Meredith Herald
April 1, 1998
_8 Campus Extras
These Newton Boys ’ actions get no reactions
Tory Hoke
F«alur«s Edior
God bless those lovable
Newton brothers. They may be
felons, but good felons—they
never killed anyone, though they
may have punched and pistol-
whipped a few. Bank robbers
haven’t been so cute and non-
threatening since tan and toothy
Redford and Newman, who
made a much better stick-’em-up
movie.
As in any criminal-as-hero
western, the morality of The
Newton Boys is iffy. The poor
Texas Newtons never forget their
roots, and only steal from the big
banks who exploited them (even
before Willis Newton, played by
Matthew McConaughey, strikes
it rich, be drops three of his four
coins in the coffer of some per
forming orphans.) The two
brothers, Willis and Dock
(Vincent D’onofrio), that have
done jail time by 1919, when the
movie begins, are the wise and
respected ones. Of the other two,
Jess (Ethan Plawke) is a punk
and a drunk (although awfully
lovable—he receives the lightest
sentence at the end, as a credit to
‘Get on the
Ofhce of Student AcnvmES
AND Leadership Deveujpment
GET ON THE BUS and
CRUISE TO LEADERSHIP
SUCCESS! The North Carolina
Association of Women in
Education is coordinating a dele
gation of NC Women students to
take a bus to the National
Conference for College Women
Student Leaders at Georgetown
University in Washington D.C.,
June 4-6, 1998. The group will
take the bus there and back.
Accomodations and meals will
be on the campus of Georgetown
University. This will be an excel
lent opportunity for a Meredith
student to attend a conference
with nationally recognized
women leaders from across tbe
United Stated, and the student
will be able to network with
women leaders form all across
our state.
Meredith College will be
sponsoring scholar^ips for six
students to attend the conference.
The total cost for tbe conference
will be no more than S350 per
his gregarious demeanor), and
Joe (Skeet Ulrich) is young,
inexperienced, and too much
molded by his Baptist father. Tlie
brothers lovably wonder- when
next Dock will break out of jail,
and when he does he lives as
high and wild as tbe rest of them,
never fearing tbe descent of his
jailers, who never appear.
Then again, the law of The
Newton Boys is awfully evil. Tbe
most corrupt cops and bankers
are the nicest guys. TheKewtons
justify their robbing with tbe
facts that the banks are insured
and nobody gets killed. Of
course, the suffering of any big
business will be handed down to
its customers. Much is made of
how tbe Newton-struck banks
bilk their insurance companies;
less is made of how these banks
step up rates on the farmers they
serve.
A few det^ls distract from the
events. Joe and Jess make money
breaking horses rodeo-style,
which reminds one of how H.
Ross Perot used to tie a green
horse to a tree and one of its legs
to its body, which, after a few
hours of balancing on three legs.
person. This amount includes
transportation, lodging and most
meals. The scholarships are
worth $300 each. All scholarship
recipients will be responsible for
contributing the remaining SSO,
along with any additional spend
ing money.
Applications may be picked
up beginning Thursday, April 2,
1998 in the Office of Student
Activities, 202 Cate Center and
at the Information Desk. The
application deadline is Friday,
April 17 at 5:00 p.m.
Applications should be turned in
to the Office of Student
Activities and Leadership
Development. Call this o^ice at
X8338 with any questions.
NOTE: Interviews will be held
for fmalists the week of April 20,
1998. All finalists will be called
to set op an interview during that
week.
This trip is sponsored by tlie
Creative Ideas Fund of Meredith
College.
would leave it docile as a dog to
riding. One supposes that these
Newtons are hard-w(xking, if not
very resourceful. The film
chooses to reduce most of the
actual bank-robbing to a mon
tage while dwelling on more dull
Newton life, like posing for pho
tos and driving. The Newtons
hide from a search plane in a
cornfield in broad daylight with
their getaway car—bow they
arrived there is mysterious, since
they’d have to cut a swath of
com with their car to get it there.
The only serious violence (there
is another episode, but not even
the soundtrack takes it seriously)
happens to E>ock, and though the
brothers manage to find a doctor
for him they can’t find a damp
towel to clean up his very yecchy
face. Juhanne Marguilies is
endearing and glamorous as
Louise, wbo, unfortunately, is
written as a total weenie who
returns time and again to Willis,
and is saddled with a convenient
ly disappearing, reappearing son.
The Willis-Louise love story is
small, but not small enough.
The film’s only saving graces
are its actors and its basis in real
life. All four brothers and
Dwight Yoakam as a nicely per
formed, helpful chemist are right
on and unwavering in theic
accents. McConaughey wins his
audience, Hawke improves his
range and credibility to a viewer
like me, Ulrich demonstrates
he’s more than a Depp look-alike
(though he may have Depp’s
gifts), and D’onofrio, a talented
and seasoned character actor,
waits for the masculinity back
lash to follow the DiCaprio rush.
The closing credits roll over
footage from a Newton docu
mentary and a visit by litde Joe
Newton in 1980 to the Johnny
Carson show. All Newtons Uved
past tbe age of 77, and WilUs
made it to 90, gleefully without
remorse or sbame until the end.
Also worth noting is that
Durham, NC’s Bad Livers write
and perform most of the music.
Clockwise from left: Matthew McConaughey, Vincent
D'onofrio, Ethan Hawke and Skeet Ulrich.
Bus’ to D.C.
To All Meredith Students:
Sophomore Class is having a
Boxer Shorts Sale this Week!
This pretty red-plaid flannel
shorts have pockets and
drawstring.
They also say:
“Meredith College”
$9.00
Any ?s Call Leta Jo x7571 or Aida x7769