I loved this movie. And I know that some stuff is left out to make movies more relatable/ happy ending. But there was quite a bit of evidence against Toby:
I am now convinced this is the same person posting this same subject over and over again (there are several threads asking the same questions and making the same claims ... using the same words and writing style).
1. Him desperately needing money to save the farm
Only Toby Howard, Tanner Howard, and the Midlands Bank knew that. Even if the Rangers had gotten a warrant for Toby's bank account (assuming he had one) they wouldn't have found anything because the reverse mortgage was in their mother's name, even if she did leave the ranch to Toby. In other words, the money never went into Toby's bank account. The Bank Manager applied the checks directly to the over due mortgage and tax debt owed by the mother... none of it was ever put in Toby's name/account. The Midlands Bank was insured for the 43 thousand dollars they loss. They weren't interested in giving the Rangers access to Toby's bank account because they were handling his sons' Trust.
2. Him traveling to Oklahoma casinos several times to convert large amounts of cash to chips
Toby and Tanner went to a casino in Oklahoma the first time and Toby went to a casino in New Mexico the second time.
3. The fact that his brother was identified as one of the bank robbers
Many people commit crimes without the help of their kin. And the Rangers checked Toby out--they visited his ranch and looked around as much as they could without a warrant. They didn't see anything suspicious on the ranch so they asked a Judge for a warrant to check Toby's bank account. The Judge said no because there wasn't any evidence to suggest Toby had been involved in the robberies and he had never been in trouble with the law a day in his life. Whereas Tanner had spent 10-years in prison with a cellmate who was in for armed robbery. When the Judge denied the Rangers' request for a warrant the Rangers went directly to Midlands Bank to see if there was any strange activity with Toby's bank account. Midlands Bank wasn't interested in cooperating with the Rangers because they were caretakers of the Trust Toby had set up for the boys, and the monthly service fee.
4. He was identified by police when he was driving away from the last bank they robbed, which looking back would be suspicious
He was
not identified by the police. All they did was check the car for obvious detail connected to the crime and Toby's demeanor and then they ran his State license number to see if any flags came up and if the person in the car matched the person on the license, just as they had the person in the car in front of Toby.
5. The exact amount of money stolen from the banks was used several days later to save a farm they knew belonged to one of the bank robbers ( Ben foster)
This is what--in all your posts on the subject--you just don't understand. The ranch belonged to their mother, which is how she was able to sign it over to Midlands Bank in a reverse mortgage. She left the ranch to
Toby Howard in her will, not Tanner Howard, and Toby signed the ranch over to his sons in a Trust. There was no connection between the Midlands Bank and Tanner or the Howard ranch. And again ... the Rangers found no evidence of Toby Howard being involved in the robberies and the female Ranger at the end told Marcus (Jeff Bridges) that Toby Howard had been cleared and was
not a suspect.
And about the
"exact amount of money stolen from the banks?" Since the Rangers never got a warrant to check Toby's bank account and Midlands Bank refused to give them access without one, there was no way for the Rangers to know about the reverse mortgage on the Howard ranch.
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sjosh567
7 years ago
I appreciate your response. But I just watched the movie for the first time the day I made the original post. You can easily confirm this by looking at "my" other posts on the board and seeing that others simply had the same questions about the movie. Thanks for providing more clarification
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