Bonnie and Clyde (film)

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Bonnie and Clyde
movie poster for Bonnie and Clyde
Directed by	Arthur Penn
Produced by	Warren Beatty
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)	August 4, 1967 (Montréal Film Festival)
Running time	111 min.
Language	English
Budget	$2,500,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is a 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.

Taglines:

• "They're Young...They're In Love...And They Kill People!"
• "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."

Contents 1 Plot Summary 2 Reception and Influence 3 Filming Locations 4 Key differences between film and historical record 5 Music 6 Trivia 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Plot Summary

[edit] Reception and Influence

When released, the film was controversial for supposedly glorifying murderers, and for its level of graphic violence and gore, unprecedented at the time. In addition, it was criticized by many critics for making the subject matter comedic. Dave Kaufman of "Variety" further criticized the film for uneven direction and for portraying Bonnie and Clyde as bumbling fools.^[1] Contrary to popular belief (and modern sensibilities) the film was intended to be romance and a comedic retelling of violent gangster films of the 1930s updated with modern film making techniques,^[2] such as simulated blood and the portrayal of characters' suffering. Bonnie and Clyde was the first film to feature extensive use of squibs — small explosive charges, often mounted with bags of red liquid and fired from inside an actor's clothes to simulate bullet hits.

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.

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)

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. Bonnie and Clyde has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Some critics cite Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy, a film noir about a bank-robbing couple, as a major influence.

Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film in cinema history as it is regarded as the first film of the New Hollywood era, an era often regarded as Hollywood's second golden age. The film broke taboos, a common characteristic of the era and its success opened doors for other films.

[edit] Filming Locations

The movie was partly filmed in and around Dallas, Texas, in some cases using actual locations that the real Bonnie and Clyde either robbed or used as hideouts. Only loosely based on Barrow and Parker, the film frequently deviates from the historical record. Rather, it attests more to the zeitgeist of the late 1960s, and to the lingering appeal of the legend of a group of robbers who, in the popular imagination of their disaffected contemporaries, lived out the dream of violent social rebellion.

[edit] Key differences between film and historical record

• The actual account of Bonnie and Clyde is significantly more complex. Amongst other things, it includes other gang members, repeated jailings, and other murders and assorted crimes. The film is not meant to be seen as a historical work.

• The movie portrayed Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (played by Denver Pyle) as a vengeful bungler who had been captured, humiliated, and released by Bonnie and Clyde. The first time the real Hamer met either of them was when he staged the successful ambush that killed both of them on May 23, 1934.

• One of the film's major characters, "C.W. Moss", was a composite of two members of the Barrow Gang; William Daniel "W.D." Jones and Henry Methvin.

• While Blanche Barrow approved the depiction of her in the original version of the film's script, she objected to the further re-writes, and at the film's release, complained loudly over Estelle Parsons' Oscar-winning performance of her, stating "That film made me look like a screaming horse's ass!"

[edit] Music

The background music "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt and Scruggs was made famous by this movie.

[edit] Trivia

• The only two members of the actual Barrow Gang that were still alive at film's release were Blanche Barrow and William Daniel Jones.
• 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 being The Story of Bonnie and Clyde[3]).
• The movie was also parodied in Mad Magazine under the title Balmy & Clod.

[edit] See also

• 1930s Nostalgia Films
• Bunty aur Babli

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Theatrical trailer (wmv, 28-300kbps)