The American Movie Bonnie and Clyde - Essay Example

? s Bonnie and Clyde The American movie Bonnie and Clyde was released in the year 1967. It was directed by Arthur Penn, the script written by David Newman, Robert Benton and Robert Towne (even though he is unaccredited). However, the plot itself was not fictional. It was based on a real life story of a group of people living in trying times with just a minimal number of changes made to ensure that the movie was a hit amongst the audience. Basically, we have the lead characters – later joined by a few others leading them to form The Barrow Gang – that the movie is named after, stealing money and enjoying themselves while they were at it. Bonnie and Clyde can be easily put under the genre of crime films. These are the movies that have a plot revolving around the life of a criminal. The character could be someone as real life as conceivable or someone so villainous that the viewer feels that he could not possibly be real. Then there are some which are based on the lives of actual felons. Often, films portray the life of criminals to be exciting and glorified, and this movie is one of those. It gives a glimpse of how life as a wanted person could be like, all the rush and adrenaline and yet the worry that must be constantly at the back of their mind of being caught even if they are arrogant and act otherwise. Such movies give the watcher an inside look to how a criminal’s mind could be like (Barsam and Monahan). The story is set during the times of the Great Depression when practically everyone was unemployed and money was short. In turn, these events resulted in a rise of criminal activity since the only way that the people could afford to put some food in their belly was by stealing the food. One of those persons was Clyde Barrow. It is whilst he is trying to steal a car when he meets Bonnie Parker, a waitress who is, surprisingly, the daughter of the owner of the very same car – “Hey boy, what you doin' with my Mama's car?” (Newman, Benton and Towne). However, instead of creating an outcry, she helps Clyde and they manage to run away in the car. That makes her first crime stealing her mother’s car but Bonnie has no regrets as she is quite excited and is looking forward to a new way of life. As Arthur Penn explains, “the American negro has the same kind of attitude of 'I have nothing more to lose' that was true during the Depression for Bonnie and Clyde.... He really is at the point of revolution -- it's rebellion, not riot” (Friedman 84) The duo start small, they go around gas stations and such. However, when their increasingly expensive lifestyle requires them to have more money, they raise the scales. They start robbing banks, figuratively spitting on authority that turned its back to them and so many others despite all their promises made in the past, even introducing themselves as “This here's Miss Bonnie Parker. I'm Clyde Barrow...We rob banks” (Newman, Benton and Towne). Throughout the movie, the viewer may notice the subtle way that the Robin Hood theme has been continuously showcased. The two are stealing money from those who shut themselves down and refused to lent money to the poor in their times of need. In fact, the banks collapse and with them sink all the money that the ordinary people had cashed in their accounts as savings for the future. There is also a scene during one of the robberies at the bank when a farmer who had dropped by is allowed to keep all his money with him. It is through these little gestures that they show that are just ordinary folk. They are two thieves stealing money and living their life as they want it to be despite the terrible times and all the uncertainty that the normal public are feeling. It is clear since the beginning of the movie that Bonnie and Clyde are instantly attracted towards each other. Romance taking place in the future is a definite yes. The pair have a fun time together, meeting people they like and dislike but enjoying life to the fullest. Still, it is not all fun and games. Granted, it is the people with the authority who should have tried to help out the general public so that they would not be encouraged to take drastic steps such as turning into thieves. However, not everyone decided to go against the law even if it was not with them. People still remained on the right path and starved themselves instead of forcefully taking from the others. Then there were thieves who had stolen what was not theirs but they had not taken a life. They had not taken more than one life. The gang, on the other hand, had done all that and more. Even though they had been greatly affected after they had killed an official for the first time, they did not stop that and shot more in the future. But still, they did not realize how it could all backfire at them and that they would be punished for their deeds eventually. They may be having a long run of good luck but – as is the case in most stories – the past would always catch up with them and they would have to face the consequences for all the wrong that they did. The pair are shot but are taken to C.W’s – one of the members of the gang – father’s house to be checked up on. Even luckier still, they do not have any fatal wounds and manage to recover nicely. It is when they are leaving that they are ambushed. The machine guns fire a number of shot, each entering the criminals’ bodies, brutally killing them in the process. Killing is another thing that is quite in abundance in the film. All the violence displayed on the movie screens during the 1960s was quite a big phenomenon. The blatant blood and gore of the gang killing and/or hurting the law officials, or them being gunned down in such a savage way, was not something that was approved of. There were squibs covered with bags of stage blood in the insides of the actor’s clothing that detonated once the time came leading the bags to explode. There was smoke coming out of the guns, the shots whirring past and into a body, the clothes and the flesh being torn on impact. And this was one of the reasons why the initial reviews that the movie had gotten were rather bad. The people did not want their teenagers watching such movies. Bonnie and Clyde was not just breaking the norms by showing a number of violent scenes, but it was building new rules for the movies that were to come out in the future. It created a new and different way of creating such violent scenes, there was fast editing and the scenes were played in slow motion. It was after the release of this movie that other directors picked up pointers and now there are so many movies that show their most important scenes happening in slow motion so as it give the full effect of the emotions to the audience. Another way that the movie has influenced the current movies being shot in Hollywood is by fast editing. During the 1960s, the average shot was as long as 6 to 10 seconds. However, in Bonnie and Clyde, we see that most of the shots are barely 4 seconds long, which is how scenes are shot currently. The plot is not much if there is no good music to accompany it and to allow the audience to feel all the emotions. Good music that goes with the particular situation being shown. The movie’s soundtrack just consisted of six songs; however, they were all appropriately played. One of the songs Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Flatt and Scruggs was frequently used throughout the movie. The viewers got so attached to the banjo playing by the end of it that they fell in love with the song. It rose to the top ten of the music charts over a decade after it was first released. The songs chosen were not from the time period of when the movie was based. Instead, songs from the mid-1940s were used. However, these were quite similar to those released during the 1930s so they blended in well with the film. The story would not have touched the hearts of so many if it had not been for the actors and their brilliant portrayal of their characters. Warren Beatty was originally just the producer of the film but decided to join the cast later as the lead character Clyde. Faye Dunaway played the role of Bonnie. Both of them were, of course, much more good looking than the original Bonnie and Clyde were but that was to be expected. Michael J. Pollard played the character of the quite C.W. Gene Hackman was Buck Barrow, Clyde’s brother and his wife Blanche’s character was portrayed by Estelle Parsons. All of them were nominated for the Academy Awards even though only Parsons managed to bag the prize for her performance as best supporting actress. Bonnie and Clyde is a fantastic movie even though it started off with quite a difficult ride. Despite the difficulties it faced, the story and the cast and crew managed to show their talents to the world and proved themselves. To this day, this movie is considered to be one of Hollywood’s finest and has encouraged many other filmmakers in being creative and trying out new things. Bibliography Barsam, Richard and Dave Monahan. "Types of Movies." Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. 4th. W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 640. Bonnie and Clyde. By David Newman, Robert Benton and Robert Towne. Dir. Arthur Penn. Warner Brothers/Seven Arts, Tatira-Hiller Productions. 1967. Friedman, Lester D., ed. Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Read More

 

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