THE BAYTOWN OUTLAWS

US, 2012, 98 minutes, Colour.
Clayne Crawford, Travis Fimmel, Daniel Cudmore, Andre Braugher, Billy Bob Thornton, Eva Longoria, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Zoe Bell, Michael Rappaport, Paul Wesley.
Directed by Barry Battles.

The Baytown Outlaws is a really rough film. It was written and directed by Barry Battles who uses a wild imagination, in the Tarantino tradition, to create three wild characters, three brothers who are being bought up by the local law enforcement authority. He is played by Andre Braugher. The brothers are played by Clayne Crawford, Travis Fimmel, an Australian born actor, and Daniel Cudmore. Also in the cast is Billy Bob Thornton as a megalomaniac killer and Eva Longoria as a woman who wants her Godson back. He is in a wheelchair and mentally and vocally limited, played by the British Thomas Brodie Sangster.
The film indicates immediately where it is headed as the three brothers attack a group in the house, slaughter them and then discover they have the wrong address. During their mission to rescue the boy, they crash into another house, killing most of the residents, fortunately not the boy they were sent to rescue. They are pursued by women bikers, by a group of Indians in a vehicle looking something like tank, by shooters at the rendezvous where all is to be settled.
Also in the cast is Paul Wesley as a police agent from the north, not welcome in the south. And Michael Rappaport as the owner of the diner which is completely destroyed.
It is the kind of film that Quentin Tarantino liked when he ran his video store and was fond of, the grindhouse movies of the seventies and eighties.

1. A violent and rough and tumble film? The American south? Credible characters and plot, or not?
2. The Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi locations? The countryside, the roads, towns, the diners, the native American camp at the end? Rough homes, affluent homes? The musical score?
3. The title, indication of the tone? The outlaw tradition in America? The heroes? Their violence? Criminals?
4. The opening sequence setting the tone, the siege of the house, the brutal killing of everyone, the ironic discovery that it was the wrong house? Introduction to the characters of the Oodie brothers?
5. Millard, his role as the leading law enforcement authority, African-American? A man of the south? With the other police? With the Washington representative? The lowest crime rate in the area, the irony of his sending in the Oodie Brothers as vigilantes?
6. The brothers themselves, violent, the brother without a voice and his machine, the youngest brother and his mistakes, Brick as dominant? Irony of their names, Brick, Lincoln, Mc Queen?
7. The later discovery of the turht, the death of the family, the OOdie boys being rescued by Millard, his bringing them up, his controlling them? His phone calls to them, his warnings?
8. The commission from Celeste, witnessing the attack on the house? To get her Godson? The three bullets from her father’s husband’s henchmen? The money? The later revelation of the reason, Rob in his wheelchair, coming of age, the settlement and the administration of the money? Her wanting it, her husband wanting it?
9. The brothers barging in, the slaughter in the house, missing Carlos and his henchmen? Finding Rob? Surprised at his condition? Mc Queen and his behavior, Brick correcting him, the irony of Mc Queen and his growing attachment to the boy? On the road? Millard’s phone call?
10. Carlos, personality, violence with his henchmen, his ruminations about life? The attack and his house, survival, killing his henchmen, wanting Rob back, the reasons? His sending the biker women on the group? His later calling in the Indians and their tank-like vehicle? Both groups being killed?
11. The women, at the brothel, the killings? Riding their bikes? Attacking the diner, flirting with the men, the attempt to kill them, their being defeated? The mayhem in the diner? The reaction of Lucky, and the destruction? How credible was group and biking women?
12. The Indians, the tank, the pursuit of the car, the machine guns, Lincoln getting into the vehicle, killing them all, rescuing Rob?
13. Reese, the FBI, coming from the north, Millard’s resentment, Reese and his standover tactics, the men fishing, his retreat, his research, the truth about Millard and the Oodie Brothers, confronting Millard, his hold over him, Millard’s decision, to save his family, going to jail, going to mediate? The irony of Reese doing a good job and being asked to stay in the area in command?
14. Brick and his bringing the group through? Lincoln and the knifings, Mc Queen sewing Lincoln up, surviving, using his talking machine, rob using it at the end? Mc Queen and his being wounded? The van picking them up, the nurse helping Lincoln?
15. The phone calls to Celeste, her coming to the rendezvous, under fire? The group attacking? The arrival of the police?
16. The parcel for Carlos, his arrogance, exploding?
17. The brothers in jail, their having discovered a little bit of humanity by their dealings with Robert, and the memories of their dead brother, in prison, possibly being reformed or not?