The Depression Era drama about the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde will debut next month on Netflix.
Netflix has released the official trailer for The Highwaymen — the Depression Era drama starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as the dedicated lawmen who relentlessly pursued bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker — and now we’re even more eager to watch when the movie debuts March 29 on the streaming service.
Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Rookie, The Blind Side) and written by John Fusco (Young Guns, Hidalgo), The Highwaymen focuses on Texas Rangers Frank Hamer (Costner) and Maney Gault (Harrelson), who are drawn out of retirement in a last-ditch effort to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde. Lee Simmons (John Carroll Lynch), head of the Texas Prison System, convinces Governor Ma Ferguson (Academy Award winner Kathy Bates) to put the storied lawmen on the trail of the elusive fugitives. Despite skepticism from state and federal agents, who take a dim view of their old-time, frontier methods, Hamer and Gault eventually succeed in ending the bloody crime spree that shocked — and fascinated — millions of Americans.
Fusco views The Highwaymen as a story about a unique partnership of extraordinary men.
“It should be pointed out with clarity,” says Fusco, “that during the pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde, Frank Hamer wanted one man and one man only” to join him on the hunt. “And that was Maney Gault... Hamer personally sought him out. As Captain Frank Hamer is finally being introduced to the public as the true hero in the Bonnie and Clyde story and not the mustache-twirling villain from the 1967 movie [Bonnie and Clyde], Captain Maney Gault should also go down in history as one of the reluctant heroes on that day, and one of the greatest Texas Rangers of all time.”
The Highwaymen — which you can read more about in our upcoming April issue — is scheduled to have its world premiere March 10 at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, and begin a limited theatrical run March 15. Here is the Netflix trailer.
