Review of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) by Mike H — 04 Apr 2011

The New York Times review of Bonnie and Clyde at the time of its release read: "It is a cheap piece of bald-faced slapstick comedy that treats the hideous depredations of that sleazy, moronic pair as though they were as full of fun and frolic as the jazz-age cutups in Thoroughly Modern Millie.".

The review is not wrong: The real Bonnie and Clyde were about as worthless as human beings come. But what's completely overlooked in such an emotional response is the pure unadulterated innovation in film technique spawned by Bonnie and Clyde the movie. This was the very beginning of the New Golden Age in studio cinema, the single-handed resurrection of the Gangster genre, the birth of the Dance of Death sequence, and a huge milestone in character ambiguity in movies. And as a bonus, it was shot on beautiful, organic, almost living-and-breathing film stock.