Crime-spree chronicle, set in the Twenties, based on fact. Very lightweight, and heavily dependent on the elusive charms of Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich, and Vincent D'Onofrio in underdefined roles: "Just a bunch of please-and-thank-you country boys." (Their main claim to sympathy, if not to fame: they never actually killed anyone in the commission of their crimes.) There are touches of freshness in the staging of the heists, especially the fiascoes, and a couple of the real Newton brothers appear in their dotage, with more manifest charms, in documentary clips during the closing credits. With Julianna Margulies, Dwight Yoakam, Bo Hopkins, and Luke Askew; directed by Richard Linklater. (1998) — Duncan Shepherd
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