Movie: Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman Star in Gangster Film
Depression-era gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were given the grand Hollywood treatment in Arthur Penn's 1967 highly-fictionalized, blood-splattered melodrama, Bonnie and Clyde. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway portrayed the psychotic killers, with Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons and Michael J. Pollard in criminal support. We rob banks!
Screenplay, Director, Music
David Newman, Robert Benton and Robert Towne penned the screenplay. Arthur Penn -- The Miracle Worker (1962) and The Chase (1966) -- directed.
Charles Strouse created the movie's music score. Prominently featured in the soundtrack is "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt and Scruggs.
Bonnie and Clyde Cast
Warren Beatty played Clyde Barrow and Faye Dunaway was the beret-wearing Bonnie Parker. Other cast members included Gene Hackman (Buck Barrow), Michael J. Pollard (C.W. Moss), Estelle Parsons (Blanche Barrow), Denver Pyle (Frank Hamer), Dub Taylor (Ivan Moss), Evans Evans (Velma Davis) and Gene Wilder (Eugene Grizzard).
Those actresses also considered for the role of Bonnie Parker included Cher, Jane Fonda, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, Carol Lynley and Sue Lyon.
Budget, Filming Locations
Budgeted at $2.5 million, Bonnie and Clyde was filmed from October to December 1966.
Bonnie and Clyde was shot on location in Texas. Filming locales included Dallas, Ponder, Rowlett, Pilot Point, Denton, Garland, Trinity River, Lemmon Lake, Waxahachie, Maypearl, Venus and Midlothian.
Red Oak, Texas, served as the site of one of the Barrow Gang's many bank robberies and was also the scene of the family reunion in which a local school teacher, Mabel Cavitt, portrayed Bonnie's aged mother.
We Rob Banks
The movie opens in a small Texas town where youthful offender Clyde Barrow meets bored waitress Bonnie Parker. The two join forces, rolling across the desolate countryside stealing cars, robbing banks and trying to keep one step ahead of the law.
Later joining Bonnie and Clyde in their criminal enterprise are Buck and Blanche Barrow and ex-service station attendant C.W. Moss. On their trail is Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, who is taken captive by the Barrow Gang and humiliated in subsequent photographs.
Bloody shootouts, hair-raising getaways and more bank jobs ensue, with law enforcement steadily closing in on the Barrow Gang. When Texas Ranger Hamer learns of the identity of C.W. Moss through a captured Blanche, an ambush is planned near the home of C.W.'s father to finally take out Bonnie and Clyde in a hail of gunfire.
Release, Reviews
Bonnie and Clyde was first seen at the Montreal Film Festival on August 4, 1967.
"Bonnie and Clyde is a milestone in the history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance," reported Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (9/25/67).
"Bonnie and Clyde incongruously couples comedy with crime...Conceptually, the film leaves much to be desired, because killings and the backdrop of the Depression are scarcely material for a bundle of laughs," wrote Dave Kaufman of Variety (8/9/67).
Box Office, Academy Awards
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts' Bonnie and Clyde was a huge winner at the box office, grossing $22.8 million, good for the #4 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1967.
First-time movie producer Warren Beatty reaped a huge payday, earning a whopping 40 percent of the film's gross.
Bonnie and Clyde garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Beatty), Best Actress (Dunaway), Best Supporting Actor (Hackman, Pollard) and Best Story and Screenplay. Taking home Oscars were Estelle Parsons for Best Supporting Actress and Burnett Guffey for Best Cinematography.
Bonnie and Clyde DVD
Bonnie and Clyde has been out on DVD since 1997. The latest DVD effort is a dandy, Bonnie and Clyde Ultimate Collector's Edition, released by Warner Home Video on March 25, 2008.
"This here's Miss Bonnie Parker. I'm Clyde Barrow. We rob banks," Clyde announces at one financial institution.
Not anymore, Clyde...
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