Bonnie and Clyde

Rating:
Summary: Wasn't there a song about this?
Review: After watching The French Connection, I decided to check out some more movies with Gene Hackman in them. I found this movie in the late 60's called Bonnie and Clyde. Hmmn, that sounds familiar. Anyway, the movie has a pretty conventional story. Thief and waitress fall in love, rob banks, and eventually get killed. There. I just ruined the movie for you. However, there are some good plot twists and action sequencs that really helped the movie.

Warren Beaty does a great job as Clyde, and Faye Dunaway was perfect, and she's really hot. (I recently saw her in the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. She's still hot.) Gene Hackman was a purely lovable charecter, and Estelle Parsons, while she did a great job, needs to shut up. Her charecter is an annoying hag. Oh yeah, Michael J. Pollard was excellent as well too. He's very underrated, and I hope to find some more of his movies.

All the main actors got their big break on this movie. Warren Beaty later did Mccabe and Mrs. Miller, Faye Dunaway later did two excellent movies, Chinatown and Network, Michael J. Pollard did Melvin and Howard, Dick Tracy, and The Wild Angels, Gene Hackman did French Connection, Scarecrow, The Conversation, etc., Estelle Parsons later did Rachael, Rachael and I Never Sang For My Father, and of course, Gene Wilder did a lot of great Mel Brooks movies. So, they all got their first fame on this movie.

Speaking of the movie, it's really good, but it's not on the same level as some other movies I've reviewed. It's got humor, drama, social commentary, and a great bloody ending, that's true, but I just didn't like it as much as other gangster movies. (Mean Streets, of course, is the best gangster movie ever, and the best movie of all time.) I give the movie kudos for revolutionizing cinema, but I didn't really think the story was original. Then again, I've seen the ripoffs of this movie, so maybe that's why I thought it was just a good movie. It's not on my top 10, but it's still quite good. Nice ending. (note the sarcasm)

Rating:
Summary: "We rob banks!"
Review: Criminals became a whole lot more glamorous with the release of Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde." They were now slim and fit and not hunchbacked or overweight. They had beautiful faces that were not marred by scars or eye-patches. This was Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway looking their best and being as bad as they could.

Clyde Barrow (Beatty) rescues Bonnie Parker (Dunaway) from her uneventful life back home and promptly plunges her into a life of crime. In a country where despair has become a way of life thanks to the Depression, the bank robbers become heroes to the common folk who have been victimized by the instruments of capitalism. Relying on their wits and a touch of good fortune, the young lovers evade the law while basking in their newfound fame but their luck eventually runs out and they meet their end in a hail of bullets.

"Bonnie and Clyde" is infamous for introducing a new level of graphic violence to cinema by way of its final shoot-out. However, that one aspect of the film tends to overshadow its other accomplishments. The moral ambiguity running throughout the film distinctly separated it from the "white-hats-and-black-hats" characterizations of past Hollywood heroes and villains. This problematic approach to morality was a byproduct of the upheaval society itself was undergoing in the late-Sixties as it was discovering how difficult it was to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys in the real world. The film also went to great pains to appear as realistic as possible. Difficult themes in film were often satirized or exaggerated to soften its impact on the audience, but Penn created such an authentic feel to "Bonnie and Clyde" that the line between fantasy and reality became uncomfortably blurred. Throw in solid supporting work by Estelle Parsons, Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard, and Gene Wilder to complement the film's other aforementioned accomplishments and what you have is milestone work whose impact on the medium has been far-reaching.

Rating:
Summary: .........So Goes the Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde!
Review: Bonnie was a waitress in a small café; Clyde Barrow was a robber who took her away. Now they robbed and killed until both of them died; so goes the legend of Bonnie and Clyde. What does it say that those song lyrics still spontaneously crash through my skull some thirty-five years or so after the movie's theatrical release? This was one of the first intensely graphic violent recreations of historical figures, provocatively visual and intensely accurate in terms of portraying much more realistically what happens to people when shot, knifed, kicked in the head, etc. It was, however, also a pure Hollywood confection in terms of the flattering way it portrayed Clyde as being a handsome love-them-and-leave-them rogue, and Bonnie as a fetching, sexy bimbo with blonde ambitions. It was a terrific film, which provides a star showcase for Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the central characters in this wonderful and historically accurate tale of two self-styled mavericks acting out their bad boy and girl fantasies against the backdrop of the dustbowl conditions of the 1930s Depression.

