‘The Highwaymen’: A Bonnie and Clyde Story That Takes the Cops’ Side

Everyone knows the names of Bonnie and Clyde, the famed criminal couple, but far less know the name of the Texas Ranger who took them down: Frank Hamer. The Highwaymen, a new crime drama premiering on Netflix this weekend, intends to correct that.

If Highwaymen director John Lee Hancock wants you to take anything away from his film, it’s that Hamer, played by a now-grizzled Kevin Costner, is a god damn hero. This is pretty much the opposite view than that taken by the 1967 classic, Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the glamorous anti-heroes. And that’s exactly the point: Highwaymen director Hancock has said the film was intended to redeem Frank Hamer, who was played for laughs by Denver Pyle in the 1967 film, to the dismay of the Ranger’s surviving family.

To drive home just how uninterested The Highwaymen is in Bonnie and Clyde’s (played by Emily Brobst and Edward Bossert) side of the story, we never see their faces until the very end. Instead, we get to know Hamer who is, according to his wife Gladys (Kim Dickens), “a grumpy old man.” Considered one of the greatest Texas Rangers of all time, Hamer is two years into a comfortable retirement when he’s called upon in 1934 by the Texas governor, Miriam “Ma” Ferguson (played by the always-excellent Kathy Bates) to put an end to the seemingly unstoppable robbing-and-murdering spree of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Hamer is joined by fellow former Ranger Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson), who’s living a significantly less lush life than Hamer: no money, a drinking problem and an implied UTI. The aging cowboys are on the hunt, with no intention of taking their targets alive.

The ensuing chase makes you appreciate the simplicity of detective stories set before the days of DNA testing and GPS. Equipped with nothing but a car and a whole lot of rifles, Hamer and Gault speed down highways, trying to follow the trail of crime, but are always several hours behind the robbers. (They eventually think to turn on the radio.) Everywhere they go they are reminded that Bonnie and Clyde are nothing less than celebrities, adored far more than they are feared. This aggravates Costner’s Hamer to no end, who, through many intimidating glares, repeatedly reminds us that these are cold-blooded, sociopathic murderers. He even, at one point, beats up a gas station attendant who dares to wish the criminal couple luck, on the basis that they steal from the banks, rather than from the poor. As Bates reminds us: “Robin Hood never shot a gas attendant point blank in the face for four dollars.”

In a decade defined by gun violence and mass shootings, it’s more than easy to get behind a story that refuses to glorify the shooters. But rather than give voice to their victims, none of which have more than a few lines of dialogue, The Highwaymen argues, perplexingly, that the story we need to hear is that of the law enforcement. It’s a message that falls flat in the current cultural climate. The moral high ground that the film insists Hamer has is iffy, given the glee the Ranger takes in purchasing his own automatic weapons. Gault, thankfully, voices qualms on shooting anyone before they shoot first, but this idea is quickly dismissed. The noble thing to do, in the end, is to pull the trigger—so long as the government gives you the OK to do so.

For those who agree with that life outlook, you’ll enjoy the film. Costner and Harrelson are doing their thing, and they do it very well. (Particularly Harrelson, who, perhaps prematurely at the age of 57, slides nicely into the “old timer” role by adding a sprinkle of melancholy to his usual cheekiness.) The film looks great, as directed by Hancock. A scene featuring Bonnie and Clyde’s bullet-ridden bodies driving through a crowd of mourners is particularly effective. The commentary on celebrity culture and sensationalism, from scriptwriter John Fusco (Young Guns), gives viewers a little more to chew on than your average cops-and-robbers fare. Just don’t chew too long, or you might find it hard to swallow.

Stream The Highwaymen on Netflix