The Other Side of the Bonnie and Clyde Story

The Highwaymen

Directed By: John Lee Hancock

The first I heard of this movie was from the descendants of the lawmen talking about how nice it was to see this story from their side. When I jumped over to Netflix for the preview that, and the cast, was good enough to get me watching something I otherwise might not have bothered with.

The film stars Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as the former Texas Rangers brought back to track down the infamous duo.

And while Bonnie and Clyde are mainly just ghosts that they are tracking who appear every know and again to do some killing or attract a mob of fans it was interesting to see the story from this point of view. The film touches on not just their fame but the poverty that people think they are fighting. And I think it does a fair job of making you understand why desperate people would settle on them even as they aren’t just robbing banks but blowing peoples brains out when they stop to help them.

The film is also pretty with some big Texas plains and bright skies. Despite the harshness- it kind of reminds me of Hell or Highwater a couple of years ago where it almost makes you want to take a roundtrip.

The cast is good but Harrelson was definitely the best part for me. His character definitely gets most of the nuance not entirely okay with any of the killing present, future or what he and Hamer have done in the past.

My favorite scene however might have been the one with Hamer and Clyde’s father (William Sadler) talking about the choices men make and how he knows this is only going to end one way so for the family he needs the lawmen to end it fast.

We also get Kathy Bates as Governor Ma Johnson whose feeling the Bonnie and Clyde heat on a political level. There are also some nods to Hoover and new investigation styles like wire-taps which amazes the old school Hamer and Gault.

The movie’s not rewriting any rules or anything in the least but if you’re looking for something at home this weekend it’s a nice little film to pass the time with good performances as well!

Recommend: Yes.

Warnings: I’m not usually squeamish but the shoot out at the end is brutal (and not so much of a shoot out per say) and we see more of Bonnie and Clyde as bullet riddled bodies (and people pulling at them trying to grab pieces off them) than any other time throughout the film.