Bonnie and Clyde cut a bloody swath of continuing bank robberies and often-senseless violence in an ego-driven effort to see their names in the regional papers and their reputation as fearsome criminals. As entertainment the film works well, with both spectacular gunplay sequences and a credible recreation of the topography of the Midwest and Suthwest areas of the country, its local scenery, and the buildings and interior decorations of the times. The film also won an Oscar for its faithful and groundbreaking cinematography, which for the first time used such devices as slow motion filming of action scenes to portray the murder and mayhem in an almost choreographed fashion. The film's director, Arthur Penn, was among the best at his craft at the time, and he lovingly recreates the mood, excitement, and atmosphere of the gritty Depression years as he explores the development of two psychopathic personalities encouraging each other into increasingly debased and depraved actions of senseless murder and mayhem.

The film I supported by a terrific cast, including a young Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard, Estelle Parsons (who won an Oscar for her best supporting actress performance here), Denver Pyle (later to win fame as a TV actor on the silly Duke Of Hazard" series), and a young Gene Wilder in a straight role as Eugene Grizzard. It is more great entertainment than it is a faithful historical recreation, as most Hollywood productions are, but it is a fine period piece of the sense of doom and desperation that provided an unfortunate impetus to such wild and self-destructive behavior as that exhibited by both Bonnie and Clyde. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: After 35 Years....
Review: It remains for others far better qualified than I to comment on this film's historical authenticity, especially insofar as its portrayal of Bonnie Parker (Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Beatty) is concerned. The comments which follow are based entirely on the film as produced by Beatty and directed by Penn. But it should be noted that it created a great deal of controversy when first released (1967) because many people objected to that portrayal as being unduly sympathetic to Parker and Barrow. Others objected to the presentation of their violent deaths which bear striking resemblance to the death of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1975). Of course, the film hasn't changed but my own reactions to it have during the past 35 years. For example, I am more upset now about the killing of the bank guard (shot in the face through the getaway car's window) and by Blanche Barrow's situation near the end of the film (Parsons received an Academy Award for supporting actress for her portrayal of her) than I once was by the brutal deaths of Parker and Barrow. Also, I now have a greater appreciation of the work of the supporting cast (notably Pollard, Hackman, Parsons, Taylor, and Cavitt) than I did when I first saw the film. No change in my high regard for Penn's direction, Burnett Gurney's cinematography (he was the recipient of the film's other Academy Award), and Charles Strause's music score.

Other reactions? For whatever reasons, I no longer have any interest whatsoever in the ambiguous sexual relationship between Bonnie and Clyde, nor can I bear to hear another recitation by Bonnie of her dreadful "poetry." For me, that dimension of their relationship and the verse (to a lesser extent) have become irritating distractions. Also, I now wish I had been provided with at least some background information about the two lead characters (i.e. prior to when they first meet) so that I can better understand the basic motives of each prior to and then during their shared life of crime and violence. Finally, I wish there had been at least a few more scenes such as when Moss (Pollard) returns to empty the cash register before joining the "Barrow Gang" and then later when an elderly hired hand is invited to shoot out a window of a farmhouse in foreclosure. Scenes such as these invest the otherwise intense narrative with elements of humanity amidst the high-speed chases, shoot-outs, and other forms of mayhem.

In years to come, Bonnie and Clyde may become primarily a period piece, perhaps revealing more about the 1960s than about the 1930s. If not historically authentic in all respects, the film remains nonetheless an entertaining account of two generally likable young people who make bad decisions and eventually pay for them with their lives.

Rating:
Summary: 7 out of 10
Review: Good film. It was slow and incomplete at times. The story, in large sense, was inaccurate. Beautiful film. That was the sole aspect why the film was good. Acting was very much top-notch. But, it didn't help to bring the flow of the story of Bonnie and Clyde. It got awkward at times. Sometimes, it got boring along the process.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS BONNIE PARKER AND IM CLYDE BARROW-WE ROB BANKS
Review: You've heard the story of Jesse James-of how he lived and died-if your still in need of something to read here is the story of Bonnie and Clyde.

Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow gang I guess you all have read-of how they steal and kill and those who squeal are usually lyin dyin or dead.

They call them cold blooded killers-they say they are heartless and mean-but I say this with pride that I once knew Clyde when he was honest upright and clean.

But the law fooled around-kept taking him down and locking him up in a cell-until he said to me:I'll never be free-so I'll meet a few of them in hell.

If they try to act like citizens-and rent them a nice little flat-by the 3rd night they're invited to a party by a sub guns rat a tat tat.

If a officer is killed in Dallas-and they have no one to pin it on-they just wipe their state clean and blame it on Bonnie and Clyde.

One day they'll go down together-they'll bury them side by side-to a few it will be grief-to the law a relief-but its death for Bonnie and Clyde.

On the car shootout:the bullets went through Clyde-continued through Bonnies body and out the passenger side door!

A tragic end to the two gangsters who had killed 14 people.

