Irate

‘The Highwaymen’ is a compelling tale, held together by its characters

By JASON GUYER
Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Bonnie and Clyde are two of the most famous criminals in the history of the United states. They are well known and so are there exploits. They are looked upon by many as rebels and not as criminals.

In the 2019 lens of  #relationshipgoals, their pair-bonding is often looked upon with envy and as somewhat of a relationship model. They are infamous.

“The Highwaymen,” a new film by and on Netflix, is not about them. The film is about those who captured the infamous criminals. Centering on two men, Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, both of whom were former Texas Rangers.

Hamer was called upon by Gov. Miriam “Ma” Ferguson to try and capture notorious outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The lawmen then made history.

Frank Hamer is played by Kevin Costner and Maney Gault by Woody Harrelson. Costner as Frank Hamer is a gruff laconic conservative, the last of Old West-style lawmen type. Hamer is the center of the story in “The Highwaymen” and therefore most of the attention is on Costner. He holds that attention very well, especially with a character who while interesting historically, aims to be modest and shies away from hero status.

Gault and Hamer both shied away from hero status and looked at themselves as two men doing a job, even if it is was a job they seemed to have enjoyed. Costner’s shortcomings as Frank Hamer are his go-to-criminal voice. Costner has been wonderful over the years in certain roles, but I would not call him a brilliant actor or even among the great actors today or throughout history. Range is not something Costner has a lot of.

In “The Highwaymen” he uses the same gruff voice he used in the film “Criminal” a few years back and has tried out with other characters over the years. The shortcomings of Costner are small and easily forgettable because of how interesting the character is.

Frank Hamer was an “Oxford-educated” (Oxford, Texas, that is) hard-nosed lawman and a person who left the Texas Rangers many times only to return, often because he enjoyed the challenge of solving crimes. Hamer was a man who in his life was shot 17 times and left for dead four times.

Costner probably doesn’t do full justice to just how interesting Frank Hamer is or could be as a character but “The Highwaymen” just focuses on the Bonnie and Clyde case. The case he is most well known for, he and one of his better friends Maney Gault.

Woody Harrelson’s Maney Gault is the more interesting actor-to-character dynamic. Gault is another laconic but often sardonic Old-West-style lawman. He was a heavy drinker and was on the Bonnie and Clyde case because Hamer sought him out. Just as Harrelson sought out the role of Gault as he has said he wanted to play the role of Gault in a film for over 10 years.

In “The Highwaymen,” Harrelson’s Gault is a sort of drunkard who is coaxed back to law enforcement by his friend. Harrelson explores the character as a drunkard by necessity and one who self medicates because of all the years he spent fighting and killing criminals. The men play well with each other, much as you would assume friends would.

Harrelson and Costner gives each character their own characteristics and differences, but at the same time leave you feeling these two men are kindred spirits. You get a feel for how and why these two men were friends and liked each other.

“The Highwaymen” is about these two men and the film explains everything it needs to about each character without every saying so or spelling it out for the viewer but by letting these two actors play the parts.

The most enjoyable part of the film is the concept and the way the story is told. Bonnie and Clyde are well known and with a historical likable story and both could easily steal the center stage away from the main characters. In “The Highwaymen,” They are not even in the show, per se. They are in the film, but you never really see there faces or do the two highwaymen every really occupy the same space as the infamous criminals.

“The Highwaymen” is about Frank Hamer and Maney Gault and the film keeps it that way. The film is slow paced and rightfully so, especially because everyone knows the explosive ending is coming. The majority of people have at least heard how Bonnie and Clyde died. This is the obvious conclusion to “The Highwaymen” since the film is about the two men killing the infamous couple.

The shootout, or more accurately the shoot-up, occurred and was filmed exactly on the same road and in the exact same spot on that road where Bonnie and Clyde were killed on May 23, 1934. This is absolutely a wonderful thing for a film to do.

The ending is really the only time you get to see Bonnie and Clyde. “The Highwaymen” treated Bonnie and Clyde as the lawmen saw them, as criminals who didn’t deserve the attention. The only attention the criminals are given by the film are upon death and is when the car is towed through a town with Bonnie and Clyde still in it. The mania that the general public can sometimes show about murderers or criminals is on full display during that scene.

“The Highwaymen” may not be 100 percent accurate, no films really are. Just look at this year’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a film that was almost entirely inaccurate. “The Highwaymen” does justice to its characters and tells a good story and keeps it as accurate as possible while still being a film. This film is worth the time and is one that on the surface may not seem like it says much, but it says everything it needs to. Just like two gruff Old-West-style laconic law men would.

IRATE SCORE: 4/5

Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the graphics department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected]

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