The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)

Director:

Larry Buchanan

Writer:

Larry Buchanan (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Tagline:

You saw the glamour version - Now see it as it was

Plot Keywords:

Lovers On The Lam | Kidnapper | Iowa | Grave | Photograph

Cast

Burl Ives	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jo Enterentree	...	Bonnie Parker
Frank Hamer	...	Himself
Floyd Hamilton	...	Himself
John Jenkins	...	Himself
Lucky Mosley	...	Clyde Barrow
George Edgley	...	Man killed at service station (uncredited)
Harold Hoffman	...	Himself (uncredited)
Bill Thurman	...	Policeman (uncredited)

Directed by
Larry Buchanan

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Larry Buchanan		writer

Produced by
Larry Buchanan	....	producer
Joreta C. Cherry	....	associate producer (as Joreta Cherry)

Original Music by
Jack Carney
Don Zimmers

Cinematography by
Charles Smith

Film Editing by
J.C. Ferguson

Sound Department
Skip Frazee	....	sound

Special Effects by
Jack Bennett	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Byron Lord	....	gaffer
Curtis Poe	....	assistant camera

Production Companies

• Dal-Art Films
• Larry Buchanan Productions

Distributors

• Dal-Art Films (1968) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Home Video (1986) (USA) (VHS) (For United Entertainment)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2003) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2003) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Bonnie and Clyde: Myth or Madness?" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

USA:75 min | USA:61 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Dal-Art Films

Movie Connections:

Edited into Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 9 (2002) (V)

Docudrama of the Dark Side of Bonnie and Clyde

The film is a documentary in the fashion of Unsolved Mysteries or programs on The History, Discovery, or Learning Channels which mix talking head experts and interviews with recreations. The purpose is to tell the real story of Bonnie and Clyde, and Frank Hamer, the man who hunted them down and killed them. It was made in answer to the Beatty/Dunaway Bonnie and Clyde which twisted the facts and made the outlaw pair out to be more glamorous than they really were.

The film is brief 60 minutes, not much longer than the documentaries it resembles and tells its story is a meandering but not uninteresting manner. The film film wanders a bit simply because the film is telling two singular stories, that of the outlaws and that of the law, two tales that don't come together until the final fatal shoot out. The film's very strong anti-criminal pro-law stand point can get to be a bit too much but because of the films brief running time it never overwhelms the narrative.

On the plus side is the fact that we get to hear from surviving witnesses to the events and we get to see some of the guns and other items used and places in which the events really took place. This was made at the right time to connect it to the events just thirty years earlier.

The film is far from perfect but its enjoyable in the same sort of way that many History Channel documentaries are enjoyable when you happen to come upon them. If you should come upon it you could do worse than watch this for an hour. Certainly it would be an interesting co-bill with the Beatty film.

I would also think that its a sterling argument for a big screen version of the life of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, since in briefly recounting his life one gets the sense of a great story that needs to be told.