BEFORE: Well, just a couple of days after eliminating two films with Melissa McCarthy ("The Happytime Murders" and "Can You Ever Forgive Me?") from my 2019 plan, I learned that both films will be airing on premium cable starting in the first week or so of September. This shouldn't change anything, except that it does - and this probably explains why neither film has been made available on iTunes at a lower rental price. I think I'm leaning on putting both films back into the line-up, which means I'll have to postpone two other films, most likely "The Equalizer 2" and "I Love You, Daddy". If those films have to move to 2020, I don't think it will create much of a problem, but you never know. This will open up, and then fill, one slot in September and one in December - and this is why I like to keep my options open as long as I can before finalizing the plan.
After tonight I'll have just 60 movie slots left in the year, that's 1 more in August, 30 in September, 20 in October, and 9 to split between November and December. I've been constantly double- and triple-checking my math for months now to make sure I'm on track. I may be a bit bored in the last two months of the year, but this allows time for holiday shopping, writing the year-end round-up and then setting some sort of plan up for January and February.
Thomas Mann carries over from "Welcome to Me".
THE PLOT: The untold true story of the legendary detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde.
AFTER: Boy, how long was this film in production? The original plan of the screenwriter was to have Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in this film, as sort of a reverse "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". But Newman died in 2008 and didn't do any on-screen acting (except narration and voice-work) after 2005, so that gives you some idea how long a film might languish in pre-production. Kevin Costner apparently turned down this role 10 years before, as he didn't feel he was old enough to play the part - I guess time finally caught up with him and it felt right.
It's a very interesting idea to tell the story of Bonnie and Clyde from the lawmen's perspective - this avoids the too-easy trap of accidentally glorifying their accomplishments by depicting them. However, the downside of this is that it took a long time for these two ex-Texas Rangers to track them down, figure out their pattern and travel multiple times across several states, always trailing close behind but never getting out ahead of them. Umm, until the end, that is. If you've seen the 1967 film "Bonnie and Clyde" then you're familiar with the epic shootout at that film's climax, or if you've followed the case in any way then you know how this film undoubtedly had to end.
But if you're a fan of good, old-fashioned police work - imagine "CSI" before there was a fingerprint database or anybody knew what DNA was, or how to conduct a ballistics test - then there might be some value for you here. Searching the scene for cigarette butts and liquor bottles, asking the right questions from the right person and beating up the wrong ones, noticing the people in a strange town that might be taking notice of them, that's what used to constitute field work (because, as you see in this film, sometimes it took place in an actual field...). Not only that, they had no cell phones, no tracking devices, not even a police radio in their car! (They had one that played music, but they only turned it on conveniently just before there was a "news bulletin" about Bonnie and Clyde's activities...)
Meanwhile, the Highwaymen were fighting an uphill battle because so many people considered Bonnie and Clyde folk heroes, because they weren't robbing regular people, just the banks, and where's the harm in that? Even putting aside all the cops and bank guards they killed, where the hell did people think the BANK got the money? From regular people, duh.
This fits perfectly into my theme for the week, with damaged people seeking some kind of redemption. Frank Hamer and Maney Gault are two lawmen well past their prime, but called into service (reluctantly) by the Texas governor Miriam "Ma" Ferguson. This was a real person - the first female governor of Texas, and she served two non-consecutive terms. (I visited the State House in Austin, TX, last October, and there were portraits of all the prior governors, but I only took photos of the portraits of Ann Richards, George Dubya Bush and Rick Perry).
I've also got a better understanding now about what it feels like to drive across Texas - OK, to be a passenger during a drive across Texas, but same thing, right? In October my wife drove (and I rode) from Dallas to Austin, down to San Antonio and across to Houston, before striking out for New Orleans. That was a long stretch between San Antonio to Houson, and an even longer one to follow, it took most of a day to get to New Orleans. These "Highwaymen" drove across Texas several times, even went up to Oklahoma and Kansas before ending up near Shreveport in Louisiana before finally catching up with the two outlaws - now, come on, that's a hell of a road trip!
Extra points for filming the climactic scene on the very same road that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Darrow finally met their destiny at the hands of the Highwaymen. But this is sort of balanced by the feeling that runs throughout the film, that there's always something more exciting happening somewhere else, which we're not being shown.
Also starring Kevin Costner (last seen in "Molly's Game"), Woody Harrelson (last seen in "Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind"), Kathy Bates (ditto), John Carroll Lynch (last seen in "The Founder"), Dean Denton, Kim Dickens (last seen in "House of Sand and Fog"), William Sadler (last seen in "Eagle Eye"), W. Earl Brown (last seen in "Black Mass"), David Furr (last seen in "13 Hours"), Jason Davis (last seen in "Boy Erased"), Josh Caras, David Born, Brian F. Durkin (last seen in "The Internship"), Kaley Wheless, Emily Brobst, Edward Bossert, Jake Dashnaw, Jane McNeill, Jesse C. Boyd, Luray Cooper (last seen in "I, Tonya"), David Dwyer (last seen in "October Sky"), Justin Smith (last seen in "A Good Day to Die Hard").
RATING: 5 out of 10 fold-out road maps (remember those?)
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