Bonnie and Clyde, 111 minutes portraying a madly in love young American couple, from the bottom middle class, in more than a movie one can enjoy for its continuous action, and excitement. Rather it is a statement piece that reshaped the future of American cinema, and introduced “The New Hollywood” into US homes towards the end of the sixties.

Set in the midst of the Great Depression (1930’s), Clyde Barrow initially meets Bonnie Parker while trying to steal her mother’s car. Instead of protesting, Bonnie finds herself attracted to the mysterious thief, and decides to run off with him into a life of criminality and excitement. What begins as small time heists, accelerates quickly into deadly bank robberies. All the while tensions continue to rise between the dynamic duo, and their now newly formed gang of thieves.

The main historical question that arises from the movie is the cultural shift within the American middle class as a result of the drastic economic downturn, the Great Depression. As seen in the movie, Bonnie joins Clyde, even though he was robbing her own family.

Bonnie was drawn to the appeal of danger, to the mysterious life of criminality, she chose to become a fugitive over her ordinary life as a waitress, because according to Clyde, “You’re worth more than that. You’re worth a lot more than that. And that’s why you come along with me…. You’re like me. You want different things. You want something better than being a waitress” (Beatty, 1967).  Clyde’s comment reflects no only his justification for his actions, which continues with the repetitive “We Rob Banks” phrase they tell farmers, whose farms have been foreclosed by the banks, but rather, it is a crying call of the middle class, specifically the bottom middle class that is travelling against the current system.

Within the movie, the system are the banks and financial institution whose greediness caused millions to be left with nothing, starving, and miserably poor, while the managers are still able to live affluently .

But outside of the film, itself, the script illustrates, and directing of the film marks the shift in cinematic focus. First, the film rating (PG-13) seemed scandalous to a 1967 audience due to the volume of sexual and violent scene (in modern day gangster films, this would be considered minute of course). Coming off the 1950’s, where Hollywood was dominated by musicals and historical epics, production companies saw a decline in the sales, as a result of a demographic shift (the Baby boomers were entering their teenage years), and needed a new, exciting, more artistic approach to film. And Arthur Penn delivered!

According to Lester Friedman from Syracuse University, “The appeal of Bonnie and Clyde for its late-sixties audiences seems clear: it fired a subversive shot across the prow of mainstream American society. By doing so, the film forced an older generation of movie makers, critics, and audiences – one shaped by their Great Depression and World War II experiences – to confront the emerging power and rebellious values of a new and different generation – one molded by the assassination of John F. Kennedy and by the Vietnam War” (Friedman, 4). As Friedman mentions, the shift in cultural created a demand for a new type of film, where topics that were considered “taboo”, like sexuality and brutal violence, are explored in film and are not reprimanded for it.

After watching the movie, I felt shocked, not only from the jolting ending, but also because while watching this movie, I compared it to some of the films from last week (A Hard Day’s Night, Journey to Italy), and saw the vast differences in the style of directing, setting, and lighting.

Bonnie and Clyde is raw, sharp, and a milestone in American cinema. It was the the initial movie that opened the “New Wave” in Hollywood and has been noted as a major inspiration in gangster film well known today such as The Godfather, The Departed, and Natural Born Killers.

It is a statement about the a culture that once resided in this country and opens a window to our current one, a must watch!