It's 1934. Bonnie Parker helps Clyde Barrow escape a Texas prison work gang. Governor Miriam "Ma" Ferguson (Kathy Bates) faces public pressure. Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) is recruited to be a highwayman with orders to take down the rampaging fugitives. He and his partner Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) are former Texas Rangers which was disbanded in those more civilized times. The duo tracks the fugitives to their ultimate ambush deaths in Louisiana.

Netflix seems to be taking over these medium sized films. This one tackles Bonnie & Clyde but from the other side. It's fascinating that Bonnie & Clyde were and continue to be media sensations. There are countless versions of them on the small screen and the big screen. They are cultural icons. They're basically shorthand for criminal Romeo & Juliet. They are cool and hot. They are the excitement and the romantic. Almost nothing is given to those who hunted and killed them. So it's really fascinating to see these icons with the eyes of their pursuers. Whether it's Costner, the time period, or the criminal icons, this reminds me of a harsher and less glossy The Untouchables. Bonnie & Clyde are more like side characters. They are the shark in Jaws. This paints a heroic weary picture of Hamer and Gault. These are old gunslingers from the Ole West. The truth is a little muddier. The ambush is interesting which does something more than the usual. The production is pretty good although I was concerned about authenticity at the beginning. It is closer than most Hollywood production. These are great characters. Costner and Harrelson are well within their elements. This is an engaging movie as a companion piece to the countless Bonnie & Clyde movies.

The Highwaymen is based on true facts but felt too fictionalised to me.

Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and Manny Gault (Woody Harrelson) are two former Texas Rangers put out to grass by Governor Ma Ferguson (Kathy Bates) who disbanded them for being out of control.

Now they have been brought back to active service to apprehend Bonnie and Clyde. The common people seem to treat them like folk heroes. To Hamer they are evil criminals who have killed 10 lawmen and 3 civilians.

Hamer and Gault come across as two grumpy old men on the road. Gault feels guilty about their shared dark past. Director John Lee Hancock sets an image of rural America gripped with economic hardship and bank foreclosures. You can see why Bonnie and Clyde would be seen as two people trying to buck the system.

The film is sluggish and really slows down in the middle. Hamer seems to have crime detecting abilities that shows up the new fangled FBI as clueless.

The film cleverly deglamourises Bonnie and Clyde. We hardly see their faces and they do not have much dialogue.

The film starts in Eastham, Texas 1934 with a prison break. Bonnie and Clyde are on the loose and the police are helpless to stop them. Only former Texas Rangers Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) can stop them...in Frank's wife's 85HP Ford with suicide doors that needs oil.

This is the story of the hunt for the outlaws from the law enforcement point of view. Frank shows no mercy and takes no prisons. He is the type of guy that says, "Hands up" after the outlaws are dead.

Entertaining story even with Costner playing a straight man for his side kick. They are the over-the-hill gang that uses their brains and out thinks the younger guys.