Task 1 Bonnie and Clyde casting

Warren Beatty – Clyde Barrow

movies – Dick Tracy , Heaven Can Wait , Bugsy

Faye Dunaway – Bonnie Parker

Movies – Mommy Dearest , Chinatown

Michael J. Pollard – C.W. Moss

Moivies – Morbo , Hannibal Brooks

Gene Hackman – Buck Barrow

Movies – the French Connection , Superman , Hoosiers

Estelle Parsons – Blanche

Movies – Rachel. Rachel

Denver Pyle – Frank Hamer

Movies – Gunpoint , Bandolero!

Dub Taylor – Ivan Moss

Movies – Creature from Black lake , Conagher

Gene Wilder – Eugene Grizzard

Movies – Charlie and the Chocolate factory , see no evil hear no evil

Mise en scene

On location shooting not shot on a backlot due to funds, filmed in Texas for accuracy .Arthur Penn shot far from LA so there would be less people trying to stick their heads into the movie 

The sets look real and like the age of bonnie and Clyde (1930’s) which is when the great depression happened, and it gives us a sense of how life was during the period since they turned to crime for money  

Cars were loaned, the costumes and props look 1930’s for the most part other than Bonnies look which was 1960’s inspired, this caused her to become a fashion icon for women at the time 

A scene where the GD is showed is when the farmers are all huddled round together which shows the poverty of farmers and people at the time, also their willingness to help with what little they had.   

Editing

The editing in Bonnie and clyde was not classical hollywood since you can tell it’s moving and the first shot shows nothing but Bonnies lips however you do see both main character’s for the first time in depth at the start, you’re also aware it is happening at Bonnies house since you can see her walk around and lay on the bed . The editing at times is very unconventional and inspired by the French new wave instead of classical Hollywood, although it sometimes does in order of following the story.  

The movie starts off with a extreme close up of bonnie which does give us a establishing shot. Most classical Hollywood movies would use a extreme long shot as the intro since it would give the audience a rough idea of the area.

The editing throughout the movie involves a lot of jump cuts between scenes which doesn’t make the movie seem naturalistic but it definitely follows the French new wave editing styles.

Representation

women – Bonnie Parker is seen as the stereotypical woman character that is always beautiful and well dressed. However, unlike the stereotypes during this period (1930’s when the film was set) she wasn’t just a side character to a strong man she also got heavily involved with the shooting and the violence which wasn’t standard for the time. As the movie progresses she become more and more free form the gender stereotypes, for example at the start of the film she is seen naked and holding onto the bars on her bed frame, simulating that she’s trapped and wants to escape.

(2:50)

A female character that doesn’t escape the gender barrier is Blanche barrow. Throughout the entire movie she is constantly screaming and panicking representing the thoughts that the women in this time period were weak and useless. (45:50)

Men – Clyde Barrow is the standard attractive strong male character. