Bonnie and Clyde formed one of the most notorious duos in American crime history, so it is no wonder that the film based on their lives is one of the most popular in America cinema of all time. Considered one of the most formative movies of its time, it challenged many of the social norms that had been established regarding films, especially around violence and how it portrayed its villain-esque characters. There is a unique parallel to draw between the time frame that the film is set, in the very depths of the depression, and the time the film was released

While the film went on to great acclaim and became the 2^nd highest grossing film for Warner Brothers at the time, it took producer and lead actor Warren Beatty a considerable amount of effort to convince the studio to finance the film (Warner Brothers, 2017). Warner Brothers eventually caved, giving them a meager $2.5 million with a unique clause to protect them against the low expectations they had for the film’s success. First time producer Beatty would receive 40% of the gross profits of the film, rather than the minimum normally allotted to producers (Coyle, 2017).  Beatty then set out to find his stars and directors, getting turned down by 11 different directors before finally convincing Arthur Penn to take the reins of the film (Nashawaty, 2017). To fill out the rest of the cast behind the already well-regarded Beatty as Clyde, they cast virtual unknowns, including a young Gene Wilder. With the decidedly low expectations and unremarkable cast, this film could easily be categorized as an unconventional film. Until, of course, its decidedly uncharacteristic social norms made it one of the most embraced films of all time.

While the makings of the film were distinctly unconventional, the plot line was as well. Never in the history of film had a movie so embraced violence and sex, and even with as much as violence as my generation is accustomed to, I was still taken aback. The last scene was especially difficult to watch, and it is renowned as one of “the most famous – and most shocking – endings in cinema history (Buckmaster, 2017).” It is no secret that Bonnie and Clyde met a gruesome and maybe even excessive death, but actually seeing the film and watching them get shot dozens of times took my breath away in shock. Indeed, the film often attempts to depict the “heroes” as worthy of sympathy, including when they allow a farmer to keep the money he was about to deposit in the bank. Banks at the time were the clear enemy of the people, and while that particular scene is not historically accurate, the goal of the movie was to make the Barrow Gang into the Robin Hoods of the Depression. When other popular films at this time, such as the #1 Warner Brothers film “My Fair Lady”, tried to shy away from controversy, it seems as though this film intentionally embraces it. But when it comes to Bonnie and Clyde, embracing the controversy of the characters became especially important for the outward of the appeal of the film, as it is far easier to convince people to root for characters that can be perceived as “misunderstood” rather than true criminals. Young people could rally behind people that they could identify with, which made it that much more important for the creative film to find a distinct line between historically accurate and culturally appealing. Surprisingly, to many folks that watched the film in the late 1960’s, they already identified with much of what was going on at the time.

Throughout “Bonnie and Clyde,” the titular characters are depicted as consistently oppressed. Whether that be by the police that chase them across state lines or the banks that foreclose until they go bankrupt, there always seems to be a subtle undertone that tries to portray Bonnie and Clyde as the “good guys.” Interestingly enough, Director Arthur Miller saw many parallels between the time that the film was released and the one that the film was set in. He saw a common theme of resisting, which in the 1960’s meant resisting the military draft and the war in Vietnam, which he felt “just happened to be appropriate to that time (American Film Institute, 2010).” Not only did the young people that flocked to the theaters identify with the characters, the identified with the situations that they found themselves in, though clearly not to the same extreme. It is clear that the creative team anticipated this to some extent by using a film posters with the tage line “They’re young, they’re in love, and they kill people” plastered across the front, but it sounds like they truly did not realize the cult phenomenon they had on their hands.  The film has withstood the tests of time, because each generation can identify with the idea of resistance, and no one can argue that Bonnie and Clyde have become the faces of resistance.