Hell or High Water(2016)

R
Rated R for some strong violence, language throughout and brief sexuality
1h 42m

Release Date: Aug 12, 2016 | Wide

Toby is a divorced father who's trying to make a better life. His brother is an ex-con with a short temper and a loose trigger finger. Together, they plan a series of heists against the bank that's about to foreclose on their family ranch.

Releases

Original Release | Aug 12, 2016

Aug 26, 2016 | Moderate

Aug 31, 2016 | Wide

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$621,329
Total US & Canada:
$27,007,844
Total International
$10,991,831
Total Worldwide:
$37,999,675

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

David Mackenzie
Director

Warren Ellis

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

In West Texas, divorced father Toby Howard (Chris Pine) and his ex-con brother Tanner (Ben Foster) carry out early morning robberies of two branches of the Texas Midlands Bank. At the first branch in Archer City they attack the bank when the teller Elsie (Dale Dickey) opens the doors for the first time in the morning. Then they wait for the bank manager Mr Clauson (William Sterchi) to arrive, who has the keys to the safe, which carries all the cash. Then they travel to the Olney branch and Tanner pulls a gun on the teller (Kristin Berg) to empty the cash counters. They take only small bills and avoid the 50's and the 100's. No bundles (as they have ink packs in them), only loose cash. Though the robberies are well-planned, Tanner's wild nature leads to him taking unnecessary risks, frustrating Toby. Toby insists that they should hit the banks early in the morning when they are empty. The brothers bury the car used on the first day, after the 2 robberies are done, in a huge hole in the ground on their ranch.Two Texas Rangers, Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), are on the case. Hamilton, who is close to retirement, quickly determines the brothers' methods and personalities. Since the amount involved is too small (a few thousand dollars) and Texas Midland has no branches outside of Texas, the FBI are not looking to get involved in the case. Hamilton determines that the criminals are after a predetermined amount they are trying to raise, and it will take them a few branches to get there.Tanner was in jail, while Toby looked after their sick mother. Due to the medical expenses, the ranch went into debt and disrepair. Toby had to take out loans through a reverse mortgage to survive. Toby lost his wife to divorce, along with his 2 sons, during this period. Tanner had gone to jail for killing his own father, who was very abusive towards Tanner's mother. Tanner's mother never forgave Tanner for this. Toby has not seen his own sons for over a year now.Meanwhile, Tanner robs another bank (not a Texas Midland branch) while Toby unknowingly waits at a nearby diner where he chats with a waitress Jenny Ann (Katy Mixon). Toby leaves $200 for the waitress. Toby is livid with Tanner and has to bury this car as well. They take a Cadillac that was stored at their ranch. Hamilton interviews the teller Natalie (Amber Midthunder) and the waitress.The brothers take the stolen money to an Indian casino in Oklahoma to be laundered. They exchange the stolen bills for chips, some of which Tanner uses to gamble. While at the casino, a prostitute (Melanie Papalia) tries to work Toby, but Tanner intervenes and chases her off. Toby then has the casino convert them into a check made out to the Texas Midlands Bank - the same bank they robbed. With untraceable funds and gambling as a cover for how they were acquired, the brothers head back to Texas.It is revealed that the brothers' mother died recently, leaving their ranch in debt due to a reverse mortgage provided by the Texas Midlands Bank. If the debt is not paid off in a few days, the ranch will be foreclosed. Toby is determined to pay off the mortgage to ensure a comfortable life for his estranged sons because oil has recently been discovered on their land. They rob Texas Midlands as a form of frontier justice. The brothers need $43,000 to pay off the reverse mortgage and the taxes, which the bank has paid. Their lawyer tells them that the bank swindled their mother by paying her only $25,000 on the reverse mortgage and keeping the entire land as lien against the loan. The lawyer also tells them that to really cover their tracks, they should get Texas Midland bank to handle the trust funds. The boys use the loose cash from the casino to purchase another car for their last set of robberies.Hamilton stakes out another branch of the Texas Midlands Bank, but the brothers don't show. Hamilton figures a pattern to the robberies and determines their next target. Hamilton and Parker are in route when the final robbery indeed occurs there. Pressed for time, the brothers proceed with the heist even though the bank is full of customers. A shoot-out ensues when a security guard and an armed civilian fire at the brothers and Tanner kills the guard and the civilian, but Toby is shot in the hip.The brothers race out of town, with a posse of armed townspeople in hot pursuit. After gaining some distance, Tanner stops and fires an automatic rifle at the posse, forcing them to retreat. The brothers then split, with Toby taking the money using another vehicle, while Tanner creates a diversion. He draws the lawmen off the trail to a desert mountain ridge where he takes potshots with a sniper rifle, killing Parker. Hamilton uses a local resident's knowledge of the area to circle behind Tanner and kills him with a single head shot using the local's rifle.During the standoff, Toby (concealing his bleeding, but minor, hip bullet wound) passes through a police checkpoint without incident, then successfully launders the stolen cash at the casino, where he sees the news report of his brother's death on TV. He takes the casino's check to the bank just in time to avoid the ranch's foreclosure and deeds the ranch into a family trust.After retirement, Hamilton visits his former office to learn that the Rangers have cleared Toby as a suspect, as his record is clean, and he has no motive to steal since the new oil wells earn more in a month than the total stolen in all of the robberies. The money from the ranch's oil wells is deposited at the Texas Midlands Bank, which refuses to co-operate with the investigation for fear of losing management of the family's trust fund.Hamilton visits Toby's ranch, and while they stay civil, Hamilton states that he knows Toby masterminded and took part in the robberies but wishes to know the reason. Toby does not explain, only implies that he did what he did for his sons. Their conversation is interrupted when Toby's ex-wife Debbie (Marin Ireland) and sons arrive. The ranch belongs to the trust and thus to them; Toby is only there to visit and fix up the house. As Hamilton departs, Toby suggests they meet again soon to "finish the conversation," to which Hamilton agrees.

