Director – David Mackenzie – 2016 – US – Cert. 15 – 102m
*****
Two brothers embark on a series of bank robberies even as two Texas Rangers follow their trail – out in the UK on 4K UHD
Entering the Texas Midlands bank early in the morning, a woman employee (Dale Dickey from the G, 2023; Iron Man 3, Shane Black, 2013) finds herself at gunpoint from two masked men in the middle of a robbery of a Texas Midlands bank. Sadly, only Mr. Clauson (William Sterchi) has the keys to the safe – and he won’t be in ‘til 8.30. At which point, one of the pair pistol whips him after his friendly, “good mornin’”. The gung-ho car driver is the elder brother Tanner (Ben Foster from Christy, David Michod, 2025; The Messenger, Oren Moverman, 2009); his quieter younger brother Toby (Chris Pine from Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins, 2017; Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, 2009) tells him to slow down.
Another Texas Midlands interior: an old man (Buck Taylor from Yellowstone, TV series, 2018-24; Gettysburg, Ronald F. Maxwell, 1993) is talking with the teller (Kristin K. Berg) about the box of old coins he found when the pair burst in and take the money from the till. As they leave, no longer held at gunpoint, he shoots at them. They drive out of town to a pit where they bury the car with a digger.
Their mother has recently died: her medical bed lies empty. The brothers mooch about the house. They talk in a diner: Toby owes his wife Debbie a lot in child support. While he’s chatting with the waitress Jerry Ann (Katy Mixon), Tanner commits an impromptu robbery at a nearby Midland branch. Toby thanks he’s mad: that’s their bank. Another car to bury at the ranch.
Texas Rangers Hamilton (Jeff Bridges from Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Michael Cimino, 1974; Fat City, John Huston, 1972; The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich, 1971 – three movies cited as relevant to this one by director Mackenzie in the excellent, half-hour-long director and cast Q&A on the UHD disc) and Parker (Gil Birmingham from Yellowstone; Wind River, Taylor Sheridan, 2017) discuss the robberies at the scene with Clauson. They hear about the new robbery over the car radio. They interview the teller (Amber Midthunder from Novocaine, Dan Berk, Robert Olsen, 2025).
Talking to the manager (Joe Berryman), it turns out the bank caught the robbery on camera (whereas the other two didn’t work on account of being in the middle of a security upgrade). Hamilton checks out the diner, asking about the two strangers. A cowboy (the film’s screenwriter Taylor Sheridan) gives him a description, Jerry Ann won’t surrender their two hundred dollar tip as evidence since Hamilton has no warrant.
The brothers cross the border into Oklahoma, changing their money for chips at a gambling joint. Then they head to a Midlands with a cheque of their ‘winnings’. They have until Thursday to pay off the amount owed before their mother’s land is taken. Tanner buys a used truck; Toby heads to see Debbie (Marin Ireland from Materialists, Celine Song, 2025) and his teenage son Justin (John-Paul Howard), the brother that’s at home when he visits, and tell them about his mother. That she left her two grandsons the ranch, and they found oil on it.
Ranger Hamilton has himself and Parker stake out the next Texas Midlands bank in the hope of catching the two boys when they rob it. Waiting, they sit and discuss how expensive this town is, with “a rattlesnake for a waitress” in its one restaurant. Parker talks about how the grandparents of the locals took the land off his people.
The two robbers turn up at a bank only to find the branch has closed. So, they head to the next one at Coleman. Except, it’s too far, so they head for the Poes branch. Which fits with Hamilton’s reckoning, so he and Parker driver over there. It turns out to be a bigger branch than the others. This is the robbery where a woman surreptitiously texts for help, while a concealed guard and another man on the floor start shooting the robbers. They get away, after being shot at by two more men, with Toby wounded. Tanner hits him to make his little brother snap out of it, then realises that Toby’s been hit – and badly.
