Taylor Sheridan starred in Sons of Anarchy and penned Sicario, but he became a household name after the success of Paramount’s Yellowstone. Starring Kevin Costner, the modern Western follows the Dutton ranching dynasty as they do everything to hold onto their way of life as modern America tries to take it from them. Sheridan’s franchise took the world by storm and yielded many spin-offs about the Dutton clan.
As beloved as Yellowstone is, Sheridan’s feature films are his greatest achievements. Following the Duttons’ conflict with an increasingly modern world, the writer took on another strictly American issue. In 2016, he wrote Hell or High Water, another modern Western that did not hold back on its messaging.
Chris Pine stars in the feature as Toby, a desperate rancher who is out of options. Weeks away from the bank foreclosing on his land, he has no other option than to rob banks to pay off his reverse mortgage. Enlisting his ex-con brother, Tanner (Ben Foster), Toby achieves the American dream, which slips so easily through the fingers of many others like him. Sheridan makes a clear point with this film, with very little room for misinterpretation. While not as high-profile as Sicario, Hell or High Water is becoming a cult classic.
‘Hell or High Water’ Has a Universal Message
Taylor Sheridan is no stranger to pointed messaging in his stories. Yellowstone communicates a clear narrative about how modern America is steamrolling cowboy culture. Hell or High Water has a similar message, but one that is far more translatable to most people. While it is a story about bank robbers and the authorities that are trying to catch them, the primary villain is the banks.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone 🛢️Landman 👑Tulsa King ⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01 Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02 Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03 Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04 Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05 How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06 What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07 How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08 Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09 What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10 When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
Before her death, Toby’s mother was swindled out of her land by the bank, which was intent on obtaining the oil rights on it for a low price. As their family was always poor, there was no way to escape this situation fairly. In a world where it continues to be impossible to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps, this story was extremely relevant in 2016. Toby and his brother are criminals because they have no other option. They targeted the bank branch that took their land, but they aren’t inherently wrong.
In one pointed scene, Sheridan plays a cowboy trying to outrun a fire and ensure the safety of his cattle. He laments that this is the reason his children don’t want to take on ranching as a living. Modern life has destroyed the middle class, making Americans either poor or rich. Ten years after the fact, this message is even more significant than ever.
Even though Hell or High Water garnered a few Oscar nominations that year, it is still one of the more underrated of Sheridan’s projects. The showrunner excels with these short-form stories elevated by the impressive cast. Jeff Bridges stars as the sheriff trying to catch Toby and his brother, and yet, neither party is inherently bad. They are all trying to make their way in an increasingly unfair world. With all its obvious political messaging,Hell or High Water still has immense nuance and a heartfelt story at the center. Art reflects the times in which it exists, and this one is more important than most.
Release Date
August 11, 2016
Runtime
102 minutes
Director
David Mackenzie
Producers
Carla Hacken, Julie Yorn, Peter Berg, Sidney Kimmel
