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| Reviewed by: Chris Burton 18 Mar 2008 Bonnie and Clyde
| |  Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde was a revolutionary crime film that stands as a landmark of 1960's cinema, as well as a landmark in film violence. It predated Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. It inspired the famous murder of Santino Corleone in The Godfather. Its heroes were cold-blooded murderers, and for one of the first times up to that point in cinema history, a film about badguys doing bad things made a shitload of money and got the majority of the viewing public rooting for the badguys.
Warren Beatty is Clyde Barrow, the real-life criminal who, with Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) prodding him along, became a notorious bank robber and cold-blooded murderer. Bonnie Parker is bored with life and wants a change. She gets her chance when she meets a charming young drifter by the name of Clyde Barrow. Clyde has dreams of a life of crime that will free him from the hardships of the Depression. The two fall in love and begin a crime spree that extends from Oklahoma to Texas. They rob small banks with skill and panache, soon becoming minor celebrities known across the country. People are proud to have been held up by Bonnie and Clyde; to their victims, the duo is doing what nobody else has the guts to do. To the law, the two are evil bank robbers who deserve to be gunned down where they stand.
Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons play Buck and Blanche Barrow, the other members of the gang, as inarticulate, simple, even good - willed. Hackman's performance is one of his very best. Its incredibly understated, yet brilliant.
Bonnie and Clyde is a violent film, yes- but not gratuitous (especially compared to what you see nowadays). Each death and shootout has a reason that's related to the plot. Its often difficult to watch, just as violence should be. And the final gundown of the famous couple is one of the greatest sequences ever committed to celluloid. |
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Copyright (c) 2007 Rock Star Media Works, Inc. All rights reserved.
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