"Biography" Love and Death: The Story of Bonnie & Clyde (1995)

TV Series:

"Biography" (1987)

Original Air Date:

3 April 1995

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | History

Plot:

Their lawless spree of robbing and killing took the lives of a dozen people. Yet something about them...

Plot Keywords:

Ambush | Outlaw | Interview | Criminal | Bonnie And Clyde

Cast

Marie Barrow	...	Herself
Jimmy Ray Gillman	...	Himself
Michael Cox	...	Himself - Author
John Neal Phillips	...	Himself
Frank Prassel	...	Himself
Paul A. Hutton	...	Himself (as Dr. Paul A. Hutton)
Roger McGrath	...	Himself
John Davis	...	Himself - Historian
John Dillinger	...	Himself (archive footage)
W.D. Jones	...	Himself (archive footage)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bob Alcorn	...	Himself (archive footage)
Clyde Barrow	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ted Hinton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jimmy Hounchell	...	Himself (as FBI Lt. Jimmy Hounchell)
Rick Maddox	...	Himself
Bonnie Parker	...	Herself (archive footage)

Produced by
Melanie Blythe	....	series producer
Michael Cascio	....	executive producer
Linda Fuller	....	producer
Craig Haffner	....	executive producer
Donna E. Lusitana	....	executive producer
Michael Sackett	....	segment producer
Greg Weinstein	....	segment producer

Original Music by
Christopher L. Stone

Film Editing by
Michael W. Andrews
Margaret Moore

Production Management
Diane Ferenczi	....	post-production supervisor
Steven Lewis	....	executive in charge of production

Camera and Electrical Department
Joey Spurlock	....	field camera
Steve Suggs	....	field camera
Dan Waymack	....	field camera

Animation Department
Timothy Kitz	....	animation

Editorial Department
Terence Curren	....	composite editor
Eric Lindstrom	....	post-production coordinator
Rob Senkel	....	post production assistant

Other crew
Marie Barrow	....	archive source
Troy Bogert	....	production assistant
Chris Cranford	....	field engineer
Rick DeCroix	....	archive footage
Bill Harris	....	manager: documentary programming
Andrew Hurvitz	....	production assistant
Heidi McBride	....	production assistant
John Neal Phillips	....	archive source
Dave Rody	....	field engineer
Louis Tarantino	....	production coordinator

Thanks
Cleo Davis	....	thanks
John Davis	....	thanks (as Jonathan Davis)
Brian Downs	....	thanks
William J. Helmer	....	thanks
Lorraine Joyner	....	thanks
Joe Pinkston	....	thanks

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Agnes Nixon		creator

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Bonnie & Clyde: Should They Be Romantiicized?

It's amazing how the entertainment business loves to glamorize gangsters. They love darkness, but I expected a history-centered TV program like this to be a little more objective....yet, more times than not, these two famous outlaws were made to look like sympathetic characters in this episode. They interview Clyde Barrow's sister and read letters from a Parker family member's memoirs of 1968. They interview college professors and - surprise! - they give more of the same slant. This all despite the fact that Bonnie & Clyde were cold-blooded killers and a pair of real low-lifes. Amazing.

If you don't believe me, just read the synopsis here on the IMDb title page. "Romantic" folk hero types? I don't think so, even in the Depression Era. If so, people should be ashamed for rooting for killers.

Whatever the case, this episode provided a lot of background information on this famous pair of lovers on the lam from the early 1930s. In the middle of the Great Depression, gangsters were not always seen in a bad light, thanks to the entertainment business who often glorified the exploits of these "modern-day Robin Hoods," as it was stated here on TV. There was Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Ma Barker and her gang, Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly......all "glamorous" names.

For much of Bonnie & Clyde's criminal exploits, the blame was put on their poverty-level upbringing, as if that is a legitimate excuse for crime. It's pointed out here the brutality of a jail in Alabama which really hardened Clyde and changed him from a thief to a murdering one.

There are a lot of facts here in this Biography episode, though, that don't have sides, per se, but are simply interesting. People who don't know anything about these two figures outside of what they saw in the famous 1968 film "Bonnie & Clyde" will be quite a bit more informed when this program is over. For instance, Bonnie and Clyde were in love a lot more than what we saw in the film. How they met and formed their relationship, along with a ton of other pre-crime spree history, is all very interesting. A nice bonus, too, is actual footage of the victims at the end, when the two were ambushed and, along with their car, riddled with bullets. The picture shows - from a little distance - Parker slumped over in the seat.

The crowds at the funerals were also shown, and it's remarkable. It's amazing how "celebrities," no matter what their occupation, have always fascinated "normal" people.