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Forget ‘Marshals,’ Taylor Sheridan’s 102-Minute Western Is a Must-Watch Before It Leaves Netflix

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There’s no shortage of Taylor Sheridan titles in the world now, and that’s part of what makes going back to Hell or High Water such a good reminder of where so much of this really started. Long before sprawling TV universes, ranch wars, and sheriffs trying to hold the line in a collapsing world, Sheridan delivered a lean, bruised, and deeply human crime story set against the dusty backdrop of West Texas. It doesn’t need big mythology or franchise sprawl to land. It just works. And for Netflix subscribers, the clock is now ticking.

Hell or High Water is leaving Netflix on May 1, which means there’s only a short window left to catch one of the best films Sheridan has ever written. Released in 2016 and directed by David Mackenzie, the neo-Western thriller earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Jeff Bridges, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Nearly a decade later, it still holds up as one of the sharpest and most emotionally grounded modern Westerns of its era.

Chris Pine stars as Toby Howard, with Ben Foster as his volatile brother Tanner, while Jeff Bridges plays Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton and Gil Birmingham stars as his partner Alberto Parker. The film was Sheridan’s first foray into the world of neo-Westerns, and you can see the Yellowstone DNA running through it.

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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

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⚖️Mayor of Kingstown

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01

Where does your power come from?
In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.




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02

Who do you put first, no matter what?
Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.




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03

Someone crosses a line. How do you respond?
Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.




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04

Where do you feel most in your element?
Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.




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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.




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06

What are you actually fighting to hold onto?
Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.




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07

How do you lead?
Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.




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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.




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09

What has your position cost you?
Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.




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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.




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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.

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🤠
Yellowstone

🛢️
Landman

👑
Tulsa King

⚖️
Mayor of Kingstown

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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.

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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.

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How Good Is ‘Hell or High Water’?

When it first hit theaters,Hell or High Water became both a critical darling and a modest box office success, grossing over $37 million worldwide. It earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Bridges, Best Original Screenplay for Sheridan, and Best Editing. On Rotten Tomatoes, it remains Certified Fresh with near-unanimous praise (97%) from critics and audiences alike.Collider’s review of the moviehailed the leads in Pine and Foster:

“This film lives and dies by the performances of the brothers. And they do not disappoint. Tanner could’ve been played as an over-the-top firecracker with an itchy trigger finger, but Foster smartly winds the violent coil down until its most absolutely necessary. Instead, Foster chooses to lay on a good-for-nothin’ charm that’s all mumbled confidence and acidic humor. And instead of simply having a short fuse, Foster adds the beats of frustration that both ignite that fuse, but also drive home the idea of brotherly love. As the other brother, Pine, who usually plays heroes, plays neither hero nor anti-hero. He is a man with a plan. He is measured.”

Hell or High Water leaves Netflix on May 1.


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Release Date

August 11, 2016

Runtime
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102 minutes

Director

David Mackenzie

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Producers

Carla Hacken, Julie Yorn, Peter Berg, Sidney Kimmel

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