The film was released at a time of social unrest in America when people, particularly the young, were challenging the government’s role in the Vietnam war, there were race riots and a large counterculture developing. The film’s anti-authority message reflected this.

The rise of New American
Cinema of the late 1960s

• Economic breakdown of the studio era
• Audience decline / fragmentation – appeal
  to younger audiences and ‘art-house’
• 1967 – audience attendance rises for the first time
• Counterculture of late 1960s – counterculture,
  civil rights movements, unrest, polarisation.
• Escalation of the war in Vietnam
• New directors – film buffs
• Aesthetic influence of European arthouse ink. French New Wave
• New technologies- zoom lens, stedicam
• 1968 –the new X certificate

Bonnie and Clyde is considered one of the first films of the New Hollywood era and a landmark picture. It broke many cinematic taboos and for some members of the counterculture, the film was considered a “rallying cry”. Its success prompted other filmmakers to be more open in presenting sex and violence in their films.