On the road behind them, a convoy of cars. Tanner stops, shoots at them with a rifle, causing them to turn round and leave. He drops Toby and the money off at Toby’s car. They separate, and now Tanner finds another convoy on his tail. Half way up a hill, he uses fire, a petrol can and the gradient to turn his car into a Molotov cocktail on wheels as it freewheels backwards into one of the convoy. He holes up on the ridge with his rifle, shooting at the cops…
All this contrasts with the serene but wounded Toby driving. He must negotiate a road block. Then get to a bank where he insists the man he deals with gives him a receipt of the fax to Toby’s lawyer, confirming that the deal has gone through in time.
A final scene has Hamilton visit Toby on what turns out to be the latter’s wife’s ranch. This thing’ll haunt you for the rest of your days, says the lawman.
On hearing that the robbers have just hit Poes and feeling that he and Parker are about to catch the robbers, Hamilton gets his colleague to turn on some giddyap music on the radio, whereupon, to his horror, they get some Christian music praising Jesus. “Please, not that,” pleads Hamilton.
Surprisingly, given that the narrative is ostensibly about a string of bank robberies, what keeps it moving is, on the one hand, the relationship between the two brothers and, on the other, the relationship between the two cops. It’s at once a thriller and a drama which completely delivers the goods in both camps.
The movie is perfectly cast, with all four leads giving superlative performances, a sensibility which goes right down the cast list – even the smallest bit parts are memorable. It looks great too, thanks to crisp cinematography by regular Mackenzie cameraman Giles Nutgens (Fuze, 2025; Relay, 2024; Perfect Sense, 2011) and no nonsense production design by Tom Duffield (from Patriots Day, Peter Berg, 2016; Ring, Gore Verbinsi, 2002; Ed Wood, Tim Burton, 1994). Considerable credit must go to the superlative screenplay by Taylor Sheridan, the writer behind Yellowstone, Wind River (2017) and Sicario (2015).
The disc’s ten-minute plus featurette: Enemies Forever, the Characters of Hell and High Water highlights the two sets of brothers – one real, one metaphorical – at the film’s centre. Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan talks about his finding inspiration in the Texan small towns struggling to survive in the present day, the toughness of the folks who stayed behind. As cast members and the director unpack this, Sheridan goes on to talk about the themes of protector and failure to protect in both the two brothers and the two Texas Rangers. The sole purpose of the rangers is to protect person and property, says actor Gil Birmingham. Adds Jeff Bridges, this is a film that helps us better understand the human condition. Chris Pine talks about quiet moments in which characters try to come to terms with the fact of their lives effectively being over.
Incidentally, this featurette contains spoilers – so make sure you watch the movie first.
Another ten-minute plus featurette Damaged Heroes – The Performances of Hell or High Water is a succinct look at the two pair of male characters, and what it is about the two sets of actors playing the two sets of leading men that’s special. Observations by actresses Katy Mixon and Marin Ireland, along with director David Mackenzie, help to contribute to our understanding of how the various performances come together here.
In the slightly shorter featurette Visualising the Heart of America, director David Mackenzie talks about how the film is about the land and the relationship of people to it, something he finds deeply cinematic. Director, cinematographer and production designer went on a road trip to immerse themselves in the West Texas milieu. The first two, being Brits, picked up on elements that a local like Taylor Sheridan says he takes for granted. For Tom Duffield, it’s all about Earth tones and dust, something you couldn’t recreate in a studio (as opposed to a location). Mackenzie talks about the bigness of the landscape and the smallness of the people; a film about people, a film about land.
An even briefer interview with Mackenzie tackles the challenges for a British director capturing the American identity, specifically that he tried to surround himself with the culture of West Texas to make a film, as it were, from the inside of that place rather than from the outside. He’s happy that Texans seem to think the film captures their attitudes.
There may not be that many extras in this disc, but what’s here makes for a very nice package. And the movie, with its harsh, West Texas light, looks great in 4K HD.
Hell or High Water is out in the UK on 4K UHD.
Trailer: