“In contrast with secret criminals- the furtive embezzlers and other crooks who lead seemingly honest lives- the known outlaws capture the public imagination, because they take chances, and because, often, they enjoy dramatizing their lives.” This is the life of Bonnie and Clyde. When you read the title, did you immediately think about Bonnie and Clyde? Everyone knows who Bonnie and Clyde is. They are the famous couple that were loyal to each other and robs banks and kill people. Not a lot of criminals are attractive. That’s probably one of the reasons why they were so popular. Not only that, they were very good at running from the law. To the police, they were criminals. But to some people, they were heroes.
There was a scene in the movie where they both saw a family moving because the bank foreclosed their home. Clyde gave the two farmers the gun and they started shooting up the house which made them feel better. He then told them he robs banks for a living and that he was insinuating that they’ll avenge him. There was also a scene where they were in the middle of robbing the bank and they didn’t take the farmer’s money. After that, the farmer told the reporters that he will be sending them flowers if they ever get caught. This is one of the reasons why the public admired them. Yes, they robbed banks, but they also robbed the corporations who were technically stealing the money of farmers. As far as the Burrow Gang goes, they are just stealing back. It is unfortunate that people die in the process, especially since it’s mostly bank employees that are innocent. But it is part of their lives.
The movie started with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow meeting because Clyde was looking at Bonnie’s mom’s car. He was trying to steal it but Bonnie saw him and started talking to him. It felt like it was love at first sight. I do not know how accurate the story is but it did made me smile. Bonnie was just your typical waitress and Clyde just got out of jail. When Clyde told her he robs bank, you could see how interested she was. She wanted to do it. The actress who was Faye Dunaway was great with her portrayal of Bonnie Parker. When Clyde, who was Warren Beatty, was showing her how to shoot, you could see the excitement in their moves and you could tell that they were meant to kill. You could tell when the movie started that Clyde never wanted to kill. He only wanted to steal. But when he did start killing, he seems like he enjoyed it. Since Clyde is on the run, they had to hide. Him, Bonnie and the others, who were called “the Burrow gang” was on the run and they settled on a house. The minute they got in the house, Buck, who was the Clyde’s brother ordered groceries from the grocery store. I could not imagine living in a time where a bunch of groceries cost six dollars. Granted that the dollar was really a lot of money back then but it is still cheap compared to what we have now.
They became so popular because the public was so tuned in on what they were going to do next. They were also attractive that you would never expect someone that good looking to do the stuff they have done. I do agree that the public likes action. They love to tune in to stories that they themselves would never do. That is why movies and books became a huge hit as a past time because everyone wants to live out someone else’s life and not do it themselves. The public glorified these killers because they were true to themselves, they were loyal to each other and they did everything together. That is the reason why the movie was such a big hit. It made more money when it was released in 1968.
A review states, “”A test for the individual viewer for his own threshold,” per one early reviewer, Bonnie and Clyde encouraged laughing “at sadism and murder [but] eventually repels you, and makes you angry or ashamed at having had your emotions manipulated.” When watching the movie, I didn’t necessarily laugh when people were dying. I don’t think I laughed at all. The movie showed the story of Bonnie and Clyde and yes, there was murder, there was crimes, but that was their story. It would not be complete without it. I felt bad for the people they killed. But I did not laugh at it. It was very crucial to the story so it made sense for it to be in the movie. I don’t know if you could call it emotional manipulating but the movie made me feel bad for them. They made mistakes, they killed, but they were still for the public. I definitely do not look up to them but they still have such an interesting story.
Resources:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/10/21/bonnie-and-clyde
Hi Francesca,
I don’t know if I necessarily agree that you should feel bad for these people. While maybe they shouldn’t have been killed for their actions, they still murdered several innocent people and didn’t seem to feel any remorse for it with Clyde going so far as to brag about it when he’s talking to Bonnie’s parents. I was also surprised when I saw that the groceries cost only six-dollars. I used an inflation calculator and saw that the $6 the groceries cost back then would be worth about $112 today. I noticed that your paper was a little heavy on the summary and could use a little more analysis but I still thought it was very enjoyable. Keep up the good work!
-Will
I didn’t feel bad for the couple but I did hope that maybe they would’ve never met the farmers because it gave them fuel to go harder on the robberies. I did laugh when Clyde tried to rob their first bank and they were bankrupt. He made the bank teller go and tell Bonnie, his girl, that they had no money. The way Bonnie laughed made me chuckle so much because she had such a sense of humor and looked at the glass half full.
Hi Francesa,
I noticed that a lot of people chose to watch this movie. I have never seen it and find it interesting how people analyze it differently. I like how you tied in quotes from other reviews and dossiers into your writings. I really need to improve at that. Overall, I think it was a great review. I like how you didn’t spoil the ending also.