The Newton Boys is a 1998

1998 in film

-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 based on the true story of the Newton Gang

Newton Gang

The Newton Gang was an outlaw gang of the early 20th century, and the most successful train robbers and bank robbers in history. From 1919 through 1924 the gang robbed dozens of banks, claiming a number of eighty seven banks and six trains...

, a family of bank robbers from Uvalde, Texas

Uvalde, Texas

Uvalde is a city in and the county seat of Uvalde County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,929 at the 2000 census.Uvalde was founded by Reading Wood Black in 1853 as the town of Encina. In 1856, when the county was organized, the town was renamed Uvalde for Spanish governor Juan de...

. The film stars Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey

Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...

, Skeet Ulrich

Skeet Ulrich

Bryan Ray Trout , best known as Skeet Ulrich, is an American actor best known for starring in the CBS drama Jericho as Jake Green and for portraying Billy Loomis in Scream...

, Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...

, Vincent D'Onofrio

Vincent D'Onofrio

Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio is an American actor, director, film producer, writer, and singer. Often referred to as an actor's actor, his work as a character actor has earned him the nickname of "Human Chameleon"...

, and Dwight Yoakam

Dwight Yoakam

Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...

. It was filmed in Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, Bartlett

Bartlett, Texas

Bartlett is a city in Bell and Williamson Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 1,675 at the 2000 census, and 1,701 in the 2005 census estimate.Bartlett lies in two counties as well as two metropolitan areas...

, New Braunfels

New Braunfels, Texas

New Braunfels is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas that is a principal city of the metropolitan area. Braunfels means "brown rock" in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city's population was 57,740 as of the 2010 census, up 58% from the 2000...

, and San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

.

Plot

In the film, the Texas Ranger

Texas Ranger Division

The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...

 who arrests Jess Newton is Frank Hamer

Frank Hamer

Francis Augustus Hamer was a Texas Ranger, known in popular culture for his involvement in tracking down and killing the criminal duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in 1934...

. In reality, the arresting officer was Frank Hamer's brother Harrison, also a Texas Ranger.

Cast

• Matthew McConaughey
  Matthew McConaughey
  Matthew David McConaughey is an American actor.After a series of minor roles in the early 1990s, McConaughey gained notice for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused . He then appeared in films such as A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Tiptoes, Sahara, and We Are Marshall...
  
   as Willis Newton
• Skeet Ulrich
  Skeet Ulrich
  Bryan Ray Trout , best known as Skeet Ulrich, is an American actor best known for starring in the CBS drama Jericho as Jake Green and for portraying Billy Loomis in Scream...
  
   as Joe Newton
• Ethan Hawke
  Ethan Hawke
  Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
  
   as Jess Newton
• Vincent D'Onofrio
  Vincent D'Onofrio
  Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio is an American actor, director, film producer, writer, and singer. Often referred to as an actor's actor, his work as a character actor has earned him the nickname of "Human Chameleon"...
  
   as Dock Newton
• Dwight Yoakam
  Dwight Yoakam
  Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
  
   as Brentwood Glasscock
• Gail Cronauer
  Gail Cronauer
  Gail Cronauer is an American stage, television, and feature film actress and an acting professor. She has performed films as diverse as Oliver Stone's JFK to the TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger...
  
   as Ma Newton
• Julianna Margulies
  Julianna Margulies
  Julianna Luisa Margulies is an American actress and producer.After several small television roles, Margulies achieved success in her regular role as Nurse Carol Hathaway on NBC's long-running medical drama ER, for which she won an Emmy Award...
  
   as Louise Brown
• Lew Temple
  Lew Temple
  Lew Temple is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as Locus Fender in the action film, Domino starring Keira Knightley, and Cal, the diner manager in the comedy-drama Waitress starring Keri Russell....
  
   as Waiter
• Greg Chico as Newsman and photographer
• Madge Lacy as Court janitor

Reception

It received mixed to positive reviews from critics, with a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

based on 36 reviews.

External links

• Official site
• Morgenstern, Joe. March 27, 1998. "Prosperous Escapades Recounted In the Tale of 'The Newton Boys'." The Wall Street Journal