Hell or High Water

Dave and I went to the movies yesterday.  We had to choose between the Obama date movie or the modern western "Hell or High Water."  We saw the latter and it was terrific (as every one of the reviews I read said it would be).

It's set in modern day west Texas where the recession is still in full bloom.  So it's not the Mexicans or Native Americans against the cowboys.  It's the banks against everybody.  Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) are brothers trying to save their family farm by robbing banks.  One of them is sweet and loving.  The other is a "hell raiser" who's spent ten years in prison.

Marcus (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto (Gil Birmingham) are older (and wiser) Texas Rangers after the boys.   Their dialogue is so funny and so real.

Tanner and Toby

"Hell or High Water," despite the name, is one of those films for grown-ups.  It's dialogue driven.  It's beautifully filmed.  It has excellent music.  Here are a few things I learned:

• Banks are still robbing poor people
• Brothers who are very different can still love each other
• Texas Rangers who are very different can still love each other
• What "open carry" looks like in west Texas

In one scene the rangers stop for lunch in a dusty, empty restaurant called the "T-Bone."  The waitress, who has worked there 44 years, asks them what they don't want.  As it turns out they just had to decide which they didn't want, corn or green beans.  Because

everybody gets a T-bone and a baked potato.  She goes on to explain that some guy from New York once tried to order a trout.  So I also learned that:

• They don't sell no trout in west Texas

Here's the only thing that would have made this film better.  My brother Paul died one year ago tomorrow.  He would have loved this movie so seeing it with him (and Dave) would have made it about perfect.

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