The Newton Boys

In real life the four Newton brothers between the years 1919 and 1924 robbed dozens of American banks, culminating in a huge train robbery, when they eventually got caught. They were imprisoned but all lived to old age after fairly short prison sentences.

The message of The Newton Boys is that because everyone was crooked, especially the banks and the insurance companies that paid for the robberies, then the Newton brothers were almost honest citizens. But I would contend, as would most, that two wrongs never make a right!

If the film makers of The Newton Boys have anything to do with it, The Newton Boys will become popular and heroic figures in American folk lore, even if most honest thinking citizens will find that proposition ridiculous and jarring.

Film always tends to glamourise whatever is under attention, be it murder, mayhem, love of licorice. The music cuts in, the images are huge, attention is focused and a dreamy, crazy, wonderful world is created where even murder or robbery can at least be spectacular, if the film maker chooses to portray evil deeds seductively.

The Newton Boys bends over backwards to paint these men as heroes, almost as wild west Robin Hoods: a fundamental mistake. These men weren't fictional, and were nothing more than thieves. No amount of handsome smiles, soft lens filters, and fun and games banjo music accompanying the robberies could soften that truth.

The drama of the situations these men faced could of course been the stuff of high drama, but Richard Linklater (Dazed And Confused, Before Sunrise) the writer and co-screenwriter of The Newton Boys has smoothed the edges, so much so that the overall film has a blandness that defeats entertainment.

And that's in spite of very good performances and terrific sets and costumes. Matthew McConaughey (Dazed And Confused, A Time To Kill, Boys On The Side, Amistad, Contact) plays the mastermind and ringleader of the Newton thieves with the charm we've come to expect from him.

Ethan Hawke (Gattaca, before Sunrise, Great Expectations) is terrific and funny as Jess Newton and Dwight Yoakum, the master singer/songwriter, following his equally strong work on Sling blade and Red Rock West, again puts in a very impressive performance as Brentwood Glasscock, the Newton's safe blower. The film also stars Skeet Ulrich (Touch, Scream, Albino Alligator) and Julianna Margulies from T.V.'s E.R.

The Newton Boys looks great, if you don't mind an excess of softened, brown hued lens work and has strong acting, but its blandness should keep audiences away in droves. And anyway, real life thieves shouldn't be turned into heroes in this way.