Hell or High Water

Year: 2016
Genre: Western
Directed: David Mackenzie
Stars: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, Katy Mixon, Dale Dickey, Christopher W. Garcia, Kevin Rankin, Melanie Papalia, Keith Meriweather, Kristin Berg, Jackamoe Buzzell
Production: CBS Films

The people that populate the world of Hell or High Water seem to stand at attention and out of time. They sit at the corner booth of their favorite diner sporting white gallon hats and speed through one horse towns on the way to the only profitable business; the local liquor store. It's a solemn austere existence; one reminiscent of Sam the Lion's in The Last Picture Show (1971). Yet there is no false hope to be had here. The ghosts of the past are long gone. The only thing left amid the boarded up downtowns and clearing fires is the possibility of bequeathal.

That is the basic idea brothers Toby (Pine) and Tanner Howard (Foster) have when they first don their ski masks and head for the nearest Midland Bank. Their scheme is remarkable in its simplicity; steal only from the cashier drawers, $20's, $50's, loose change; whatever they collect, they launder through the nearby Comanche Reservation Casino. The ultimate goal is to save their family farm. Seems ever since oil has been discovered on their turf, the bank has been just itching to foreclose and with the death of their mother, the second mortgage has become unsurmountable.

Much of the film was shot in and around the panhandle plains of west Texas. The camera's fixation on big sky and barren grazing land appeals to our inner-cowpoke.  Yet Hell or High Water is closer in spirit to Hud (1963) or Lonely Are the Brave (1962) than the high stake and higher implausibilities of The Searchers (1956). The stark small town blight litters the plains like pools of runoff and while the people talk the Big Jake talk, they mostly come across like the townsfolk of Cold Turkey (1971).

I'll gladly shoot at them until they shoot back!

Even Toby seems inclined to cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Every tension building chance of capture brings with it the possibility that Toby may just loose his cool, just may catch himself in a lie, just may fold. Yet something keeps him there, shotgun loaded, robbing banks with his older brother. Call it a moral imperative, his family is on their last legs financially and he has two sons to support, but in a sense he's also keeping the spirit of Texas alive by acting like Billy the Kid.

Yet every Billy the Kid must have a Pat Garrett and for that we have the ambulant and ever jaded Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Bridges). Set to retire wrapped around a leather Barcalounger, Hamilton jumps at a chance to hunt "them two boys down," going so far as to stake out a bank they're fated to hit. Jeff Bridges brings all the gravitas an actor of his caliber does to this remarkably modest film. He brings unexpected mirth to Hamilton whose shrewd investigations and causal bigotry have a ring of west Texas authenticity and twangy cheer.

If ever there was an actor best suited for this film however it's Ben Foster as the older, more criminal minded Tanner. He blissfully antagonizes everyone he meets, fancying himself a Comanche: lord of the plains and enemy to all. The only person he shows love for is his brother which proves his most enigmatic quality. Living his life in and out of prison can harden a man, even to the embrace of long suffering family. Yet when asked "why did you agree to do this with me then?" Tanner responds "Because you asked me to little brother," without skipping a beat.

Hell or High Water is a modest, under-the-radar crime drama told confidently and brilliantly by director David Mackenzie. It is at once a composite of Robin Hood crime drama and elegy westerns and an example of seamless top-to-bottom storytelling. While Hell or High Water comes from well-worn traditions, it is exceedingly rare to see a film of this caliber. Like the people who populate the film, it simply stands out of time.

Final Grade: A-