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THE NEWTON BOYS
Despite the interesting, true stories of the exploits of the four Newton Brothers with their career of robbing banks, the film never gets any real excitement. It comes across as a poor imitation of Bonnie and Clyde.
The Newton brothers, Willis, (Matthew McConaughey), Jess (Ethan Hawke), Dock (Vincent D'Onofrio), and Joe (Skeet Ulrich), whose robberies spanned a period mostly from 1919 to 1924, during which they robbed over 80 banks from Texas to Canada, never killed anyone. That is unique, especially when it includes America's biggest train robbery.
The "Boys" considered themselves businessmen, not killers. Most outlaws became notorious because of the number of killings in which they took part . . . but not the Newton Boys. Oddly, too, they all lived to a ripe old age with one of them appearing on the Johnny Carson show to tell about some of the brothers' exploits.
This should have made for an exciting thriller but unfortunately it appears to be little more than a recounting of the facts, omitting that certain something needed to get it off the ground.
Directed by Richard Linklater.
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Copyright 1998 Ben Hoffman
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