Review of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) by Ryan D — 07 Nov 2008

Bonnie and Clyde tells the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Darrow. As they so often pointed out in the film, they rob banks. Over the course of the film, Bonnie and Clyde add members to their gang and get more violent. Most of the film shows the gang trying to run from authorities. While the real Bonnie and Clyde are fairly interesting to read about, this film was rather tedious.

The roles of Bonnie and Clyde are played by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. They both do an admirable job, but as the film progressed their characters came off as less interesting. Also noteworthy is the role of Clyde's sister-in-law played by Estelle Parsons. While she did win a Best Supporting Actress for this film, I found her character quite irritating. I suppose this was the director's intent and she did a good job, but it still was irritating.

This film was most notable for being one of the first films of the New Hollywood era. The film was quite open about sex and violence and paved the way for many films to go even further with these issues. While the film is groundbreaking in that regard, I didn't find it all that enjoyable. The film is also notable for being in the French New Wave style. The film had choppy editing and had rapid shifts of tone. I found this effective, but again it didn't make up for an otherwise boring film.

Overall, this was decent. It won a few awards and is generally recognized as a historically important film. The problem was that while the film spent a lot of time with character development, it didn't develop them well enough. Bonnie decides to join Clyde in a life of crime without thinking about her decision at all. The film sort of gives a reason for this, but it wasn't terribly convincing. Historians might be put off by the fact the film isn't all that accurate. It leaves out numerous key events in the lives of Bonnie and Clyde but it otherwise reasonably accurate. This is probably worth watching at some point, but would-be viewers shouldn't expect something great.

65/100.

D.

UP NEXT: To be determined.