The Newton Boys (1998)

Four Newton brothers are a poor farmer family in the 1920s. The oldest of them, Willis, one day realizes that there's no future in the fields and offers his brothers to become a bank ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Linklater

Writers:

Claude Stanush (book), Richard Linklater (screenplay),

Stars:

Matthew McConaughey, Skeet Ulrich, Ethan Hawke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew McConaughey	...	Willis Newton
Skeet Ulrich	...	Joe Newton
Ethan Hawke	...	Jess Newton
Gail Cronauer	...	Ma Newton
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Dock Newton
Jena Karam	...	Orphan Singer
Julianna Margulies	...	Louise Brown
Casey McAuliffe	...	Orphan Singer
Dwight Yoakam	...	Brentwood Glasscock
Charles Gunning	...	Slim
Regina Mae Matthews	...	Orphan Fiddler
Becket Gremmels	...	Lewis
Lew Temple	...	Waiter
Glynn Williams	...	Farmer Williams
Charles 'Chip' Bray	...	Bank Teller

Storyline

Four Newton brothers are a poor farmer family in the 1920s. The oldest of them, Willis, one day realizes that there's no future in the fields and offers his brothers to become a bank robbers. Soon the family agrees. They become very famous robbers, and five years later execute the greatest train robbery in American history.

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Plot Keywords:

train | bank robber | 1920s | crime spree | oklahoma | 

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Taglines:

Four Brothers. Four Criminals. For The Money... They Would Stop At Nothing.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | History | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence including bloody aftermath of a shooting, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Newton fiúk

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$4,010,245 (USA) (27 March 1998)

Gross:

$10,297,897 (USA) (15 May 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Detour Filmproduction, Newton Boys Ventures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While on location for this project, Dwight Yoakam wrote the songs he used for the album "The Long Way Home".

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Goofs

Brentwood and Joe watch Erich von Stroheim's Greed, in Canada, during what appears to be summer. Greed was not released until December of that year, and didn't see any wide release until late January of 1925. It's also doubtful that it would have made it to Canada any time before then.

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Quotes

Willis Newton: Welcome to Omaha, boys!

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Crazy Credits

As the credits roll, portions of two interviews are shown, each with one brother. One is from a 1980 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

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Connections

Referenced in Siskel & Ebert: Lost in Space/The Spanish Prisoner/Mercury Rising/Kurt & Courtney/Character (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Go Down Moses"
Traditional
Performed by Steven Scott Smalley

User Reviews

Lesser Linklater, still a solid entertainment.

Though not on par with some of his more noted works such as Dazed and Confused or Before Sunrise, The Newton Boys is still a noteworthy film by Richard Linklater, focusing on the all-to-real story of the four Newton brothers from Ulvade, Texas who ended up robbing over eighty banks and a train in just four years before finally being arrested and imprisoned in 1924.

What Linklater does here that is most interesting is his use of music and detached style of shooting. Nearly all of the music on the soundtrack consists of blues-infused, upbeat country style which is consistent with the setting of this movie but not necessarily the tone. There is a dark underlying element to this story, most notably in the evolution of the main character Willis, played so wonderfully and engagingly by Matthew McConaughey it makes one shake their head as to why he would continue to make useless romantic comedies these days. Willis begins the film as bright, optimistic, a loyal son and brother but upset about the way justice is mistreated in south Texas. Determined to right this wrong, he becomes enamored with the idea of robbing banks, justifying it by claiming that the banks are the real thieves and his form of stealing would simply be a little thief taking from a big one.

Though many of the subsequent scenes are nothing original in this genre, simply derivative of Bonnie and Clyde or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the four leads are all very engaging and likable, especially McConaughey and Ethan Hawke. Linklater keeps the audience at a distance with the use of the awkward music and the lack of character depth. In many cases, the supporting cast is simply that rather than an opportunity to reflect the brothers' view of their lives and worldview. Nevertheless, the film is as a whole better than the most recent of its kind. It has an innocent-like quality to it thanks to the fervent belief of Willis Newtown: doing this was simply a way to make money and for that reason there was no reason for them to stop.