Movie review
March 15, 2019 · 133 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Highwaymen.
Woke representation / casting
Casting matches the historical 1930s Texas and Southern setting with no audience-visible diversity emphasis or identity signaling.
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue stays practical and focused on the investigation with no modern activist speeches or identity-based messaging.
Identity-driven story themes
The narrative follows a classic law-versus-violent-criminals structure with zero identity politics, gender, race, or sexuality arcs.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film presents professional law enforcement positively and questions the public’s romantic view of outlaws, but uses no modern activist framing of institutions, patriarchy, or systemic issues.
Review
The Highwaymen is a 2019 historical crime drama that follows two retired Texas Rangers, Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, as they hunt down the real-life outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow across the South in 1934. The film shows the pair as remorseless killers who left a trail of dead lawmen and civilians while the public romanticized them. It contains no noticeable woke, identity-driven, or social-justice elements and stays focused on a straightforward procedural manhunt from the law enforcement perspective.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The story follows documented history with only minor dramatic adjustments typical of biopics.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No right-leaning or anti-woke complaints exist; some progressive reviewers instead criticized the film for its law-and-order perspective.
Creator track record context
Key creatives have long careers in historical dramas and commercial films with no documented pattern of activist or identity-focused work.
Production
