Arthur Sylense is William “Wild Bill” Higgins, an outlaw planning to hold up a train leaving the town of Harmony and carry gold for the Northern Pacific Railway.
With the help of fellow gang members John “JT” Tulsa (Dallas Hart), Henriette Parker (Celeste Wall) and Boone Collins (Jonathan Peacy), the robbery goes off without a hitch.
Eluding a posses and getting away with the gold … well, that will prove a more difficult matter.
Ditching their horses to throw off the posse, the gang sets up camp in the woods to await a rendevous with Bloody Tom Higgins (Eric Roberts), Will Bill’s notoriously blood-thirsty father.
But no more have they settled in for the evening when mistrust between the four begins to grow. Everyone wants their share of the gold immediately.
To keep anyone from sneaking away with it in the middle of the night, “Wild Bill” ties everyone together with a strand of rope.
But when he awakes the next morning, his saddlebags are filled with rocks, not gold. All the other gang members are still tied together, and everyone denies making the switch.
That’s just the beginning of the gang’s problems.
Arthur Sylense as William ‘Wild Bill’ Higgins, a Civil War veteran haunted by his memories of the war in The Outlaws (2023)
Dallas Hart as John ‘JT’ Tulsa, looking for vengeance for a family slaughtered 30 years earlier in The Outlaws (2023)
Review:
The DVD jacket for the film reads: “Robbing a train is easy. Robbing a thief is harder.”
Who would have thought that in a low-budget Western, filming a train robbery would go pretty well? And the rest of the film could go so wrong?
With a razor thin plot and only five major cast members, a whole lot of the film’s 78-minute runtime is spent watching the gang members hurl an endless stream of insults at one another.
The unique form of story-telling — at one point, everyone dies in a gunfight that really didn’t happen — helps keep the viewer invested for a while. But about 30 minutes in, it grows oh, so tiresome.
Eric Roberts is top-billed, but doesn’t show up until about an hour into the film. The most memorable part of the film might be Thom Chacon, playing a Civil War vet haunted by the experience and playing a haunting song called “Angels.”
Celeste Wall as Henrietta Parker, preparing to help the Higgins gang rob a train in The Outlaws (2023)
Jonathan Peacy as Boone Collins, listening to the tracks to hear if the train is approaching in The Outlaws (2023)
Directed by:
Joey Palmroos
Austen Paul
Cast:
Arthur Sylense … William “Wild Bill” Higgins
Eric Roberts … Bloody Tom Higgins
Dallas Hart … John “JT” Tulsa
Jonathan Peacy … Boone Collins
Celeste Wall … Henriette Parker
Thom Chacon … Finnegan
Sterling Scott … Preacher
Kent Hatch … The Sheriff
Runtime: 79 min.
aka:
5 Outlaws
5 Outlaws and a Saddlebag
Songs:
“Gold is Gold”
by Bryn Jones and the Band of Robbers
“Angels”
by Thom Chacon
Eric Roberts as Bloody Tom Higgins, showing off a harmonica he took off of one of his victims in The Outlaws (2023)
William Higgins, having tied up his gang, Boone Collins (Jonathan Peacy), John Tulsa (Dallas Hart) and Henriette Parker (Celeste Wall) to find out who stole and buried the gold in The Outlaws (2023)
Memorable lines:
Narrator: “There are no heroes in this story.”
Lawman inside train, as the gang attacks, as railroad car windows shatter from gunshots and a minute before he’s blow away: “Ladies and gentlemen. There is absolutely nothing to fear. We will be taking control of this situation. And we will be moving forward momentarily. Nobody — and I mean nobody — is gonna get hurt on my watch.”
Henriette Parker, tossing a dress to John Tulsa: “Next time, you wear that awful thing.:
Tulsa, passing the dress to Boone Collins: “Nah, he’s got the hair for it.”
Boone Collins: “Glad I do.” He sniffs the dress. “Makes me tingle a little bit down inside there.”
Boone Collins: “Best we steer clear of any Indian territory cause I do like my beautiful locks exactly where they lay.”
Henriette Parker, when Boone brags about his cooking: “I thought your speciality was picking locks. And safes. And being an asshole.”
Boone Collins: “Honey, I am a man of many special talents.”
Boone Collins: “Do you know why I prefer knives to guns? You got that chance to get up nice, close and personal with your victims. I can almost see that sparkle in your eye just before you snatch their life. It’s almost romantic.”
Henriette Parker: “Do you know why I like guns, boy? Because I can shoot your head clean off your fuckin’ neck before you even think about that little knife. I’ve killed men like you all my fuckin’ life.”
Thom Chacon as Finnegan, another Civil War veteran, singing about being spared during the war in The Outlaws (2023)
Sterling Scott as Preacher, finding the result of the Higgins’ gang’s evil ways in The Outlaws (2023)
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