History Film / TheHighwaymen

* ForWantOfANail: When Hamer talks to Clyde's father, they both argue that this often turns people into who they are. The latter claims that Clyde's StartOfDarkness was stealing a chicken out of hunger and being monitored by the police long afterwards. Hamer relates that his entry into law enforcement began when he killed his boss in revenge for shooting him, and that the only reason he wasn't charged with murder was because the man he killed was already a wanted criminal.

* CoolGuns: The scene where Hamer purchases all of the guns is an idea to how easy it was to obtain automatic weapons during the pre-National Firearms Act Depression era (barring, of course, being able to afford them). Hamer especially favors a Colt Monitor (a "civilian" version of the [[{{BFG}} Browning Automatic Rifle]] with a big compensator) as a long gun after buying it, and even showcases how destructive it is on both a "No Trespassing" sign and Bonnie and Clyde.

** During the climax; Hamer attempts to get Bonnie and Clyde to surrender and the group does not open fire until they see them attempt to pull out their weapons. The accounts of the real ambush vary, but most agree that the posse didn't give an order to halt before opening fire, and other accounts claim that officer Oakley jumped out and opened fire too early, leading the rest to follow along.
** The ending of the film strongly implies that Hamer's reputation is hit from being the face of the group that killed Bonnie and Clyde, but the truth is more complicated. Public opinions on the pair had already turned against them by the time of the ambush, but the circumstances of the ambush, chiefly the supposed lack of a halt order and the overwhelming firepower unloaded into the two, is what caused public sympathy to swing back toward the outlaws.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Minor one for Hamer, Gault and rest of the officers that ambush Bonnie and Clyde at the climax; Hamer attempts to get the pair to surrender and the group does not open fire until they see them attempt to pull out their weapons. In real life, the team ''immediately'' opened fire on Bonnie and Clyde the second their vehicle stops.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: In the inverse of the usual portrayal they receive, Bonnie and Clyde are even more ruthless and bloodthirsty than they were in reality. This includes shooting a gas station attendant dead over four dollars[[note]]While the gang was known for taking attendants hostage, there's no evidence that they outright killed one simply to get out of paying. It's possible that this event could have been based on an actual murder where Clyde attacked and executed a butcher in a sixty dollar robbery, though this happened early in the crime spree[[/note]], pinning the murder of Wade [=McNabb=] on Clyde[[note]]There's little to suggest that Clyde was the one who killed [=McNabb=], and it's more likely that one of the prisoners he broke out of Eastham was responsible. The real [=McNabb=] was found dead in the woods after police received a note directing them to his body, whereas the film shows Hamer and Gault finding [=McNabb=] dead in his home[[/note]], and Bonnie executing a wounded officer during the Grapevine shooting[[note]]Which is based on a false testimony where a witness claimed that Bonnie had executed one of the officers. While the witness later admitted to making this up, the media ran with the story and it was a major factor in turning the public against the couple. The actual shooters were Clyde and Henry Methvin, with Bonnie remaining in their car during the shooting[[/note]].

* TheFaceless: Bonnie and Clyde are never shown up-close until their death scene, adding to their mystique. When Hamer finally has them dead to rights after luring the pair into a trap, the two spree killers look surprisingly young (they were in their mid-twenties when they committed their crimes).

** The same can be said of the later scene where a crowd swarms the cars carrying Bonnie and Clyde's bodies. In real life, someone ripped out some of Bonnie’s hair, and someone else ripped off one of Clyde’s fingers.

* HumblePie: A gas station attendant arrogantly tells Hamer and Gault that he admires Bonnie & Clyde and won't help them. Hamer gives the man a triple-decker knuckle sandwich and then tells him in graphic detail about the innocent police officer the two outlaws just killed, and about that officer's now-destitute family, and makes it clear (via a cocked gun) that he will consider the attendant a willing accomplice if he doesn't spill what he knows. The attendant quickly complies.

* PrideBeforeAFall: A gas station attendant arrogantly tells Hamer and Gault that he admires Bonnie & Clyde and won't help them. Hamer gives the man a triple-decker knuckle sandwich and then tells him in graphic detail about the innocent police officer the two outlaws just killed, and about that officer's now-destitute family, and makes it clear (via a cocked gun) that he will consider the attendant a willing accomplice if he doesn't spill what he knows. The attendant quickly complies.

* SuddenHumility: A gas station attendant arrogantly tells Hamer and Gault that he admires Bonnie & Clyde and won't help them. Hamer gives the man a triple-decker knuckle sandwich and then tells him in graphic detail about the innocent police officer the two outlaws just killed, and about that officer's now-destitute family, and makes it clear (via a cocked gun) that he will consider the attendant a willing accomplice if he doesn't spill what he knows. The attendant quickly complies.

* PrisonBreak: Bonnie and Clyde breaking several prisoners out of Eastham Prison Farm is what instigates the film's plot. TruthInTelevision, and historians believe this was Clyde's ultimate goal of the crime spree - to get revenge against the prison due to abuses he suffered during a two-year stay within its walls.

* ConvenientlyEmptyRoads: While chasing Bonnie and Clyde, Hamer and Gault encounter very little traffic. {{Justified}}, since it takes place in the 1930s.

In the early 1930s during TheGreatDepression, Bonnie and Clyde are carving a bloody path through the midwest. Retired Texas Rangers Frank Hamer (Creator/KevinCostner) and Maney Gault (Creator/WoodyHarrelson) are tasked with tracking the pair down.

-->'''Gault''' (''reading [[PurpleProse one of Bonnie's crappy poems]], which was published by a newspaper'') Used to be that you had to be a ''good'' writer to get your stuff published. Now all you have to do is [[SpreeKiller kill people]].

* AdaptationalHeroism: Minor one for Hamer, Gault and rest of the officers that ambush Bonnie and Clyde at the climax; Hamer attempts to get the pair to surrender and the group does not open fire until to see them attempt to pull out their weapons. In real life, the team ''immediately'' opened fire on Bonnie and Clyde the second their vehicle stops.

* MoreDakka: Both sides live by this rule.

* {{Reconstruction}}: Of Frank Hamer's reputation after the infamous hatchet job done on him in ''Film/BonnieAndClyde''. Far from a buffoon, he was a dedicated police officer doing his job and not motivated by revenge as the older film implies.there is also TruthInTelevision to this trope; Hamer served with distinction as a Texas Ranger for twenty seven years and was well known as a [[GreatDetective top notch investigator]] and a crack shot who succeeded more often than he failed.

* TooDumbToLive

* TruerToTheText: This film is more historically accurate than ''Film/BonnieAndClyde''. Said that, it still takes few liberties with portraying the events and characters.
* TruthInTelevision: The ending shootout (featuring Hamer, Gault and other law officers saturating Bonnie & Clyde's car with bullets) seems gratuituous...until the closing credits show actual photos of the scene. If anything, the film ''underplays'' what happened.