''The Newton Boys'' is a 1998 American Western

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 combin ...

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, a family of

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, 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 m ...

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 transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

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, who was actually born in Uvalde, Skeet Ulrich, Ethan Hawke,

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. It was filmed throughout

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

including the towns of

Bertram Bertram may refer to: Places *Bertram, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Australia *Bertram, Iowa, United States, a city *Bertram, Texas, United States, a city *Bertram Building, a historic building in Austin, Texas *Bertram Glacier, Palmer La ...

, Austin, Bartlett,

New Braunfels New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a population of 90,403 as of the 2020 Census. A suburb just north ...

, 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= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

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 bonds 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 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 anch ...

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. ...

. 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

* Matthew McConaughey as Willis Newton * Skeet Ulrich as Joe Newton * Ethan Hawke as Jess Newton *

as Wylie "Dock" Newton * Dwight Yoakam as Brentwood "Brent Glass" Glasscock * Chloe Webb as Avis Glasscock * Gail Cronauer as Ma Newton * Julianna Margulies as Louise Brown * Anne Stedman as Madeline * Lew Temple 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, an ...

* David Jensen as William Fahy * Bo Hopkins 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 Wan ...

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 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

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