Cast members
Warren Beatty – plays Clyde Barrow
Beatty began his acting career in television, as well as having experience with Broadway. His typical roles included many drama, mystery and crime roles in films such as Shampoo and Reds. This history of crime-related roles made him an ideal actor for a character like Clyde Barrow.
Faye Dunaway – plays Bonnie Parker
Dunaway made her acting debut initially on Broadway, before appearing on screen for the first time in 1967 in The Happening. She went on to play Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde. Her most notable films include The Thomas Crown Affair and The Arrangement.
Michael J. Pollard – plays C.W. Moss
Pollard’s acting career began as early as 1959 on television. In 1966, he starred in I Spy playing Bernie, alongside being a series regular. Pollard later played C.W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde, in 1967 and was nominated for many awards.
Gene Hackman – plays Buck Barrow
Hackman began his acting career playing various television roles, before making his Broadway debut in 1963. He continued on Broadway for a few years, before initially being cast in The Graduate, where director Nichols fired him for being ‘too young’. Later that year, he appeared in Bonnie and Clyde as Buck Barrow.
Estelle Parsons – plays Blanche
Estelle Parsons initially studied law, before becoming a singer and then pursuing a career as a Broadway actor. She later progressed to film, where she then landed the role of Blanche in Bonnie and Clyde. She proceeded to work extensively in film in the 1970s, and even directed several Broadway shows.
Denver Pyle – plays Frank Hamer
Pyle was best known for his various roles in television throughout the 1960s-80s, typically playing authority figures or gruff and demanding fathers. This is evident by his role as Frank Hamer in Bonnie and Clyde, where he plays a lawman. His most famous roles include his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in The Andy Griffith Show and Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard.
Dub Taylor – plays Ivan Moss
Taylor worked extensively in film and television throughout his career, making his debut in 1938 in the film Taming of the West. He appeared in Bonnie and Clyde in 1967 as Michael J. Pollard’s father, Ivan Moss. Taylor had other notable performances in films such as The Wild Bunch and The Getaway.
Gene Wilder – plays Eugene Gizzard
Wilder’s first film role had been the portrayal of Eugene in Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, before he went on to have an extremely successful acting career. In addition to acting, he also wrote and directed several films and played many comedic roles, his most notable being Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Mise-en-scene:
- Mise-en-scene in Bonnie and Clyde was very much inspired by the French New Wave movement
- Many scenes were shot on location; a staple feature of many French New Wave films
- Unlike Bonnie and Clyde, Casablanca was filmed on a Warner Brothers backlot
- Shot in Texas
- Arthur Penn shot in Texas could also be due to it being far from California and therefore doesn’t have the studio dictating what to do
- Set in the 1930s – Great Depression
- Mise-en-scene feels very real and true to the time
- A singular man gave Penn the time accurate cars
- Everyone looks rather authentic to the time in terms of costumes, apart from Dunaway who doesn’t really wear authentic clothing
- She looks more 1960s
Editing:
- The opening sequence of Bonnie and Clyde is focused on Bonnie, with an ECU on Bonnie’s lips.
- From there, the camera follows her movement around her room, the camera going no further than an MCU.
- It doesn’t follow Classical Hollywood style, as it starts without an establishing shot and jumps straight into the story.
- Inspired by French New Wave
- However, there are parts that use the Classical Hollywood style, like when having conversations which are typically shown by using shot-reverse-shot.
Sound:
- Atmos sound very good – uses the bell due to Bonnie and Clyde stealing, shouting and general commotion of people. There are sounds of cars and even the gun when Clyde shoots someone
- Music motif (bluegrass song Foggy Mountain Breakdown) that appears when Bonnie and Clyde are escaping their crime scene, or having the police chase them. The music also suggests the film being set in the deep south – played on a banjo and encompass the feel of the Great Depression.
- Music also used to represent mood changes – motif cuts out when things start to get a little more serious as it is completely different from the upbeat and happy tone of the music
- This is used towards the end of the film when there is happy music around Bonnie and Clyde, which continues for a few extra seconds before the sheriff comes out of the ice cream parlour, where it abruptly stops
- Sound bridge – music that covers a scene change/makes a scene change less abrupt
- Dede Allen edited Bonnie and Clyde and was a pioneer of the use of sound bridges, which are used frequently to this day
Foley sound (diegetic):
- The mood can be fairly laid back, but the volume of the gunshots is purposefully loud and violent to produce a visceral reaction from the viewer
Aesthetics:
Representation:
Women: with few female characters in Bonnie and Clyde, both are represented in significantly different ways. Bonnie is portrayed in a far more sexualised way; the beginning of the film letting the audience guess that she is naked and showing close ups on her lips etc. This is a common theme throughout the rest of the film as her relationship with Clyde develops the film breaks away from the conservativity of Classical Hollywood to explore Bonnie’s sexuality. However, it can also be argued that she is also portrayed as the crazy criminal she is—willingly following a random man around the south of the U.S. to rob banks and even end up killing people, which breaks away from the stereotype of a typical female character.
Blanche, on the other hand, is portrayed in a far more conservative way. Though both characters are represented as feminine, they feel extremely different. Though the character of Blanche evolves throughout the film, she is initially set up to be a nervous sort of character, not liking Bonnie or Clyde and hating their lust for crime. However, this character evolves to be represented in the same way as the rest of the characters: criminals.
Men: there seems to be a slight running theme in terms of how men are represented in Bonnie and Clyde; the majority being portrayed as these strong male characters. For example, Buck and Clyde are similar in the way that they are the ‘head’ of the group and are the main decision makers in terms of where they go and what their plan is. However, C.W. Moss is portrayed very differently; almost as if he’s this meek character who doesn’t get involved in the violence. It’s also revealed towards the end of the film that he gets bossed around by his father, who doesn’t accept that he is running around with criminals.
Authority figures: there is a lot of resentment towards authority figures in Bonnie and Clyde, with many of theme being portrayed as almost sleazy. For example, the police officer that attempted to capture Bonnie and Clyde, who did an interview seemingly only for the press and attention. A further character who is represented negatively as an authority figure is the sheriff that gets humiliated by the gang, and later comes up with a plan to catch him. He is also presented as extremely manipulative; that he’d do anything to capture Bonnie and Clyde, especially when Blanche is shown in the hospital after she got captured.
People of colour: There are very few people of colour represented in Bonnie and Clyde-the few that are cast having no lines and little to no screen time. However, they are not portrayed in the negative way that would be typical of the 1930s; the black character pictured above being seen very positively by his ‘boss’ and treated like a friend by them, which is a countertype of the typical character of the time.
Working class Americans: Penn represents working class people thoroughly throughout the film, having been set during the Great Depression. They are shown overall as friendly and generous to Bonnie and Clyde, as they know that they are not the enemy since they are targeting the people who are contributing to their hardships.
Political and social context:
Bonnie and Clyde was released at a time of great political and social unrest; the Vietnam War was raging on, with much of the extreme violence being televised for the American population to see on a daily basis, as well as the Cold War with the USSR. A lot of this televised violence would greatly impact films of the time -including Bonnie and Clyde- in terms of the level of violence that is normalised to be seen on television.
In terms of social unrest, the civil rights movement was big at the time, which included the race riots that also contributed to the high level of violence and taboo subjects that were suddenly becoming normalised