Cast

Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor, Evans Evans, Gene Wilder

awards

Oscar 1968 – best actress, best cinematography, New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1967 – best screenplay, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1968 – best film, National Society of Film Critics Awards 1968 – best screenplay, best supporting actor, BAFTA Awards 1968 – most promising newcomer to leading film roles

Film description

On the one hand, Bonnie and Clyde is considered one of the 1960s most important films, as it was the turning point for new American cinema, finally free of tired Hollywood conventions and limitations. It opened the age of rebellious films, critical of the system and formally bold. On the other, accusations persist that Bonnie and Clyde is overly violent and romanticizes a pair of simple outlaws into counterculture idols. Oh well, American films have always preferred the excitement of evildoers over the fates of their victims. Anyway, the film’s class is high above any cookie-cutter story on natural born killers.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow existed in fact – they robbed banks and stores during the Great Depression killing anyone in their way. In the film, boredom and youthful yearning for excitement pushes them into crime. The filmmakers also suggest a psychological motive – Clyde’s impotence makes him compensate for his sexual misadventures through armed assault.

At some point, it becomes clear to the fugitives there is no going back. Police from several states are in pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde and they become a headline story. What was supposed to be an exciting adventure turns into misfortune. This existential, or maybe even eschatological, dimension of Penn’s film is most moving today – because no one has managed to escape death.

Bartosz Żurawiecki