Bonnie and Clyde (film)

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Bonnie and Clyde
Written by David Newman
& Robert Benton
Robert Towne uncredited
Starring Warren Beatty
Faye Dunaway
Michael J. Pollard
Gene Hackman
Estelle Parsons
Music by Charles Strouse
Cinematography Burnett Guffey
Editing by Dede Allen
Distributed by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date(s) Flag of Canada August 4, 1967 (premiere at MFF)
Flag of the United States 13 August 1967
Running time 111 min.
Language English
Budget $2,500,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 film about Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the bank robbers who roamed the central United States during the Great Depression. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, and starred Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker. The screenplay was written by David Newman and Robert Benton. Robert Towne and Beatty have been listed as providing uncredited contributions to the script.

Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film in cinema history: it is regarded as the first film of the New Hollywood era, in that it broke many taboos and was popular with the younger generation.[1] The film was given Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography.

Contents

[edit] Historical accuracy

The film considerably simplifies the real facts about Bonnie and Clyde, which included other gang members, repeated jailings, and other murders and assorted crimes. One of the film's major characters, "C.W. Moss", is a composite of two members of the Barrow Gang: William Daniel "W.D." Jones and Henry Methvin. In 1968, Jones outlined his period with the Barrows in a Playboy magazine article "Riding with Bonnie and Clyde". In that same year, he also filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers, claiming that the film Bonnie and Clyde "maligned" him and damaged his character. [2] There is no record of him having collected any damages.[3]

The film portrays Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (played by Denver Pyle) as a vengeful bungler who had been captured, humiliated, and released by Bonnie and Clyde. In reality, the first time Hamer met either of them was when he staged the successful ambush and killing of them in 1934. In 1968, Frank Hamer's widow and son sued the producers of this movie for defamation of character over his portrayal. They were awarded an out of court settlement in 1971. [4]

The only two members of the actual Barrow Gang that were still alive at film's release were Blanche Barrow and William Daniel Jones. While Blanche Barrow approved the depiction of her in the original version of the film's script, she objected to the later re-writes, and at the film's release, complained loudly about Estelle Parsons' Oscar-winning performance of her, stating "That film made me look like a screaming horse's ass!"[5]

The movie was partly filmed in and around Dallas, Texas, in some cases using reputed locations of banks that the real Bonnie and Clyde were to have robbed at gunpoint.[6]

The poem that Bonnie Parker is reading as the police raid their hideout is 'The Story of Suicide Sal',[2], one of only two poems by the real Bonnie Parker known to exist (The other is 'The Story of Bonnie and Clyde'[3]; which she is shown reading out loud later in the film).

[edit] Production and style

The film was intended as a romantic and comic version of the violent gangster films of the 1930s, updated with modern filmmaking techniques.[7] Arthur Penn deliberately portrayed some of the violent scenes with a comic tone, sometimes even reminiscent of Keystone Kops slapstick films, then shifted disconcertingly into horrific and gory violence.[8] The film was heavily influenced by the French New Wave directors, both in its rapid shifts of tone, and in its choppy editing, which is particularly noticeable in the film's closing sequence.[9] In fact, the film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the most famous director of the New Wave movement who made contributions to the script, Truffaut passed on the project. [SOURCE : TRUFFAUT by Serge Toubiana and Antoine de Baecque]

Bonnie and Clyde was also the first film to feature extensive use of squibs — small explosive charges, often mounted with bags of red liquid, that are detonated inside an actor's clothes to simulate bullet hits.

Actor Gene Wilder makes his film debut in a cameo as one of Bonnie and Clyde's hostages. His character's girlfriend was played by Evans Evans, wife of film director John Frankenheimer.

The family gathering scene was filmed in Red Oak, Texas. Several local residents were watching the film being shot, when the filmmakers noticed Mabel Cavitt, a local school teacher, among the people gathered. She was chosen then and there to play Bonnie Parker's mother. [10]

The film's final scene, edited in slow motion, is considered to be greatly influenced by the European new wave films of the decade.

[edit] Music

The instrumental banjo piece "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt and Scruggs was made famous to a worldwide audience as a result of its frequent use in the movie. Its use is entirely anachronistic, however; the bluegrass-style of music from which the piece stems dates from the mid-1940s.

[edit] Reception

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts had so little faith in the film that, in a then-unprecedented move, they offered its first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of the gross instead of a minimal fee. The movie then went on to gross over $70 million world-wide by 1973.

The film was controversial on its original release for its supposed glorification of murderers, and for its level of graphic violence and gore, which was unprecedented at the time. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times was so appalled that he began to campaign against the increasing brutality of American films.[11] In addition, the film was criticized by many reviewers for making the subject matter too comedic.[citation needed] Dave Kaufman of Variety also criticized the film for uneven direction and for portraying Bonnie and Clyde as bumbling fools.[12]

[edit] Awards and recognition

Estelle Parsons won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche Barrow, Clyde's sister-in-law, and Burnett Guffey won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Warren Beatty), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Michael J. Pollard), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gene Hackman), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Faye Dunaway), Best Costume Design (Theadora Van Runkle), Best Director (Arthur Penn), Best Picture (Warren Beatty) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen (David Newman and Robert Benton)

In 1992, Bonnie and Clyde was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film is #27 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Movies", #13 on its list of 100 American thrillers, and #65 on its list of 100 American romances. The line "We rob banks" was also ranked at #41 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes.

Some critics cite Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy, a film noir about a bank-robbing couple, as a major influence. Forty years after its premiere, Bonnie and Clyde has been cited as a major influence in such disparate films as The Wild Bunch, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs and The Departed.[13]

[edit] Marketing

Taglines:

  • "They met in 1930. She was stark naked, yelling at him out the window while he tried to steal her mother's car. In a matter of minutes they robbed a store, fired a few shots and then stole somebody else's car. At that point they had not yet been introduced."
  • "The strangest damned gang you ever heard of. They're young. They're in love. They rob banks."

[edit] Trivia

  • The association of Bluegrass music with chase scenes, originating in this movie, has been followed in other films, such as Midnight Run.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Louis Gianetti, Flashback: A Brief History of Film, 5th edtn (Pearson, 2006), p. 306.
  2. ^ http://texashideout.tripod.com/wd2.jpg
  3. ^ http://texashideout.tripod.com/wd1.jpg
  4. ^ Movie & Trivia
  5. ^ Movie & Trivia
  6. ^ Movie & Trivia
  7. ^ The Movies by Richard Griffith, Arthur Mayer, and Eileen Bowser. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981 edition.
  8. ^ Giannetti, Flashback, p. 307.
  9. ^ Giannetti, Flashback, p. 307.
  10. ^ Movie & Trivia
  11. ^ Gianetti, Flashback, p. 306.
  12. ^ [1] - Variety review by Dave Kaufman, August 1967.
  13. ^ Two Outlaws, Blasting Holes in the Screen; A. O. Scott, New York Times, 2007-12-08; Accessed 2007-12-08

[edit] External links


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Films directed by Arthur Penn