This is the kind of movie that warrants investigation on the accuracy of what is being told. And now that I know the truth, I'm not sure which story I like better. The fictitious Bonnie and Clyde by Arthur Penn, or the real life Bonnie and Clyde...of Wikipedia.
What really struck me about this story, both the Penn and real-life version, is that the most interesting character is Bonnie Parker. Its as if she doesn't really fit into the story and yet she eclipses everything else within it. That said, from the minimal research I conducted, it appears that in real life, Bonnie Parker wasn't just a small-town girl looking for an out. No my friend. And if we can believe the wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde) that states that Bonnie was actually an honor roll student who, "excelled in creative writing, won a County League contest in literary arts,...[6] and even gave introductory speeches for local politicians", then we'd have to wonder why a girl would be so desperate to leave her rural home? It doesn't sound too bad. Kind of homey and all-American, which is quite nice really.
I guess the real-life Bonnie just imagined something different for herself. And I think Penn did a good job of showing this.
Here Penn paints Bonnie as a beautiful misfit, enveloped in a world of romance. A kind of Gilgamesh, unfurling towards the distant dream of immortality at the expense of her own. Clyde, on the other hand, just kind of floats onto the scene. A mediocre small time robber, who on top of being emasculated by his own impotence, is just a shadow compared to Bonnie. And perhaps Penn took a bit of artistic license there, but I like it.
However, what I like even more is the possibility that Bonnie purposefully jeopardized her future just for kicks. And I can respect that perhaps she was more imaginative than practical. And of course, I like to think that she never really loved Clyde, but rather that she used him as a vehicle for her adventures, whose motivations, by the way, we're still not fully informed of. After all, what can a petty thief bring a girl on the honor roll (besides down)?
1. Let's just get the most important bit out of the way - how ridiculously beautiful is Faye Dunaway? One can't imagine a better Bonnie Parker. And Warren Beatty, who is a supposed hunk, doesn't even compare.
2. Those little bumblefuck towns are creepy. If I grew up in one of them I'd be desperate to get out of there too. Or I'd probably be an inbreed, and thus wouldn't be able to tell left from right. Note: As an Armenian I probably am inbred somewhere down the genetic grapevine, which probably explains why I can't tell left from right.
3. W.D is an idiot, but his daddy sure is clever.
4. Fantastic death scene. You could almost feel it. And the way Bonnie just hung there like a leaky bag of jelly, brilliant.
At any rate, this is one of those movies that's good on film but better in hindsight. And I think the movie works best in tandem with the "real-life" story, thus the average rating is pulled up to an 8.5. Go Bonnie!
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