The Highwaymen
Having grown up in Texas, and worked in Law Enforcement there I became a fan of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer.
I have read a lot about him over the years, and his participation in hunting down Bonnie & Clyde back in May of 1934.
The movie The Highwaymen just started playing on Netflix. It is fairly accurate from all I have read & studied about the subject matter.
I highly recommend it for those who are interested.
Trinity +++
I have read a lot about him over the years, and his participation in hunting down Bonnie & Clyde back in May of 1934.
The movie The Highwaymen just started playing on Netflix. It is fairly accurate from all I have read & studied about the subject matter.
I highly recommend it for those who are interested.
Trinity +++
0
-
It didn't sound all that interesting to me but the wife wanted to watch it.
The part that I didn't quite get was Hamer buying such a large battery of guns for just the two rangers.0 -
I want to see it, but I refuse to subscribe to Obamaflix. I'll see it when it is available to the unwashed masses. 0 -
Saw it this week. Thought it was good. Possibly over kill as far as how many guns but Barrow had escaped more than once and ran roadblocks. Killed several police officers. I thought the firearms were dead on for the period. Good movie. Totaly different take than Bonnie and Clide. The way people admired the criminals and then tried to rip off souvinors from the bodies shows that some things never change and some people are really warped. 0 -
The arsenal they bought had most everything but the Remington model 8 with a custom extended magazine, they have been saying for decades, he used when hunting Bonnie and Clyde. I may have missed it when he ordered his firearms in the gun store, don't think so. 0 -
So not "Plunkett and Macleane"? True Highway men. 0 -
I thought it was a pretty good movie also. 0 -
I think it looks pretty good.
But I don't think I can stomach Woody Harrelson for an hour and a half.0 -
Yea, it?s got nothing to do with any dope smoking Willie music.
I read that the 35 Remington that Frank Hammer had was one he was given personally by Remington. He had it on the show when he left his house, and before he bought the arsenal. He is also seen with it at the ambush.
As far as buying all the weapons, I think that was a bit of embellishment, but the weapons were some that were used in the ambush. It also was cool to see how in 1934 a person could walk into a gunshop in Texas and buy such firearms. Talk about the good old days...
Trinity +++0 -
Thanks for the tips. Will watch it. The old Bonnie and Clyde with Warren Beatty and co was a long time ago... 0 -
I've never thought of Frank Hamer as much of a hero. Complete disregard for the law, often way overstepped his authority, and probably murdered way more men than Clyde Barrow did. Toward the end of the ambush, when there was no longer any threat from Bonnie and Clyde, he walked around to the front of the car and shot Bonnie in the face through the windshield. Then he stole all the weapons and other items in the car and sold them for personal profit. When he ran out of those items, he visited all the pawn shops buying up cheap used weapons and sold them as genuine Clyde Barrow items. Yup, some hero. 0 -
Well, that?s not being very truthful.
Frank Hamer didn?t do the things you allege. You should describe the illegal incidents he partakes in if your so knowledgeable of them.
He didn?t shoot her in the face, and it was the LA Deputy who shot her & Clyde in the head. In fact her autopsy photos show no clear face shot.
It is a well known falsehood that Hamer kept the weapons found in the car. He didn?t have the authority in LA to keep them. It was the LA Sheriff at the scene who kept the firearms, or at least most of them. Check out the interview with Perry Carver (Bonnie & Clyde) historian, and owner of the Ambush museum in Gibsland LA...https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ilhViZudTNQ
Hamer didn?t profit much from the killing of those two killers. He rarely gave interviews, and of the over $25K in award money less then $2k was ever released, and it had to be split up six ways.
Read his autobiography, he pulls no punches. In fact he pretty much tells it like it was. It was a different time back then, and when Poncho Via?s boy?s were trying to cause trouble along the Texas & Mexico boarders during & before WWI, Hamer & his Rangers were all that stopped them in Texas for the most part. Those dead Mexicans were not innocent victims. Their justice was dealt out in a manner the times dictated.
My thoughts about the movie:
1) I was never under any illusions about the Texas Rangers' legacy either before or after seeing this film. Their reputation, at least outside of Texas, has long preceded them, good or bad.
2) This movie was not supposed to be about the history of the Texas Rangers or its main protagonist. It was supposed to be about hunting down Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker.
3) I was glad to see that the film debunked the romanticized "Bonnie & Clyde" myths. Hollywood did us no favors with the Warren Beatty / Faye Dunaway cartoon caricatures of them in their 1967 movie. These two were a couple of downright evil criminals who killed at the bat of an eye. They had already determined they were never going to be taken alive, so maybe it made a certain preverse sense, at least in the spirit of the times, to send someone after them who didn't want to take them alive anyhow.
4) An argument can be made of how Clyde was a product of the strained injustice of the Texas Prison Syestem at the time, and there is much proof of this that is known. However, even if he suffered PTSD from his experiences spent at the Eastham Unit, it doesn?t justify his criminal exploits afterwards.
5) I do not feel that Hamer was in any way "whitewashed" or put up on a "hero" pedestal in this movie. If fact, the whole purpose of Maney Gault, the Harrelson character, seemed to be to keep us realistic about them and prevent the viewers from admiring Hamer too much.
Trinity +++0 -
tomh. wrote:I think it looks pretty good.
But I don't think I can stomach Woody Harrelson for an hour and a half.
Woody probably played the best part of his life in this movie. I normally don't care for him in movies but in this one he did a good job.0 -
They said they all got killed but I hear they're living still. 0 -
Watched it last night. One of the best movies I?ve seen in a while. I was surprised to see that many paved roads in the South during that time period.
A little bit about Frank Hamer:
https://firearmslawyer.net/blog/frank-hamer-and-his-guns/0 -
I enjoyed the movie very much. I'm not a Woody Harrelson fan, but I thought he played a great part.
When Hamer buys all the weapons at the gun shop and says " and give me that old Winchester" he received a "newer" 94 carbine with the barrel band behind the front sight..... The Remington Model 11's seemed spot on(no magazine cut off like the sister A5 Browning), and his Remington Model 8 was correct except it didn't have the extended magazine.
I thought it was a great movie.0 -
Mr. Perfect wrote:They said they all got killed but I hear they're living still.
Exactly, they are holed up with Elvis, Butch and Sundance at the Hole in the Wall. A little bar in Laredo.0 -
He Dog wrote:Mr. Perfect wrote:They said they all got killed but I hear they're living still.
Exactly, they are holed up with Elvis, Butch and Sundance at the Hole in the Wall. A little bar in Laredo.
And they'll be back again, and again and again and again and again.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
18 comments