school classic. The film starts off slowly, trying to give viewers a closer look at the two main characters, which I consider important when you're going to spend a good amount of time with them. Some might find this pacing problematic, and I would understand that, but I quickly got used to this style. I guess I expected Bonnie and Clyde to get more screen time, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Otherwise, Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson were great; the scene with Woody in the bathroom was definitely a highlight of the film (a bit of a shame they hinted at it in the trailers). These actors have charisma to spare, which added credibility to their characters (though I still can’t shake the feeling that if the film had been made in the 80s with Newman and Redford, it would have been on a whole different level). The dialogue was excellent, and the atmosphere of the 1930s was palpable in every shot. Don’t expect much action; the film doesn’t try to be anything other than a solid drama. But strong moments do come, whether it’s the scene with the murdered policemen or the final showdown, which certainly wasn’t shy with the bullets. I recommend it, and also suggest reading up on the real Hamer and Gault. It’s worth it. I give the film 80%.
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