rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1967
Directed by Arthur Penn; produced by Warren Beatty; written by David Newman, Robert Benton
Starring Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Denver Pyle, Gene Wilder
The Hays Production Code ended in 1966 and results were showing one year later, both in the onscreen depicting of sex ('The Graduate') and violence. 'Bonnie and Clyde' emerges as a groundbreaking film, at least for Hollywood standards, and seems to have lost none of its strength, even though back in 1967 the freedoms suddenly shown on the big screen must have been amazing.
The story of Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) alternates from the version we learn from the film, but this film builds on myth around these characters, not on accuracy. Clyde may have been bisexual, here he is impotent instead, but we get the general idea: he himself may have felt less of a man, which shows in his actions to balance that.
The first time Clyde meets Bonnie he impresses the bored girl by robbing the nearest store. They run off together and while robbingbanks and eventually killing they start forming the Barrow Gang, which, at leat in this film, includes C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and his wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons). Slowly the gang, and especially Bonnie and Clyde, are turning into sensations, followed and covered by all possible media. At one point a newspaper actually prints one of Bonnie's poems.
The film showed a society back then, but still makes a case for today. Since 'Bonnie and Clyde' we have seen Terrence Malick's 'Badlands' and 'Natural Born Killers' from Oliver Stone, both from different decades, making the same point about a media run world, where violence (like sex) is glorified. When it comes to this message, 'Bonnie and Clyde' does a strange thing: it seems to object to something it participates in. The violence is more real then ever seen in Hollywood before, glorifying it as much as possible, since the film also counts as brilliant entertainment.
Most viewers will know the fate of Bonnie and Clyde, and it's interesting to see how director Arthur Penn is able to bring their story to a higher level, really filming the atmosphere and myth around them. The ending, in all its violence, is the perfect poetic conclusion to their story, silent and beautiful.