THE NEWTON BOYS (1998)
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Written by: Richard Linklater, Clark Lee Walker, and Claude Stanush based on a book by Claude Stanush
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Julianna Margulies, Ethan Hawke, Dwight Yoakam, Skeet Ulrich, Vincent D'Onofrio
Ingredients: Four bank robber brothers in the Roaring 1920s farm belt
Synopsis: In the Roaring '20s - - the era of prohibition, gangsters, and bank robberies - - four country brothers (called the Newton boys) and their partner Mr. Glasscock rob over 80 banks in the American farm belt between 1919 and 1924. Meanwhile leader of the brothers Willis Newton (Matthew McConaughey) romances a store clerk named Louise (Julianna Margulies). Finally, when a business deal goes sour, the NEWTON BOYS rob a postal train instead of a bank, and the Feds soon come nosing around. What will happen?
THE NEWTON BOYS is based on the true story of the Newton family, four young guns who were real life bank robbers in the 1920s. In fact, the credits of THE NEWTON BOYS contains a Johnny Carson interview with 80-something former bank robber Joe Newton - - the youngest brother - - who describes his younger days as 'crazy.' In real life the Newton boys blew up safes at night when nobody was around, and they also refused to shoot anybody throughout their entire criminal careers. But they were successful as thieves, and they lived to tell about it.
Opinion: THE NEWTON BOYS is not an action movie, but perhaps that's just as well, given the material: the real life Newtons never shot anybody and did their work when nobody was around. The film takes us from heist to heist in a wandering, traveling fashion, with nothing really driving the plot, and not much development of character, almost like a light dramatic chronicle.
In the 'screen hunk' department, this film has plenty: Matthew McConaughey plays older brother Will; Ethan Hawke is Jess; Skeet Ulrich is youngest brother Joe, and Vincent D'Onofrio is brawny Dock. They get to wear a lot of classy suits, vests, and hats. And they drive great-looking vintage wheels.
As far as the script is concerned, McConaughey gets the lion's share of lines, and does a good job with them. Unfortunately the other brothers are not much more than interchangeable scenery. Ethan Hawke hams it up a little bit by strumming the ukulele and swilling whiskey, but these are mere gestures. Similarly Julianna Margulies does the best she can possibly do given her small role. THE NEWTON BOYS is slow-paced light fare focusing mostly on older brother Willis. It's like a meandering documentary without a narrator, where the silent narrator is main star McConaughey.
Reviewed by David Sunga March 27, 1998
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