''The Newton Boys'' is a 1998 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay with Claude Stanush and Clark Lee Walker. It is based on Stanush's 1994 book of the same name, which tells the true story of the

Newton Gang The Newton Gang (ca. 1919 through 1924) was an outlaw gang of the early 20th century, and the most successful train robbers and bank robbers in history. From 1919 through 1924 the gang robbed dozens of banks, claiming a total of eighty-seven banks ...

, a family of

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

and

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

robbers from

Uvalde, Texas Uvalde is a city and the county seat of Uvalde County, Texas, United States. The population was 15,217 at the 2020 census. Uvalde is located in the Texas Hill Country, west of downtown San Antonio and east of the Mexico–United States bord ...

. The film stars

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

, who was actually born in Uvalde,

Skeet Ulrich Skeet Ulrich (; born Bryan Ray Trout on January 20, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in popular 1990s films, including Billy Loomis in '' Scream'' (1996), Chris Hooker in '' The Craft'' (1996) and Vincent Lopiano in '' ...

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

, and

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...

. It was filmed throughout

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

including the towns of Bertram,

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Bartlett,

New Braunfels New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal County, Texas, Comal and Guadalupe County, Texas, Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the county seat, seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a popula ...

, and

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Plot

A miscarriage of justice lands Willis Newton in prison, and he learns quickly that as a convict his only way up the social ladder is through having money. With two others, Slim and Glasscock, he carries out a bank robbery in broad daylight. Slim is caught when the three of them try to escape on horseback while the sheriff chases them in a car. Willis and Glasscock later find a bank director who buys the looted

war bond War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...

s and sells them information on plenty of other banks. Henceforth, Willis and Glasscock rob banks at night and get away by car. Glasscock turns out to be an expert with

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating g ...

. Willis talks his brothers into supporting him, telling them that bankers are the worst crooks of all and thus, robbing them of their money would only mean that little thieves are stealing from big thieves. He also says that all banks are insured anyway and that the

insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

ought to be thankful because they would not be able to sell any insurance if there were no bank robberies. The Newton gang is very prolific, and some bankers prove to be the crooks Willis takes them for when they exaggerate their losses. Then, the insurance companies force banks to invest in enhanced safes, which can withstand nitroglycerin. Consequently, the Newton Gang goes to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and ambushes a cash transport in broad daylight. Despite an elaborate plan, many things go awry, and the gang members are scarcely able to escape. Willis decides to become "legal", but the oil well he buys is a huge setback that costs him nearly all his money. In his despair, he goes so far as to tell his wife that God did not want him to be "legit". After that, he is easily lured into another criminal endeavor. He becomes very enthusiastic about a night-time

train robbery Train robbery is a type of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables being carried aboard trains. History Train robberies were more common in the past when trains were slower, and often occurred in the American Old West. Tr ...

. Unfortunately, Glasscock is not as good with a gun as he was with nitroglycerin. He confuses Dock Newton with a guard, panics, and shoots him. Willis needs to bring his wounded brother to a doctor, and this undertaking eventually blows their cover. In the end, all the Newton brothers are finally arrested and sentenced.

Cast

as Willis Newton *

as Joe Newton *

as Jess Newton *

as Wylie "Dock" Newton *

as Brentwood "Brent Glass" Glasscock *

Chloe Webb Chloe Webb (born June 25, 1956) is an American actress, best known for her roles in the films ''Sid and Nancy'' (1986), ''The Belly of an Architect'' (1987), ''Twins (1988 film), Twins'' (1988), and ''Heart Condition (film), Heart Condition'' (1 ...

as Avis Glasscock *

Gail Cronauer Gail Cronauer is an American stage, television, and feature film actress and an acting professor. She has performed in films as diverse as Oliver Stone's '' JFK'' to the TV series, ''Walker, Texas Ranger''. She is a recipient of the 2007 Dallas ...

as Ma Newton *

Julianna Margulies Julianna Margulies (; born June 8, 1966) is an American actress. After several small television roles, Margulies achieved wide recognition for her starring role as Carol Hathaway on NBC's long-running medical drama series '' ER'' (1994–2009), ...

as Louise Brown * Anne Stedman as Madeline *

Lew Temple Lew Temple (born October 2, 1967) is an American actor, known for his roles as Locus Fender in the action film, ''Domino'', Cal, the diner manager in the comedy-drama ''Waitress'', and Axel in the third season of '' The Walking Dead''. Early li ...

as The Waiter * Charles Gunning as "Slim" * Ken Farmer as Ranger

Frank Hamer Francis Augustus Hamer (March 17, 1884 – July 10, 1955) was an American lawman and Texas Ranger who led the 1934 posse that tracked down and killed criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Renowned for his toughness, marksmanship, and ...

* David Jensen as William Fahy *

Bo Hopkins William Mauldin "Bo" Hopkins (February 2, 1938 – May 28, 2022) Issucover/ref> was an American actor. He was known for playing supporting roles in a number of major studio films between 1969 and 1979, and appeared in many television shows and ...

as FBI Agent K.P. Aldrich

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics, with a 65% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 40 reviews. The site's consensus states: "''The Newton Boys'' uses a sharp cast and absorbing period detail to help make up for the frustrations of a story puzzlingly short on dramatic tension."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the film a score of 57 based on 20 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film two stars, writing "It's not an enormous cast, and yet somehow the Newtons are hard to tell apart--not in appearance, but in personality...the film as a whole seems drained of thrust and energy--especially compared to (

's) earlier films."

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * Morgenstern, Joe. March 27, 1998
"Prosperous Escapades Recounted In the Tale of 'The Newton Boys'."The Wall Street Journal
!--Retrieved December 12, 2009.--> {{DEFAULTSORT:Newton Boys, The 1998 films 1998 crime films 1998 Western (genre) films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 20th Century Fox films American crime films American films based on actual events American Western (genre) films Crime films based on actual events Films about bank robbery Films about brothers Films based on non-fiction books Films directed by Richard Linklater Films set in Texas Films set in Toronto Films set in the 1920s Films shot in Austin, Texas Films shot in New Braunfels, Texas Films shot in San Antonio Western (genre) films based on actual events