Appreciating all that makes America special

Bonnie and Clyde (1967 film)

Bonnie and Clyde, www.greatamericanthings.net

Bonnie and Clyde turned the gangster movie genre on its ear with humor and graphic violence. Uploaded by katescritiques.wordpress.com.

Take a look at the photo of Bonnie and Clyde’s death car, below. Doesn’t look like the authorities wanted to take any chances, does it? On the other hand, Arthur Penn, director of Bonnie and Clyde, took plenty of chances in the making of this film. He wanted the movie to be different from anything Hollywood had ever produced, and in large part he succeeded. Certainly it depicted the violence of B&C’s life and death with more graphic realism than American moviegoers had ever seen before.

Bonnie and Clyde's car, www.greatamericanthings.net

Uploaded by vegas4locals.com.

Warren Beatty (also producer) and Faye Dunaway sank their teeth into the lead roles, but all these years later, the supporting cast is slightly more interesting. One of the movie’s two Oscars (it was nominated for ten, including Best Picture) went to Estelle Parsons for Best Supporting Actress. And the movie was the first film appearance for a very young Gene Wilder, and was the breakout role for Gene Hackman.

“They’re young. They’re in love. They rob banks.” That was the movie’s tagline, and “We rob banks” was named the number 41 tagline of all time by the AFI. That group also named Bonnie and Clyde as its number 27 movie of all time in 100 Years…100 Movies, as well as number five in its rankings of Gangster Films.

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