"This here's Miss Bonnie Parker. I'm Clyde Barrow...We rob banks." Clyde Barrow(Warren Beatty)
Bonnie and Clyde, Arthur Penn's 1967 gangster classic, is the first American film in my marathon, and I'm having trouble trying to talk about. Up until this point, gangster films involved Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart scowling with trench coats and Tommy guns. While Tommy guns are present in Bonni and Clyde, the Clyde gang were not criminals. they were ordinary people who committed criminal acts.
CW Moss was a kid, one who was brought into the parent hating, society attacking world inhabited by Bonnie and Clyde. They were the younger generation, the ones who were against governments and institutions. They were rock stars. they played with the banks, the institutions. On the other hand, we have Buck Barrow, played by Gene Hackman, and Blanche, a role for which Estelle Parsons won an Oscar. Buck seems to be torn between the two sides, but Blanche is 1950's suburban housewife, the opponent to the likes Of Bonnie and Clyde.
Bonnie and Clyde is a beautifully shot film. For the first time in Hollywood history, here we had a colour film that wasn't a glorified, brightly light Vertigo-esque world. the gorgeous sepia tones(although My favourite colour is sepia, so I may be biased) create a new landscape. Here is a world that has not been seen before by Hollywood. this is not fantasy, this is reality.
However, I had some problems with Bonnie and Clyde. As an instigator, as a revolution starter, it's perfect. But on reflection, it has some problems with it. It takes a lot of time to get into the world of these characters and, for me at least, to understand the emotional reality. You have to look beyond what could have easily be looked at as a fun romp and watch the characters form the outside. But for the first 45 minutes all it is IS a fun gangster on the run, with comedic moments like when they take a bank which had closed down three weeks earlier. Tensions rise, but never hit a head until what I'm going to call the fantastic "circular grassland shootout scene" not the end scene, the shootout before that. It's a great scene, where the consequences of the gang's actions become apparent.
Two scenes stick out for me. The final scene, cut quickly, is already in the record books and I endorse everything said before and don't have anything else to put into the conversation. the second scene is the one that contains the quote I used above. I love that moment because you can see the tangible delight on Beatty's face when he utters those words. It makes up for any other bad acting he does in the movie, which isn't to say he's bad, both him and Dunaway are fine, but they were different performances then I expected, and will need further examination before I form a proper opinion.
Verdict: As a revolution starter, it's brilliant. As an actual movie, it can leave a bit to be desired.
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