Storyline

In West Texas, two brothers go on a bank-robbing rampage. They are targeting the branches of one bank in particular, The Texas Midland Bank. This bank is about to foreclose on the mortgage on their ranch and claim the property, and robbing the bank to pay its own loan seems appropriate. On the trail of the brothers is a Texas Ranger, Marcus Hamilton, with only a few weeks to retirement. — grantss Following their mother's recent death and facing the family's West Texas farmland imminent foreclosure, brothers Toby Howard, a divorced father, and Tanner, a hardened ex-con, come up with a recklessly bold plan to raise some cash. As a result, the hard-pressed duo will embark on a crime spree, targeting the Texas Midland bank's small-town branches, after a meticulously-planned strategy by the gang's mastermind, Toby. Nevertheless, the Howard brothers are tracked down by the uncompromising Texas Ranger, Marcus Hamilton, and his faithful deputy, the half-Comanche, Alberto Parker, who are patiently waiting for even the slightest mistake to take them down. Eventually, as the two opposite couples will soon find themselves in a head-on collision, an inevitable showdown amidst the rugged and sun-baked landscape of West Texas, will lead to unforeseen consequences. — Nick Riganas Following the death of their mother after an illness, adult brothers Tanner and Toby Howard, both penniless, begin a spree of masked bank hold-ups in small towns in West Texas, Toby having no real experience in such. They only want a few thousand dollars in each hold up, and only hit virtually empty Texas Midlands Bank branches where there are fewer things that can go wrong. Their end goal is to pay off the $40,000 reverse mortgage loan taken out on the family ranch, the bank which will foreclose in a few weeks if payment is not made in full. Toby wants to leave the ranch to his two sons to be held in trust for their financial security, they who he never sees following the divorce from his wife. Tanner and Toby believe it is poetic justice that they plan to achieve their goal by paying Texas Midlands, which holds the loan, with their own money. Although they have the same goal, the brothers having different temperaments may pose problems for them, Tanner, an ex-con, who is tempestuous and impetuous, while Toby is more introspective. Meanwhile, Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton and his second in command Alberto Parker are investigating the hold-ups. Hamilton, who is close to retirement and who takes great pleasure in needling Parker for his part native Indian heritage, may have his own motives in how he decides to proceed in what may very well be his last case, Hamilton's actions often much to Parker's exasperation. — Huggo