Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

David Newman (written by) &
Robert Benton (written by)

Release Date:

13 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

"The strangest damned gang you ever heard of. They're young. They're in love. They rob banks."

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Doomed Love | Road Movie | Missouri | Kidnapping | Poem

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 22 nominations

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

Also Known As:

Bonnie and Clyde... Were Killers! (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1968) (cut) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) (original rating) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (re-rating) (2008) | Brazil:16 | USA:Approved (certificate #21395) (original rating) | West Germany:16 (re-rating) | Norway:(Banned) (1967 - 1968) | USA:M (re-rating) (1969) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (2007) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Company:

Tatira-Hiller Productions

Trivia:

C.W. Moss mentions, in the first scene with Buck and Blanche, that Myrna Loy is his favorite movie star. Loy was supposedly a favorite actress of John Dillinger. In fact, when he was gunned down outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, the film he had just seen was Manhattan Melodrama (1934), in which Loy starred.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: At their first major shoot out at the cottage, when it begins, Blanche begs of Buck "Buck please get us out of here!" to which Buck yells "Shut up!". If you look at Gene Hackman's mouth, he's not saying anything.

Quotes:

[about Bonnie's poem]
Clyde Barrow: You know what you done there? You told my story, you told my whole story right there, right there. One time, I told you I was gonna make you somebody. That's what you done for me. You made me somebody they're gonna remember.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A New Wave (2007)

Soundtrack:

No Mother or Dad

(Top 10 choice) Superb job done by all involved.

Besides being an enormously entertaining movie, "Bonnie and Clyde" was an important 1960's landmark film in a couple of ways. Its violent ending helped to hasten the end of the old Hayes code, which had been a severe restrictor of artistic freedom; and it helped shape the '60's image of the anti-hero. For these things it received a good deal of condemnation as well as commendation.

The picture is a melange of artistic license and historical accuracy. The recreation of the Depression-era look is superb. (It's done in an unostentatious manner, however. One feels it rather than particularly noting it.) While some liberties are taken with the story, a reasonable amount jibes with the facts. But certainly there is some romanticization here. And of course the real Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were not nearly as attractive as Beatty and Dunaway.

The acting by the two principals is top-notch, as well as that of most of the rest of the cast, especially Gene Hackman (the first film I ever saw him in) and Estelle Parsons.It's not generally recognized that actors Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor and Gene Wilder contribute to the movie's success. Technically as well as artistically everyone from director Arthur Penn on down deserves praise for making what I think is one of the finest movies ever made, without qualification. It seems we all reserve the warmest spots in our hearts for favorite films of our youth. This is one of mine.

And you'll love Flatt & Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" too.