104) Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Director: Arthur Penn

Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard, Estelle Parsons

It was bound to happen at some point, I'm actually kind of surprised that it took this long into the year, but I have my first double up of the year. For week three of Screens, Images, Ideas we watched Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, which I previously watched back in January. Seeing as we are studying the New Hollywood it was highly likely that it would come up. Given that I've already done a write up on it I won't say too much, but I did want to make a couple of comments.

I talked in my previous blog on the film about how it was a real landmark in terms of screen violence. Taking advantage of the changes in US screen censorship laws, it took depictions of violence to a whole new level. But what is particularly interesting about the violence in the film is the way in which it builds. For Clyde's first robbery the viewer remains out in the street with Bonnie. For the second robbery we go in with Clyde, but it is a farce as the bank has closed down and has no money. The third robbery, this time of a grocery store, we are again in with Clyde and this time there is a confrontation as the grocer attacks Clyde with a cleaver. Clyde beats him on the head with his gun and we see our first sight of blood. The fourth, a bank hold-up, results in the films first murder, a confronting close up of a bank teller being shot in the face. This steady building of the violence continues all the way to the films final scene, the brutal massacre of Bonnie and Clyde, known as the dance of death because of the way their bodies flailed around under the rain of bullet fire. Penn obviously had it in mind not to blow people away straight away, but rather starting in familiar territory and then shocking them by showing them something they had never seen, then doing it again by taking it further, and so on and so on.

The shockingness of the violence is made all the more effective by the quick changes of tone throughout the film. The film's soundtrack, provided by bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs, gives the film a comic, Keystone Cops, kind of feel at times. So when you have Bonnie and Clyde fleeing a bank followed by police with this music, it really hits you when that feeling of fun is juxtaposed with a quite confronting act of violence.

This was the third time I've seen this film and each time I've watched it I've enjoyed it more than the last. It really holds up as a film. It is surprisingly funny at times, beautifully shot and performed with engaging characters.