Bonnie and Clyde: 1960’s spirit captured through the lens of the 1930’s

The 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde by Arthur Penn heeds no cautionary whistles. It follows the story of the naïve and charming gangsters Bonnie and Clyde. The couple were radicals who went around robbing banks yet at the same time capturing the hearts of American people. Their unnatural charm and unabashed attitude towards life actually inspired their peers who at the time felt the cold reality of depression. The movie does a fantastic job of showing the struggle of the great depression without telling about it. The core of the story is Bonnie and Clyde’s journey and only through context clues can the true pain of the great depression become visible. In their first bank robbery Clyde becomes irate when the teller explains how the bank is out of money due to them having to recently declare bankruptcy. Another scene portrays their earnings from a high stakes robbery and the small amount of cash is almost laughable. Instead of robbing to obtain immeasurable riches, Arthur Penn portrays the Barrow Gang as purely robbing to get by. This humanizes the characters and allows the audience to feel connected with them. The original movie poster emphasizes this with the duo laughing and seemingly enjoying themselves with bullet holes in their car’s windshield.

Bonnie and Clyde is a movie that according to Robert Ebert in his movie review, “defined the 1960’s”. In this regard it’s true it captures the rebellious attitude of the 1960’s but since Bonnie and Clyde lived during the Great Depression, it actually captures the spirit of rebellion found throughout all of human history. We admire those who make their own way and push the limits of society. With Hollywood on the brink of breaking away from it’s production code in 1968 this movie was one of the last that pushed the limits of Hollywood’s own self censorship. By successfully pushing the boundaries of action and sexual imagery this film illustrated the demand for a change to the way things had always been done.

While not showing any sexual explicit content Bonnie and Clyde sure did more than hint at it. The opening scene of the movie is a topless Bonnie aligned in a way that reveals nothing overtly sexual. The gory action was heavily criticized upon release. The movie ends in a bloody shootout that for it’s time was shocking. Previously death had been clean and sanitary as described in the New Yorker’s movie review but this shootout shows the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde being absolutely torn apart with bullets leaving their corpses with uneven holes and blood everywhere. The movie does sympathize the criminals but it’s reasons for doing so are genuine. The group only kills in self defense and live out the rebellious adventures we all dream about. Bonnie and Clyde have an uncanny ability to self-promote themselves by taking photos with captured cops and sending poems to be printed in the newspapers. The sensationalized crime and violence was jarring at the movie’s release but provided a springboard for the future. Very soon the audience came around to the film and it succeeded in huge box office earnings while winning ten Academy Award nominations as mentioned in a breakdown of historic films. Culture was changing and Bonnie and Clyde unabashedly declared it.

Director Arthur Penn initially did not want to produce the movie and it was Warren Beaty who coerced him into it as Penn admitted in a director’s memoir. Additionally Arthur Penn thought it would be best to show Bonnie’s sexual frustrations unfulfilled and not include any lovemaking scene. Warren Beaty disagreed and convinced Penn that fulfillment would be a great way to tie the movie together. In doing so the overarching theme of the runaway criminals enjoying themselves becomes fully entrenched. Bonnie and Clyde was one of the last movies created before the rating system was introduced yet it contains violent imagery that certainly caused some movie goers to become upset. The old ways of doing things were coming to a close and a rift between the young and old generation was becoming apparent. The rebellious nature of the youth won out and Bonnie and Clyde provided a crescendo to the unconventional approach of making movies under the old Production Code. Lead actress Faye Dunaway went on to star in one of the first rated R films The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). This appearance exemplified style over substance which resulted in a less renowned film but was a good indication of what was to become normal for Hollywood.

Works Cited

1. Movie Poster
2. Robert Ebert movie review
3. Production code
4. End scene bloody shootout
5. Director’s memoir
6. Breakdown of historic films listing
7. New Yorker’s movie review