SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! When you’re at the end of your rope and life has shoved you into the corner, the only people you can count on is family. One such story is Sean McEwen’s thriller, American Outlaws, based on the true 2012 story of the Dougherty Gang.
The Dougherty Gang is made up of older brother Dylan (Emory Cohen) and his twin siblings Lee Grace (India Eisley) and Ryan (Sam Strike). Ryan finds himself in serious trouble. His girlfriend is about to have a baby, and he’s about to return to prison for a parole violation. Now add Dylan, who has a go-nowhere life, and former stripper and drug addict Lee Grace. Dylan proposes that the three siblings just “go.” Just leave the country and head south to Costa Rica.
With a little convincing and a strong sibling bond, Lee Grace and Ryan agreed. The plan is to slip out of their hometown of Lacoochee, Florida, and make their way to the Mexico border. Dylan draws up several rules for this plan to work, like staying by the car, doing as he says without question, and finally, drawing no attention. Ryan blows that last one within hours as the cops are chasing our heroes for speeding so much for slipping out of town.
In need of money, the Dougherties rob a bank with Lee Grace toting an AK 47. Though they get away with it, the authorities have been alerted and slowly catching up to them. They then take to small-time larceny by robbing an elderly couple and a family on a camping trip. Dylan assures them they’ll make it to the border.
American Outlaws is a low-budget indie film that looks like a big-budget Hollywood feature. However, writer/director Sean McEwen knows how to shoot an action thriller from close-up camera angles on his cast and that rust-colored daytime temperature film that makes everything look like it was shot during magic hours. These close-up shots elevate the action sequences during the car chases and shoot-outs…again that’s how it’s done on the cheap, and it looks incredible.
“Dylan proposes that the three siblings just ‘go.’ Just leave the country and head south to Costa Rica.”
Another star is the story. Based on Kathy Dobie’s GQ article, “The Whole True Story of the Dougherty Gang,” American Outlaws paints an incredibly sympathetic portrait of a family that wants to rise above their hopeless situation as a lower-middle-class family eaten up by the recession of the 2010s. They want to escape in hopes of a better life away from the United States. None of them wants to hurt anyone…they just want to go.
INDIE FILMMAKERS TAKE NOTE: One device that director McEwen employs is interweaving the narrative with actual news reports about the Dougherties from local and national news channels. This trick effectively adds immediate context as the story rolls along and plays well in the “where are they now” end credits.
To pull off this story, McEwen casts his Dougherty family in Emory Cohen, India Eisley, and Sam Strike. Heck, they even look like siblings. The cast nails down a specific dynamic to this family perfectly. The three are young, immature adults who act more out of desperation than malice. They are also incredibly flawed but brilliantly developed characters making one wrong decision after the other while wanting their true kind nature to come out yet forced to turn to their violent nature to escape. We have the makings of true anti-heroes. I couldn’t help but root for their escape while praying they wouldn’t pull that trigger, sealing their fate.
I should probably address the “inspired by real events.” I never read Dobie’s article, nor did I have any knowledge of this story until now. My guess is with McEwen’s slick action-thriller vibe to American Outlaws that, a lot of liberties were taken facts-wise. Except for the actual news reports, it feels like a Hollywood thriller. I still debate over whether there should be a line between cinematic storytelling and docudrama. Debating aside, American Outlaws is a helluva thriller, and I suppose that’s what counts in the end…it’s a fun movie.
Ultimately, I highly recommend Sean McEwen’s sophomore feature film, American Outlaws. It’s clear he’s a fan of action movies, and American Outlaws looks like a big Hollywood film…done on the cheap. From the pace to its swagger to its tone, McEwen is an action director in the making. However, his most incredible feat is making up care about and feel sympathy for his criminal protagonists to the point that I was rooting against the cops until the very end.
American Outlaws screened at the 2023 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
