What global events had just taken place and were taking place at the time of the film’s production?

In a way Bonnie and Clyde were pioneers, consolidating the vein of violence in American history and exploiting it for the first time in the mass media. At the time, the Vietnam War was still taking place.

Explain how these events may have impacted on the style and content of the film itself.

The film resonated with the young movie-going public, conditioned by the violent images from the Vietnam War that were broadcast on the nightly news and splashed across the front of newspapers.