Directed by Arthur Penn. Starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
Let's return to film history with Bonnie and Clyde, which is a remarkable and landmark film. Famous for its graphic violence, among other things, this is a film that could only have been made in 1967 or later. Here's your historical context... Much like The Graduate (also 1967), this film came at the end of the life of the Production Code, a set of self-censorship rules Hollywood used to decide what was okay for movies and what wasn't. The code was officially abolished in 1968 and replaced with the MPAA rating system we have today (so instead of saying "you can't put that in a movie," now they just say, "you can't put that in a movie for 10-year-olds" -- etc). By 1967, though the code was still officially around, it was limping out the door (its decline is often said to have started in 1966).
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are well-known cultural figures (so well known that apparently they are worthy of a new film called Bonnie & Clyde Vs. Dracula -- but I digress). The very "based on real life" lives of Bonnie and Clyde were those of depression-era outlaws... They were bank robbers in the "public enemy" era of the early 1930s. They were well known in their own time due to a great deal of publicity in the newspapers as they killed their way across the country, but interestingly, I think it was this film in '67 which really made them icons.
This film, in addition to its relationship to the Production Code, is a great example of a particularly important period in Hollywood. Just before the Blockbuster era was ushered in by films like The Godfather, Jaws, and Star Wars (the great three Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas films, respectively), there was a burst of creative output from Hollywood studios. Following in the footsteps of many "new wave" filmmaking movements in many European countries, the so-called "New Hollywood" is a fascinating period... and Bonnie & Clyde is often considered the most important movie of this movement. Films under New Hollywood are characterized by being fresh and different from what came before (for "Old Hollywood," think big studio pictures like Cleopatra, My Fair Lady, and even The Sound of Music). New Hollywood films were made by a new generation of young filmmakers who went to film school and were aware of film history and filmmaking movements (the "movie brats"), as well as being individuals who were tapped into the counterculture energy sweeping the country in the late 60s and 70s.
Back now to Bonnie & Clyde. I found this film interesting because of its moral ambiguity. You are, after all, rooting for a couple who, according to history, killed at least nine policemen and possibly more civilians in a seemingly goal-less cross-country rampage, robbing gas stations and banks in a time when people didn't have money to spare. But you do, definitely, end up rooting for them. In no uncertain terms, I think, the film wants you to see them as the "good robbers" chased by the "bad cops." Their death, though something you anticipate, is not a resolution you look forward to -- In fact, as the end drew nearer, I was positively dreading it, especially since I had read a description of the famous final scene before. In all, I can see why this film was both controversial and well received by critics and the public alike. Of course, I can also see why this film struck a particular nerve with the youth generation in the 60s. After all, Bonnie's restlessness as well as the whole gang's disaffected nature bears resemblance to the feelings behind the counterculture movement. Faye Dunaway, with her glamorous blonde hair, very nearly could be a 60s girl, not someone living through the Great Depression.
This is a rare classic film that falls squarely on the list of "must see if you want to call yourself a film-lover" but that doesn't seem like a chore to watch (*cough*Citizen Kane*cough*). The editing is so well crafted that it makes me want to go back and watch it again. It's entertaining, emotional, well-acted, significant historically, and beautifully made. It is, in summation, a masterpiece of American filmmaking.
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