History Film / TheHighwaymen

* MathematiciansAnswer: After Hamer buys more than a dozen guns and ammunition to spare, the gunstore owner asks him what he needs all the firepower he just purchased for, if he "don't mind him asking". Hamer just retorts "No, I don't mind you asking at all".

* CowboyCop: Hamer uses methods that would be regarded as police brutality by a metropolitan officer, but Texas Rangers in the old days really did have this reputation. In the opening, the then-Governor of Texas, "Ma" Ferguson, even balks at the idea of sending a "cowboy" to hunt down criminals.
** It's actually downplayed a lot in the show making Hamer seem like a mellow guy who just wants to live quietly. The real-life Hamer was pretty notorious for the kind of thing you'd expect from a Cowboy Cop. An example was him threatening a Texas State Representative, José Tomás Canales, who was investigating the Texas Rangers for allegations of abuse. Hamer's reputation, and threats, were considered serious enough that fellow Representatives escorted Canales to the hearings for protection.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: In-universe, Gault is astonished by the concept of government agents wiretapping the phone lines.

* NoKillLikeOverkill: The first thing Hamer does after being commissioned to track down Bonnie and Clyde is to visit the gun shop in his old partner's town and stock up an arsenal of various handguns and high-caliber rifles.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: During the final shootout, the lawmen make damn sure Bonnie and Clyde will ''not'' survive, primarily by hosing the two and their car with enough bullets to destroy a small village.

* MisplacedNamesPoster: As shown above, Costner is billed over Harrelsen, but their characters are shown in reverse order.

* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Film/BonnieAndClyde'' and other films that [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster glamorized]] the OutlawCouple pair by depicting them as {{Loveable Rogue}}s. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are never shown up close until their death scene, only seen from afar as they're robbing civilians and graphically murdering police officers, as if all we're seeing is eyewitness testimonies of their worst crimes. Additionally, the actual main characters, Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, two seasoned Texas Rangers, are depicted as quite methodical and ruthless in their quest to hunt down the two without any attempt to whitewash their actions, and are even depicted as pretty boring everyday people. For them, it's just a job like any other and unlike Bonnie and Clyde, they're not in it for the glory.

* BribeBackfire: Invoked by Hamer and Gault in order to weed out potentially corrupt cops by pretending to be offering a Louisiana Sheriff a bribe. When the Sheriff tells him to get the hell out of his county for attempting to corrupt an officer of the law, they know they can rely on him.

* UsedToBeASweetKid: After tracking the pair for months with no success, Hamer and Gault circle back to Bonnie and Clyde's hometown, where Hamer confronts Clyde's father Henry. The man explains that Clyde wasn't born evil, but he knows that his son's crimes mean he's marked for death. He just begs Hamer to end it already to spare the rest of the Barrow family any more suffering.

* 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 quite young (they were in their mid-twenties when they committed their crimes).

* BuddyCopShow: The film follows Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, the two Texas Rangers who apprehended and killed Bonnie and Clyde. However, while their partnership forms a large part of the plot, it's a quiet western drama and neither man (both of them veteran lawmen who came out of retirement for the job) is in a laughing mood given the murderous crime spree they're charged with stopping.

* JurisdictionFriction: Hamer and Gault are technically only allowed to investigate crimes within the state of Texas and run into a smarmy FBI agent several times. At one point, when they're told to turn back by a road block, Hamer decides to ignore it.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: At the end, after killing Bonnie and Clyde, a reporter for the New York Times offers Hamer a thousand dollars for an interview. He just walks off in disgust while Gault mutters "shame on you".