In the movie, Bonnie and Clyde, we are given an in-depth narrative of one of the most notorious criminal couples to ever live in America. We get to experience the ups and downs of their criminal career from the moment they meet to the moment that they die. Bonnie and Clyde connects the audience to the criminal couple, allowing us to experience the full range of their emotions and personalities, while portraying them as a robin-hood like criminal. With this, the movie softens their illegal and immoral actions, specifically the murders and armed robberies they committed during their crime spree from 1930 to 1934. (fbi.gov)
Throughout the movie, we see the evolution of the couple that starts out with a girl looking for a little bit more excitement into her life, who meets man with a bit of an edgy past and takes her under his wing to create one of the most talked about criminal cases of all time. Early within their relationship, we see Clyde teaching Bonnie how to use a gun, shooting bottles at a foreclosed house taken because of the depression. They meet the family that used to own the home and learn that the bank had taken it from them. “We rob banks…” Clyde says to the man. In this scene, we can see the first sense of the idea that the couple portrays a figure almost like Robin Hood. However, what this movie helps to gloss over, they are taking from the rich, but never giving back to the poor. In Roger Ebert’s review of the movie from 1967, he makes the statement, “It is intended, horrifyingly, as entertainment. And so it will be taken. The kids on dates will go to see this one, just like they went to see “Dirty Dozen” and “Born Losers” and “Hells Angels on Wheels.” This makes me feel like even Roger Ebert didn’t realize the dangers that this movie could portray. By comparing a real-life story to something fictional, make their crimes feel innocent and acceptable. He goes on to further say that, “in a way Bonnie and Clyde were pioneers, consolidating the vein of violence in American history and exploiting it, for the first time in the mass media.” (Roger Ebert) The Barrow Gang, as they were popularly called, were some of the first criminals to make themselves famous by using the media. This further proves the point that this film’s story and emotional connection made with the audience, prevents the true horror of their crimes from really being known, as the only portions of their story they wanted people to know was the one they made media.
This movie portrays the loving characters that many Americans heard and read about in the papers three decades earlier. In doing so, they miss the fact that they were truly mean criminals with an agenda. it causes us to lose sight of the fact that they were ruthless killers. “The Barrow gang had both family loyalty and sex appeal working for their legend.” (The New Yorker) The pair of robbers were a young and attractive breed of criminal that was extremely rare. This rare style of criminal really helped to sell an image that was much different than their true self. The author, Pauline Kael, makes these points with the emphasis on the fact that “it is generally only good movies that provoke attacks by many people.” With this, I do agree that it is often the best movies that push the boundaries of social standards. Bonnie and Clyde is an excellent film, portraying every aspect of life we love to see as an audience: love, drama, action, and a comedic undertone. The movie captures all aspects of greatness, yet it may be a little too good. The director does such a good job, that we’ve lost sight of the fact that were praising real criminals who killed and robbed innocent people. “Once cornered, Clyde would kill anyone in order to avoid capture and a return to prison. Fourteen lawmen died along the way.” (Biography.com) They weren’t kind, and they most definitely didn’t buy you burgers if they happened to capture you, like they did in Gene Wilder’s cameo scene. While in the same article I found that the couple often released prisoners if they could, but only if they could. In fact, I can only remember one-time Clyde killed an innocent man in the movie, in which the bank manager hops on the back of their car after their first successful bank robbery. However, if they were a part of the law, the Barrow Gang would not hold back. “Clyde fired on the other cop, a rookie named H.D. Murphy, whose first day it was on the job. Murphy was about to get married, and his fiancée wore her wedding gown to the funeral.” (Biography.com) This cop was just as innocent as the many people that Bonnie and Clyde may have set free, but the badge was all they needed to see before the man was gunned down. These details, which the movie let out, are major details that the audience of the movie needs to realize. They were not a group to be reckoned, whether or not Hollywood makes them out to be.
From the reviews I read, the authors, Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, described this movie as one of the greatest American films ever made. While they are correct, this movie allowed me to feel connected and sympathetic toward the criminals, it fails to grasp the true story behind the crimes of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and their posse. Bonnie and Clyde romanticizes the violent crime spree that possessed the couple’s final years and makes it feel much more innocent than it truly was.
Resources
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/10/21/bonnie-and-clyde
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/bonnie-and-clyde\
https://www.biography.com/news/bonnie-and-clyde-9-facts-lifetime-movie-video
Hi Andrew!
I also chose Bonnie and Clyde and I enjoyed reading your blog because you took a perspective I have never heard before. I also noticed that the film shows the Barrow gang to have a Robin Hood complex but I never thought about how they did not give back to the poor. I suppose that undermines the whole Robin Hood complex idea. I enjoyed how detailed you were in your writing. I will attempt to have more detail in my next blog.
Andrew,
I too wrote about Bonnie and Clyde because of the infamous story that is referenced to this day. I personally loved your middle paragraph that talks about hoe Bonnie and Clyde emerged as a couple and how teenagers in the 60’s would have loved this movie. Do you think that teenager’s in the 30’s would had the same reaction to this story as the one’s in the 60’s?