THE NEWTON BOYS

• Starring Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio and Skeet Ulrich
• Directed by Richard Linklater
• Rated PG-13, with nudity, moderate violence and profanity; running time 123 minutes
• With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film an 8

By Jack Garner
Staff film critic

(March 27, 1998) -- Playing a bunch of bank robbers, four of today's hot young actors -- Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio and Skeet Ulrich -- acquit themselves marvelously in The Newton Boys.

They play four Texas brothers of the 1920s who pride themselves on their unusual occupation in Richard Linklater's entertaining new slice of Americana.

The Newton Boys details a true story in the Bonnie and Clyde mode. It's the account of brothers who rose out of dusty rural poverty through clever thievery, managing to make off with hundreds of thousands of dollars without killing anyone -- or getting killed.

Though outlaws, they have a distinct roguish charm. They excuse their offbeat livelihood with the typical rationalization of bank robbers from Jesse James to Clyde Barrow: We don't steal from people; we still from banks who are reimbursed by insurance companies. And banks and insurance companies have been robbing people for years.

"We're just little thieves, robbing big thieves," is how Willis Newton puts it.

Willis (McConaughey) is the brains behind the Newton gang; he plans the robberies and keeps his undisciplined brothers in line. Clearly, the other Newtons belong on the family homestead, corralling cattle and breaking horses. But Willis is a businessman.

His brothers are:

Jess (Hawke), the least cautious, most playful sibling, with a roving eye for the girls and a drinking problem. He's the family's lovable loose cannon.

Joe (Ulrich), the youngest, sweetest and most insecure of the Newtons. He's never convinced robbing banks is a good thing, but he's too good a brother to argue much about it.

Dock (D'Onofrio), the oldest brother, a steadfast and strong man, but without brother Willis' organizing skills.

Director Linklater -- himself a Texan -- co-wrote the screenplay, based on an oral history of the four brothers by Claude Stanush. He then lavished extensive care recreating the clothing, architecture, ragtime music and verbal expressions of the day.

Linklater was previously known as a chronicler of Generation X lifestyles in Slacker and Dazed and Confused, but he plunges successfully into a different era. He obviously did his homework, and the attention to detail is impressive.

Unlike some recent period films with youthful appeal, such as 1988's Young Guns, The Newton Boys contains no obvious anachronisms and doesn't try to bend history to appeal to modern viewers. The fabulous 1920s music score, for example, won't be heard on MTV but perfectly fits the film.

The movie works best as an eccentric cultural history, and as a quirky character study of four distinct and colorful brothers.

Though all the principal actors are excellent, two stand out: Hawke hasn't been this thoroughly engaging in a long time; and relative newcomer Ulrich infuses the difficult role of family naysayer with sympathy and affection. As a suspenseful thriller, the film is less successful. The boys work with deadly explosives, constantly handle guns and are pursued by intense lawmen, yet they never seem quite as threatened as they should be. Under Linklater, much of what the Newtons do is too much of a lark. The film could use more danger.

But AS a lark, The Newton Boys is engrossing fun.

One final, important note: Linklater weds rare documentary footage to the end credits -- interviews of two of the surviving real Newton brothers before they died in the 1970s and '80s. The footage brilliantly cements the reality of the saga you've just witnessed, so don't don't dart out too quickly.