In memory of Bonnie and Clyde.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: I liked "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and when I saw this I totally thought they were picking up on the trend of lovable outlaws -- then I looked at the release dates and gave a feminine blush, for B&C came first, indeed. And it's a beautiful film, a Natural Born Killers for its day, in a way, and though there aren't many bonuses on the DVD (interviews with Beatty and the gorgeous Dunaway [check her out in "Barfly" for another perfect performance] woulda been cool), this is a Classic.

Rating:
Summary: A great, visually rich film
Review: This is the story of two young people trying to find something exciting in the Depression. In the beginning, we find a bored Bonnie Parker, played by the lovely Faye Dunaway, waiting for her knight to come take her away from small-town Texas. Along comes Clyde Barrow, played by Warren Beatty, who will whisk her away into a life of robbery. Together, they will cut a swathe through America's history.

The director for the film had a great eye. Although we are seeing a film about bank robbers, we see the effect on everyone else. We see the displaced sharing food with them because the robbers don't hurt them, but attack the banks. We see the sheriffs and bankers posing for pictures because they were involved in the chase for the two robbers.

Odd that bank robbers would become heroes, but that is what we see. We also see the darker side of two people who just wanted some excitement and respect. For instance, after their first bank robbery goes awry due to a parking problem, Clyde has to kill someone. As they watch a movie to celebrate, the movie sings "We're in the Money!" as the robbers argue amongst themselves. Crime is not all it is cracked up to be.

I would recommend seeing this movie. This is some great moviemaking.

Rating:
Summary: AFI's Love Stories #65: Bonnie and Clyde
Review: I lost my romantic idealization of Bonnie and Clyde ("We rob banks!") years ago when I saw a documentary that include Bonnie Parker's half naked bullet riddled body in the morgue. Arthur Penn's 1967 film might have romanticized the infamous Depression bank robbers, but its legacy was that it made violence in American films palatable. Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" was accused of glorifying violence and was not enough of a success at the box office to get the credit for this dubious honor. The finale of "Bonnie and Clyde" had the virtue, so to speak, of being historically accurate.

The climax of the film is unforgettable (not even Sonny's death in "The Godfather" really compares) but it is really something of a coda to the rest of the film which is dominated by the five Oscar nominated performances of Warren Beatty (Clyde Barrow), Faye Dunaway (Bonnie Parker), Estelle Parsons (who won the Supporting Actress award for Blanche Barrow), Gene Hackman (Buck Barrow), and Michael Pollard (C. W. Moss). Beatty and Dunaway have never been better (good thing Jane Fonda turned down the role of Bonnie). Add into the mix Gene Wilder in his first film role as Eugene Grizzard, a nervous young man who had the misfortune of having his car "borrowed" by the Barrow gang (Wilder's next film would be "The Producers"; talk about starting fast in Hollywood).

In the final analysis I find this a very provocative film. It takes the "Robin Hood" image of thieves and once we are comfortable with rooting along these two crazy kids, the film begins to make us uncomfortable with that support. Bonnie and Clyde are neither heroes not anti-heroes, but rather counter-heroes. They are "good" because the law enforcement figures are clearly the modern counterparts for the Sherrif of Nottinghman's men. There is also something to be said that no matter how charming Clyde/Warren happens to be, that big goofy smile cannot stop a hail of bullets. But even in the end we want to deny the truth, that these two people reaped what they sowed. Mabye the moral ambiguity is just a strategic pose, to justify the romantic story of a gang of murdering bank robbers and/or the bloodbath finale. As I said, this is a provocative film. Watch it sometime and get provoked.

Most Romantic Lines: Well, besides the film's memorable tagline ("They're young... they're in love... and they kill people") that would have to be the end of Bonnie Paker's poem: "Some day, they'll go down together / They'll bury them side by side / To a few, it'll be grief / To the law, a relief / But it's death for Bonnie and Clyde."

If you enjoyed "Bonnie and Clyde" then check out these other film's from AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time: #15 "Wuthering Heights," #37 "Titanic," #73 "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," and #90 "The Bridges of Madison County." Why? Because the two crazy kids in love in these movies are all dead at the end of the film as well, although two of the above still have happily ever after endings (with the emphasis on the ever after).

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST DAMN MOVIE ON THE PLANET
Review: This is the best movie ever in my opinion.It is the one that made Faye Dunaway my favorite actress and it is the movie that renewed my interest in movies.I like the action,excitement,and sexual appeal.But,there is one thing that makes the ending really cool.After the shooting stops,just play Dream On by Aerosmith and you'll see it really enhances the ending.I hope this was helpful.So if you're in the mood for a movie with sex,violence,action,excitement,and tons of gore,this is the movie to watch.It's an oldie but a goodie!