Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

A somewhat romanticized account of the career of the notoriously violent bank robbing couple and their gang.

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

David Newman, Robert Benton,

Stars:

Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard

Won 2 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Warren Beatty	...	Clyde Barrow
Faye Dunaway	...	Bonnie Parker
Michael J. Pollard	...	C.W. Moss
Gene Hackman	...	Buck Barrow
Estelle Parsons	...	Blanche
Denver Pyle	...	Frank Hamer
Dub Taylor	...	Ivan Moss
Evans Evans	...	Velma Davis
Gene Wilder	...	Eugene Grizzard

Storyline

A bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the Depression-struck Mid-West in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run.

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Plot Keywords:

bank | love | crime spree | gang | violence | 

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Taglines:

A brilliantly made, groundbreaking film that chronicles the short lives of America's most infamous criminals.

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 August 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bonnie & Clyde

Filming Locations:

Albertson Ranch, Triunfo, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 5,828,000 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts, Tatira-Hiller Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Warren Beatty really wanted his then lover Natalie Wood to play the part of Bonnie Parker but Wood wanted to concentrate on her therapy at the time. She also didn't want to work professionally with Beatty again who she considered "difficult".

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Goofs

Bonnie's hairstyle in the film is that of a 1960s style, and not of the 1930s.

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Quotes

Bonnie Parker: [Turned around in the car to face the back seat, to Eugene, loudly and mirthfully] Hey, what-a-ya do, anyhow?
Eugene Grizzard: I'm an undertaker.
Bonnie Parker: [Turning back to the front, to Clyde, quietly and with a deadly look] Get them out of here.

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Connections

Referenced in Siskel & Ebert: The Newton Boys/Meet the Deedles/A Price Above Rubies/No Looking Back (1998)

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Soundtracks

"I Love to Spend Each Sunday with You"
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Eddie Cantor
Played on the radio

User Reviews

A masterpiece that dares to be excessive!

'Bonnie and Clyde' is not a film about two real people famous for so many bank robberies and murders across the big country... It shows a new kind of fury in which people could be harm by weapons... The film, however, manages to carry the impression that these two youngsters took great pleasure in robbing banks and stores... It also suggests that it was very easy for them to fool the law—as certainly occurred in real life... Though merited punishment caught up with them, audiences laughed at their remarkable deeds and wanted them to get away...

In 'Bonnie and Clyde,' Penn created an emotional state, an image of the 1930s filtered through his 1960s sensibility... The sense of this period reflects Penn's vision of how the 1930s Depression-era truly was, and for all the crazy style and banjo score, this vision is greatly private...

What is also personal about 'Bonnie and Clyde' and constitutes its incomparable quality, is its unusual mixture of humor and fear, its poetry of violation of the law as something that is gaiety and playfulness...

'Bonnie and Clyde' is both true and abstract... It is a gangster movie and a comedy-romance... It is an amusing film that turns bloody, a love affair that ends with tragedy...

A modification between pleasure and catastrophic events is important to the essential aim of the film... In their second bank robbery, a daring and joyful action goes morosely embittered when Clyde is forced to kill an executive in the bank, and real blood pours out from his body...

Bonnie and Clyde take self-gratification posing for photographs with their prisoners… But when surrounded by detectives in a motel, they turn into vindictive bandits struggling for their lives... C. W. Moss, specially, brings to mind Baby Face Nelson, when he murders policemen with a blazing machine gun...

One of the stimulating moments in the film happens when Clyde chases Bonnie through a yellow corn field, while a cloud transverses the sun and slowly shadows the landscape... Here the characteristic quality of the Texas countryside and the vague aspect of the story are beautifully communicated......

Penn's masterpiece nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, won two Oscars, one for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and another for Best Cinematography...