’Newton Boys’ shows a good mix of shoot-’em-up and love story

Movie Review by Krista Benson

They were criminals with a sense of honor. They would never shoot anyone, rob women, children or banks without insurance or “rat” on anyone. They were men who spent the 1920s, a time of rapid modernization, following codes of the Old West and making their money the old fashioned way — by robbing banks.

Sound unusual? It is. It’s “The Newton Boys,” the true story of four dirt-poor brothers from  Uvalde, Texas, who got tired of trying to survive honestly and took to robbing banks. The movie draws together an eclectic cast, including Matthew McConaughey (“A Time To Kill”) as Willis Newton, Skeet Ulrich (“Scream”) as Joe Newton, Vincent D’Onofrio (“Men In Black”) as Dock Newton, Ethan Hawke (“Reality Bites”) as Jess Newton and Julianna Margulies (TV’s “ER”) as Louise Brown.

The Newton boys, four brothers from Texas, became bank robbers out of necessity, not out of desire. Their attempts to rise from the depths of poverty failed, so they hooked up with a long-time explosives professional Brent Glasscock (Dwight Yoakam) and began their successful careers as bank robbers.

McConaughy plays Willis beautifully, showing his passion and desperation for a better life, as well as his softer side through his relationship with Louise, a single mother with whom he falls in love. Willis’ strength, drive and determination to help his family shines through, even eclipsing McConaughy’s near-surreal good looks.

Jess is the irresponsible brother, determined not to save his money or invest it in honest ventures, but to “spend it all on women and booze,” so he’d “know where it went.” Always up for anything, Hawke is content robbing banks, riding horses or bucking broncos in circus sideshows. Whatever the plan is, Jess is willing to give it a try. Dock is also, more or less, willing to try anything Willis suggests. He says that he doesn’t want to live forever and, considering his behavior, he’s lucky to be alive at all.

Ulrich’s Joe is the moral center of the movie — at least as much of a moral center as can exist in a band of money-stealing, booze-guzzling criminals. The youngest of the group, Joe is unwilling to commit any crime that hurts anyone, which becomes a slight problem, being that he is in the business of committing crimes.

The Newton boys, after their spree of 81 bank robberies in two years, planned to retire, but the failure of their oil rig “forced” them into one last job, supposedly easier and safer than banks — a mail train. Mail trains had millions of dollars on board and very little security, because nobody thought of robbing them. The Newton boys planned to be the first to succeed.

“The Newton Boys” is more than a gangster movie or a cops-and-robbers flick or even a Western. It is a movie with a fascinating true story as a basis, great acting, well-done period costumes and sets … not to mention that it never hurts the eyes to look at any of these notoriously attractive actors for an extended period of time.

“The Newton Boys” is an entertaining, educational movie about love, money, family loyalty and the most successful bank robbers — the ones who don’t get caught.

It’s a story of a gang of outlaws who escaped with one thing that few outlaws were allowed to  keep — their lives. They were able to do something that few outlaws can claim — die of old age.

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