Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

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

Release Date:

13 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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:

Violence | Robbery | Crime Spree | Bonnie And Clyde | Texas

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 18 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

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Brazil:14 | Norway:16 (1968) (cut) | Norway:(Banned) (1967 - 1968) | West Germany:16 (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #21395) (original rating) | USA:M (re-rating) (1969) | USA:R (re-rating) (2007) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (re-rating) (2008) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) (original rating) | UK:15 (re-rating: 2008) | New Zealand:M | Canada:14A (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2008) | 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:

The first choice for director, François Truffaut, expressed a keen interest in the project and may have even been involved in the development of the screenplay. However, before filming could begin, the opportunity arose for Truffaut to make Fahrenheit 451 (1966), a long-cherished project of his, and he dropped out to make that film instead.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The character of Ivan Moss is referred to as "Malcolm" by Bonnie in one of the final scenes.

Quotes:

Bonnie Parker: [after a shootout with the cops] *Damn it*, you almost got us killed!
Blanche Barrow: What did I do wrong? I thought you'd be happy if I got shot!
Bonnie Parker: Yeah! Yeah, it would of saved us all a lot of trouble!

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lucky Day

Masterpiece

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

**** (out of 4)

Ground breaking gangster film tells the true story of Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) who became legends robbing banks during the Depression. A lot of people look back at this film and call it the one movie that changed history and took the format into a new direction. It's hard to believe this film is now over forty-years-old but at the same time it's not hard to believe how many movies this one here influenced throughout all those years and especially throughout the 1970s. I wouldn't really call the film flawless as I think there are a couple slow sequences in the middle of the movie but there's also no denying the incredible power the film still has after all these years. The violence and sexuality were highly debated when the film was first released and it's rather amazing to see how well those two things hold up decades later. The opening sequence with Dunaway walking around her room naked contains a certain sexuality that you really can't have today. The follow up scenes with her walking with Beatty just push this sexuality even more. The violence is also quite shocking when you think back to what 1967 was in cinema. The ending here still comes off rather shocking in how its filmed and even though we've seen more violent films, the final shoot out is something to really see. The biggest key to the film are the terrific performances by Beatty, Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Michael Pollard and Oscar winner Estelle Parsons. The five work extremely well together and I've always felt that Beatty and Hackman made for one of the most memorable brothers in film history just by the way they act towards one another. Even Gene Wilder turns in a very funny performance in his few scenes. One thing the film never gets credit for his being a Warner Bros. gangster film. It seems when people talk about the gangster films from the studio this one here often gets left out and only their Cagney and Bogart titles come up, which is a real shame as this movie fits in perfectly with how those films from the 1930s changed how movies were made. I always find it interesting that Warner's gangster pictures helped cause the Production Code and then this one came in just as that code was being kicked out of town.