Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

David Newman (written by) &
Robert Benton (written by)

Release Date:

13 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

"The strangest damned gang you ever heard of. They're young. They're in love. They rob banks."

Plot:

A somewhat romantized account of the career of the notoriously violent bank robbing couple and their gang.

Plot Keywords:

Picnic | Road Movie | Car Chase | Kidnapping | Jail

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 22 nominations

Cast

Warren Beatty	...	Clyde Barrow
Faye Dunaway	...	Bonnie Parker
Michael J. Pollard	...	C.W. Moss
Gene Hackman	...	Buck Barrow
Estelle Parsons	...	Blanche
Denver Pyle	...	Frank Hamer
Dub Taylor	...	Ivan Moss
Evans Evans	...	Velma Davis
Gene Wilder	...	Eugene Grizzard

Also Known As:

Bonnie and Clyde... Were Killers! (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1968) (cut) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) (original rating) | USA:M (re-rating) (1969) | USA:Approved (certificate #21395) (original rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Norway:(Banned) (1967 - 1968) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (re-rating) (2008) | USA:R (re-rating) (2007) | West Germany:16 (re-rating) | Brazil:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Company:

Tatira-Hiller Productions

Trivia:

Future film maker Curtis Hanson, who began his career as a photographer, took a series of modeling photos of Faye Dunaway which helped to get her the job as Bonnie Parker. According to Hanson on the Special Edition DVD Documentary, when Dunaway came under consideration, Warren Beatty called him and asked Hanson to bring a slide show presentation of the photos to show to both Beatty and Arthur Penn. After viewing the photos, Dunaway was cast. According to Hanson, Warren Beatty wanted to pay him for the photos but Hanson instead asked to accompany them to Texas so he could observe the filming to which Beatty agreed.

Goofs:

Continuity: Still on the bed, after Clyde stands up, Bonnie appears with a gun near her face in close-up. The subsequent shows her standing up with no gun nearby at all.

Quotes:

Bonnie Parker: We rob banks!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Empire of the Censors (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Why Don't You Tell Me So

Great For Its Day

For a long, long time this was a memorable film and one of my favorites. It was one of the first VHS tapes I bought. After a long hiatus, I bought the DVD, watched it again and - wow, it wasn't so hot anymore.

Oh, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Michael J. Pollard are still very good in their respective roles as Clyde, Bonnie and C.J. What annoyed me were the characters played by Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons. Hackman has gone on to have a very distinguished career but he is just a stupid moron in here he's no fun to watch. However, it's a picnic watching him compared to listening to Parsons shrieking and screaming through her abrasive role. Those two ruin the film for me now.

I'll still have fond memories and I'll always remember the time I first saw this in the theaters when it came out. The violent ending caused quite a stir at that time. Nobody had seen blood and bullets on screen like that before. Now, it's commonplace....even tame compared to many of today's scenes!

This was another of those films that began in the '60s in which the bad guys were portrayed as the good guys and vice-versa. It's still highly-recommended for those who have never viewed it.