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Trailer:
Synopsis:
Until now, the saga of the
Newton boys remains unknown
to most Americans. Success
in bank robbing means
getting away with it clean,
not gaining notoriety
through "wanted" posters.
The Newton boys, who all
lived to be old men, were
usually quiet about the
details of their "business."
Former Life Magazine
reporter and screenwriter
Claude Stanush befriended
Willis and Joe Newton in 1973 while collecting
Texas tales for a book of short stories he was
writing, and quickly decided the Newton Boys'
lives and exploits were worthy of their own
volume.
Stanush spent countless hours with Willis
and Joe Newton, recording on audiotape their
life story in their own words. He eventually
transcribed, edited and compiled this material
into an oral history, The Newton Boys:
Portrait of an Outlaw Gang, published in
Austin in 1994 by Statehouse Press.
After reading an article Stanush had written
for Smithsonian magazine about the Newton
Boys, producer Anne Walker-McBay and director
Richard Linklater approached the writer about
obtaining the motion picture rights to the
book.
Stanush, who had
scrutinized and rejected
various offers over the
years, was thrilled that
Linklater and Walker-McBay
would be bringing the
brothers' story to the
screen. "After meeting with
Anne and Rick," Stanush
remembers, "I knew they would tell an honest
and interesting story that would say something
about the history of the West. More
importantly, I realized they wanted to make a
film of which the Newton brothers would be
proud."
Walker-McBay, in turn, found much to admire
in Stanush's multi-textured account of the
Newtons, combining not only a book, magazine
articles and a documentary film, but also a
genuine friendship with the Boys. "The story
captured my interest," Walker-McBay points
out, "because it is an amazingly vivid piece
of American history that had yet to be told.
"A lot has been written of gunslingers and
outlaws in the wild west," she continues, "but
the Newtons' story is much more than that. It
has action and emotion. It's the true story of
four real-life brothers who were the nation's
most successful bank robbers, yet they never
killed a single person. Most outlaws gain
their fame by killing a lot of innocent
people. This story was different. It was that
aspect, the part of the story that was about
family, loyalty and a personal code of ethics
that fascinated me."
Linklater was similarly
attracted to the story's
mix of genres and its
basis in historical fact.
"I love Westerns, and I
love Gangster films, and
THE NEWTON BOYS is both.
I've always been
interested in outlaws who
are career criminals --
professionals who approach their work in a
business-like way," Linklater continues. "The
Newtons' professionalism was the reason for
their success, and ultimately their obscurity.
It was only later in their lives that they
talked about it at any length. It meant
everything to me that this is a true story -
the strange twists and turns of what really
happened to the Newtons is far better than
anything that could have been made up."
Linklater also relished the challenge of
bringing a legend to the screen intact. "The
films I've done up to this point have all been
more about character than story, but with THE
NEWTON BOYS I felt for the first time I was
telling an exciting action-filled story, but
one that at its core was still driven by great
characters."
After the rights to
Stanush's book were
secured, the author,
Linklater and Clark
Walker began writing the
screenplay. Walker admits
they had their work cut
out for them. "We did a
tremendous amount of
research while writing,"
he remembers. "Fortunately, Willis Newton had
a wonderful descriptive memory for places,
dates, family names, geography of the land,
what trains he rode, what banks he robbed and
which towns they hit. It was our job to follow
up with each county historian and learn
exactly what happened. We also had help from
The National Archives, historical societies
and lots of folks who were there."