ⓘ Details

Movie TitleHell or High Water

Release DateAugust 12, 2016 limited release in the United States / August 26, 2016 wide release

TaglineJustice isn’t a crime.

Runtime102 minutes / 1 hour 42 minutes

DirectorDavid Mackenzie

Screenplay Written ByTaylor Sheridan

Based OnOriginal screenplay by Taylor Sheridan

Is It a Remake?No. It is an original neo-Western crime drama.

BudgetApproximately $12 million

Box OfficeApprox. $27 million domestic / approx. $37.9 million worldwide

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👥 Main Cast

Chris PineToby Howard

Ben FosterTanner Howard

Jeff BridgesMarcus Hamilton

Gil BirminghamAlberto Parker

Marin IrelandDebbie Howard

Katy MixonJenny Ann

Dale DickeyElsie

Kevin RankinBilly Rayburn

Margaret BowmanT-Bone Waitress

William SterchiMr. Clauson

Buck TaylorOld Man

Kristin BergOlney Teller

Amber MidthunderVernon Teller

Keith MeriweatherRancher

Jackamoe BuzzellArcher City Deputy

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🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Picture

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Supporting Actor, Jeff Bridges

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Original Screenplay, Taylor Sheridan

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Film Editing, Jake Roberts

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Motion Picture, Drama

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Supporting Actor, Jeff Bridges

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Screenplay, Taylor Sheridan

⭐ AFI Awards — Named one of the Movies of the Year

⭐ BAFTA Nominee — Best Supporting Actor, Jeff Bridges

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📖 Short Plot Summary

In West Texas, Toby Howard and his ex-con brother Tanner begin robbing branches of Texas Midlands Bank to save their late mother’s ranch from foreclosure. Toby sees the crimes as a desperate plan to secure his sons’ future, while Tanner brings a much wilder and more dangerous energy to every job. Meanwhile, Texas Rangers Marcus Hamilton and Alberto Parker track the robberies across a landscape of dying towns, angry locals, and economic rot. Hell or High Water is a tense, dusty, character-driven crime story where almost everyone has a reason, nobody is clean, and the bank may be the biggest outlaw in the room.

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❝ Key Quotes

“I’ve been poor my whole life, like a disease passing from generation to generation.” — Toby Howard

“Lord of the plains. That’s me.” — Tanner Howard

“This is Mr. Pibb. Only assholes drink Mr. Pibb.” — Tanner Howard

“Boy, you’d think there were ten of me.” — Marcus Hamilton

“No wonder my kids won’t do it.” — Toby Howard

“What don’t you want?” — T-Bone Waitress

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💡 Trivia

Director

Hell or High Water was directed by David Mackenzie.
The screenplay was written by Taylor Sheridan, who also wrote Sicario and later wrote and directed Wind River.
The film is often grouped with Sheridan’s modern frontier trilogy: Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River.
Mackenzie keeps the tension grounded, focusing more on consequence, character, and place than flashy shootouts.
The film is basically a bank-robbery thriller, a modern Western, and an economic revenge story all riding in the same dusty pickup truck.

Cast / Casting

Chris Pine plays Toby Howard, giving the film a quieter, more desperate lead performance than his blockbuster roles.
Ben Foster plays Tanner Howard, Toby’s reckless ex-con brother and the movie’s chaos engine.
Jeff Bridges plays Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Gil Birmingham plays Alberto Parker, Marcus’ partner and the emotional counterweight to his constant needling.
Dale Dickey’s short diner scene as Elsie became one of the film’s most memorable comic moments.
Amber Midthunder appears as a bank teller years before becoming widely known for Prey.

Soundtrack / Score

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis composed the film’s score.
The soundtrack also features country, blues, and Americana tracks that match the film’s West Texas mood.
Featured artists include Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings, Chris Stapleton, Colter Wall, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Scott H. Biram.
The music gives the movie a mournful, sunburned atmosphere rather than a traditional action-thriller pulse.
It sounds like debt, dust, bad luck, and a bar where everyone knows the bank got there first.

Location

The film is set in West Texas.
Much of the movie was filmed in New Mexico, including areas around Clovis, Portales, and Tucumcari.
The production used small-town locations and wide-open landscapes to create the feeling of economically hollowed-out Texas communities.
Signs for debt relief, loans, foreclosure, and poverty appear throughout the film, reinforcing the story’s economic pressure.
The landscape is not just background. It is the third lead, right behind “crime” and “nobody can afford anything.”

Behind-The-Scenes

The film was produced by Sidney Kimmel, Peter Berg, Carla Hacken, and Julie Yorn.
Production companies included Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Film 44, and LBI Entertainment.
CBS Films and Lionsgate released the film in the United States.
The production budget was approximately $12 million.
The film grossed about $27 million domestically and about $37.9 million worldwide.
The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2016.

Nostalgia

Hell or High Water became one of 2016’s most acclaimed sleeper hits.
It helped cement Taylor Sheridan’s reputation for modern Western stories about crime, land, justice, and broken systems.
The film feels like a throwback to 1970s character-driven crime dramas, but with post-recession anger baked into every scene.
For fans of slow-burn thrillers, it delivers tension without rushing, letting the characters and setting do the heavy lifting.
It is one of those movies where the shootouts matter, but the diner orders, bank signs, and quiet conversations may hit harder.

Easter Eggs

The title comes from the phrase “hell or high water,” meaning to do something no matter how difficult the circumstances.
The story’s bank-robbing plan specifically targets the bank that holds the family ranch debt, turning the crimes into a twisted payback loop.
The repeated background signs for loans, debt relief, and foreclosure are not accidental. They underline the film’s economic theme.
The T-Bone waitress scene has become a favorite because it captures the movie’s dry humor and no-nonsense Texas attitude in one exchange.
Tanner’s wildness contrasts Toby’s quiet calculation, making the brothers feel like two different answers to the same desperation.
The ending refuses a neat hero-villain resolution, which fits a movie where the law, the banks, and the robbers all live in different shades of gray.

Misc.

Hell or High Water is rated R.
The movie runs 102 minutes.
The film received four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus praised the film as a well-acted Western heist thriller with confident pacing and full-bodied characters.
Metacritic lists the film with universal acclaim and a Metascore of 88.
Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists Hell or High Water as Episode 16, with Don rating it 3.00, Ken rating it 4.25, Jon rating it 4.00, and an overall rating of 3.75.

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