The Baytown Outlaws

One part Pulp Fiction, two parts pop art, and a dash of the Warriors and Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.  Now you’ve found The Baytown Outlaws; irreverent, ostentatious, crude and vulgar- but super fun, and complete-to-quota of blazing glory and buckshot. The Baytown Outlaws follows the three brothers Oodie: Brick (Clayne Crawford), McQueen (Travis Fimmel), and Lincoln (Daniel Cudmore).  To call the brothers “backwoods” would be an understatement.  Buried in the Deep South, the brothers support themselves by any means necessary, as we’re introduced in the opening sequence, they’re particularly talented at gunplay and murder, all presented with a true-to-life comic feel, with cell animation overlay introductions, and certainly not light on gore.

“I have a job.  I shoot people in the face.  This is what I do!”

The Oodie brothers are soon presented with a fresh job opportunity: to rescue the son of Celeste (Eva Longoria) from her ex-husband, Carlos (Billy Bob Thorton).  From here, our antiheros are presented with various obstacles that keep any element of the action from becoming stale.  All the while, an underlying plot develops with the local authorities, helmed by the area Sheriff played by Andre Braugher; there’s plenty of activity all around to hold the viewer’s interest. In our second and third acts, the boys pass through several states, encountering a variety of themed gangs (a ‘la The Warriors), sadly we never get a baseball team on roller skates, but each group has their own unique humor.

The plot of the film is not overly complicated, as the reader may have been surmised.  But there actually is a plot(!), and an interesting one at that(!!).  The backstory of our protagonists is told in the same comic storyboard style the film opens with, and certain scenes that would have appeared either fake, over the top, or as may have been the case, too expensive, are also done in this comic style.  This presentation really makes the film pop, rather than bog the viewer down with excessive gore or cheap visual effects. Also of note, the characters in the film are as animated as the inspirational source material.  The brothers are filthy, and as hillbilly as one can imagine, but human and endearing in their lack of common manners.  Michael Rappaport, who is reduced to almost a cameo role, is hilarious as the bar owner “Lucky”, be sure to stay for the credits for the extra footage of his rants.  Lastly, Billy Bob Thorton, who rarely ventures into different character types, is perfect as the high-strung criminal kingpin.  I’d make references to specific roles he has played in the past, but it would be a shorter list to find roles that break that mold.

The Baytown Outlaws premiered at Fantasy Filmfest in October 2012, and had a very limited release on January 4^th 2013.  With a credit listing including award winners and talent like Billy Bob Thorton, Andre Braugher, and Eva Longoria, it’s disappointing that fun action movies like Outlaws pass the public eye near unnoticed, while so many poor examples of film enjoy millions in advertising and because of this, become blockbusters.  Baytown Outlaws is expected to release to DVD and Blu-ray on April 4^th 2013; it is also currently available on Amazon Instant Video.  For those looking for a fun, action movie with plenty of violence without asking for a large investment of time or anything poignant to say, I highly recommend seeking out this film.