Although the film was not completely accurate in every aspect of the lives of Bonnie and Clyde, I believe it did quite a good job portraying them overall. Bonnie and Clyde was directed by Arthur Penn and released in 1967; however, it was set in the 1930s. It was interesting to see the style and representations of characters and things in the film that were meant to evoke the style of the 1930s, but certain things were clearly straight out of the 60s. The film is all about the adventures of Bonnie and Clyde and the Burrow gang, which included C.W. Moss, Clyde's brother Buck, and his wife Blanche. The gang journeyed all over robbing banks and eventually killing cops, all the while loving the adventure. Along with their crazy lives, the film conveys the love between Bonnie and Clyde. It ends, of course, with the death of Bonnie and Clyde in a violent scene where they get ambushed by a group of policemen. Though most of the audience expects this terrible fate, it is still a bit of a surprise to see the violence in the scene because most films up to this point abided by the code and did not show such intense scenes of murder.
One of the most interesting technical aspects of the film that I found was the use of fading between shots. Most of the scenes cut into the next or went to black before the following scene. I found it a bit ironic that the only few times a scene faded into another was when that next scene was a pivital scene in the film. For example, the scene where the food delivery boy recognizes Bonnie fades into the following scene that includes the dramatic fight with the police where they end up killing many officers. Also, the scene when Bonnie breaks down and explains that she wants to see her mother fades into the scene where she realizes her mother is not who she used to be, and she feels alone and without family. I am not sure if this is an intentional technique used by the director, but it was interesting and coincidental that the only few fades were dramatic scenes in the film. Another technical aspect I enjoyed was the music. I noticed that whenever there was a car chase or a scene with shooting or robbing where one would expect it to be serious and intense, the music would be light and folksy. This technique made the entire mood of the film less serious and almost comical. It definitely caused me to classify the movie as more of an exciting film rather than a dramatic one.
I like this movie a lot because of the fact that it was based on the lives of real people. Also, there is nothing wrong with having to stare at the lovely Warren Beaty for two hours :)
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I also really enjoyed the chase scenes because of the music. The use of the upbeat, banjo, folksy feeling music gave each chase scene a much lighter feeling. It made the lives of Bonnie and Clyde seem more fun than dreadful. I mean, in a scene where you are being chased by police and shot at, wouldn't you expect dark music? I was pleasantly surprised that the music was so upbeat and happy because it made the film more fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteI liked the fact that it was based on actual people as well. I think that it made the whole thing seem so much more believable because all the robberies just seemed too easy to be true...but I guess not. OH and I agree 100% about Warren Beatty!
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting comment about the use of fades, Megan. It seems to me that a lot of other 1960s movies use more (or maybe faster) cuts to other scenes, so perhaps this was an attempt to emulate something of the 1930s in film without have obvious wipes or other transitions.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was interesting to see how bits of history from the 1960's had slipped into the film, like Bonnie's outfits, hairstyle and makeup were obviously all 60's inspired looks!
ReplyDeleteAlso loved staring at Warren Beatty for 2 hours hah!