Bonnie and Clyde
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Movie Reviews of Bonnie and Clyde
Movie Review: Perennial Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Arthur Penn enables the audience to connect with Bonnie and Clyde without deifying these two outlaws. He keeps all of the principle players' performances just short of reality but never permits their characters to drift into farce. This approach, along with the kinetic energy infused by Penn's direction, are key elements in the film's success. The movie becomes a fable. We can spend time with these characters without admiring them. There is a subtle buffoonery to Clyde's conman and Bonnie's naivete. An example of this is the scene where Clyde teaches Bonnie to shoot a gun....her blowing into the smoking barrel of the just discharged pistol...the approach of the dispossessed farmer and the outlaws' subsequent dialogue with him, etc. The scene is the essence of the film's tenor. I wonder if most people really appreciate the perfect balance Penn achieves with this film. He manages to lace the movie with humor without trivializing the malignant conduct of the outlaws. He allows us to feel all of the emotion of a sober drama without making the film absolutely dramatic and portraying Bonnie and Clyde as victims. Arthur Penn also gives us a feel of at least our romanticized impression of early 1930s America. I never grow tired of watching "Bonnie and Clyde." Read Byran Burrough's superb new book "Public Enemies" and then watch this film. A harrowing, sad, deadly, fascinating time was this aspect of early 1930s America....the reign of the Mid-Western bandits.Movie Review: once-controversial film
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this when I was collecting Gene Wilder movies. Turns out, it was his film debut. I hadn't seen this before, but I do remember all the controversy around it when it first came out. Funny, it seems so tame now.
Warren Beatty is Clyde Barrow; Faye Dunaway is Bonnie Parker. They rob banks during the depression, and they're joined by Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman), Buck's wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons), and a young gas station attendant (Michael J. Pollard) they recruit as a driver.
They go on their merry way, with preacher's daughter Blanche's protests their only problem, until things start to catch up with them.
It's a wonderful blend of exciting action, humor, and pathos--the sort-of lovers racing gleefully toward their doom. Clyde in particular is almost innocently childlike in his self-centeredness and lack of consideration of the consequences of his actions, not to mention his ambiguous sexuality. I'm not that well-versed in evaluating acting performances, but I believed all these characters.
Which is not to say that I believe Beatty and Dunaway were just like the actual Barrow and Parker. Far from it, I'd say--rather than a portrayal of actual fact, the movie is more fiction based on the true story.
Oh, and Gene Wilder? He was wonderful as a man who's briefly caught up in the gang when they steal his car.
Movie Review: An important film
Summary: 5 Stars
The late 60s/early 70s was the greatest era in filmmaking, and this picture is one of its most salient works. It is an odd mix of populist sentiment, history, comic relief and stark violence. When watching this classic it is important to remember that this is loosely based on the lives of Bonnie & Clyde and is not a complete biopic of their lives (the most notable discrepancy being that the pair were rather homely and physically nothing like the sexy Faye Dunaway or handsome Warren Beatty). Liberties were also taken in order to make this a sort of conglomeration of moments from the depression era that contained so many interesting criminals such as the part where Clyde, in true Robin Hood style, lets and old man keep his personal money and only takes the bank's during a robbery (that incident is actually attributed to John Dillinger).
But don't let historical inaccuracies stop you from studying this finely crafted work. Director Arthur Penn remarkably uses facial expression to convey what the dialouge doesn't and cinematographer Burnett Guffery creates an impressive authentic atmosphere of the era. Dunaway, Beatty, Pollard, Hackman and Parsons all shine. From the odd and fortuitous meeting between the title characters to the violent ending it is a great story and film.
Movie Review: Perhaps the ultimate masterpiece from the 60s
Summary: 5 Stars
This extremely original, milestone of a film still packs a wallop almost 40 years later. This is the kind of film that will force even the most casual film viewer to notice the acting, the direction, the script, the editing, the cinematography and the soundtrack. Everything that goes into master filmmaking was applied to this film. It is positively a work of art, and it's mighty influence is still being utilized in the new millineum. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and although many have copied, none have quite captured the uniqueness of Bonnie and Clyde.
The entire cast is brilliant, with Faye Dunaway's performance being one of the absolute best in the history of film. She is beyond incredible with this role and in a mistake free world, she would have won the Academy award that year.
High praise must go to director Arthur Penn. What this man created and accomplished with this film truly changed the art of filmmaking forever. I dare anyone to view this film and not be impressed with it's technical achievements, or, it's emotional impact. This is unquestionably a "must see" film for any student of filmmaking, or, for anyone whom appreciates an innovative film that succeeds on every level and remains a timeless film. Highly recommended, indeed.
Movie Review: This is what a movie is supposed to be.
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is perhaps most famous for its powerful action sequences. The robbery scenes exposed audiences to a whole new level and degree of violence in film. And it wasn't just violence for the sake of violence. It was done stylishly and in a realistic, believable manner. Furthermore, the violence was necessary to help in telling the story.But more importantly, this movie is about the relationship between the two primary characters. And their relationship is so much more complex than what occurs in today's movies. In today's movies, people just jump in to bed, without any serious character interaction. But Bonnie and Clyde were different. A glance, a smile, a light touch on the shoulder. All of these things are done in such a powerful way. When Bonnie simply looks at Clyde, there is more character expression in that one glance than there is in most entire movies that are made today. This movie doesn't have any graphic sex scenes. And it doesn't need them, either. Instead, it relies on dialogue and other nonsexual interaction to let us know how the two main characters feel about each other. And that is one of the main reasons why I find this movie to be so captivating.