BEFORE: We're just ten days in to the New Year, and here comes my second film about bank robberies - I'm not sure what that means for 2018. I can only hope that the characters hang out in a few diners, so I can keep that streak going. Chris Pine carries over from "People Like Us", where he ate in a whole bunch of cafés and restaurants.
THE PLOT: A divorced father and his ex-con older brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family's ranch in West Texas.
AFTER: Well, I guess some ex-cons go work in diners, like in "Frankie and Johnny", and others go right back to committing crimes...
I would love to figure out when, exactly, did the bank robbers in films become the "good guys" and the banks became the "bad guys"? Was it a subtle shift, or did it happen all at once? Like in the 1970's, did we suddenly start rooting for the bank robbers in "Dog Day Afternoon" because of Watergate, Vietnam and Attica? Or were we all seduced by Redford and Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and Jeff Bridges in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"? (Bridges appears in tonight's film on the other side of the law, playing the grizzled Texas Ranger who's both too old for this shit AND one week away from retirement...). Was it in the 1980's as a reaction to Reaganomics and corporate greed - and is it suddenly back in vogue now after the recession, the sub-prime mortgage disaster and the ensuing bank bailout?
I've got to assume the latter, because here the family farm is nearly lost due to a "reverse mortgage", and they come right out and use that term, which "Going in Style" avoided. But this makes more sense this way, while one brother was in jail and the other was distracted by his failing marriage, that the bank would step in and con their dying mother. So I'm sure they exhausted many other plans and possibilities before falling back on "Hey, let's rob some banks." Just kidding, that would be silly, why with all the guns available in Texas, it would be stupid of them NOT to rob a bank. It's an "open-carry" state, so have at it, everyone. That money ain't gonna rob itself!
This point is addressed, somewhat, within this film. The theory is that if more people are armed, there would be more "good people" with guns to stop "bad people" with guns. So why doesn't that happen more often? How come it's always 12 people dead at the movie theater or 20 kids dead in the classroom before the shooter takes his own life? Where were the "good people" with guns to kill him sooner? And why do we still have people robbing banks while using guns? Our two brothers only get shot at by civilians once or twice during their robbery spree.
The lead Texas Ranger (who's partnered with a half-Native American, leading to a bunch of white man/red man ribbing back and forth) happens to notice that all of these robberies are taking place at different branches of the same bank, and so he starts staking out the branches that haven't been hit yet. That's smart, trying to get ahead of the game. And I suppose most robbers do have a pattern, even if they're not aware of it themselves. You know, get up, grab a bagel and a coffee, rob a bank, be home by 11 to catch "The Price is Right" - that's the kind of pattern that's going to get you caught.
But the idea to take stolen money from the bank and launder it through a casino in the next state over - man, that's smart. Is that a thing that robbers do? I don't think a casino cares whether it gets stolen money or not, and they're used to taking in large sums of money for chips, then after a few hours at the poker tables, these guys cash in their chips and get a nice, legal check from the casino. I think then they turn right around and deposit that check in the same bank they just robbed. Genius. But then any criminal activity can be a success, right up until the cops start chasing you.
The IMDB trivia section is telling me that this film is included on that list of "1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", but not on my copy of the list. I guess that's because I'm still working from the version of the list that came out in 2013, and I think they make minor changes to it every year. I'll have to research what's been added to that list, but I'm afraid that means they've also removed a few films, which means my stats may go down - currently I've seen 410 of the films on the 2013 list, and I'm proud of that. I would prefer if that didn't change.
Also starring Ben Foster (last seen in "Inferno"), Jeff Bridges (last heard in "The Little Prince"), Gil Birmingham, Marin Ireland (last seen in "Hope Springs"), Katy Mixon (last heard in "Minions"), Dale Dickey (last seen in "Winter's Bone"), Kevin Rankin (last seen in "Wild"), Melanie Papalia, Amber Midthunder, John Paul Howard, Christopher Garcia, Alma Sisneros, Joe Berryman (last seen in "A Million Ways to Die in the West"), Jackamoe Buzzell (ditto), Buck Taylor (last seen in "Hard Time"), Kristin Berg, William Sterchi (last seen in "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot"), Taylor Sheridan, Paul Howard Smith.
RATING: 5 out of 10 getaway cars
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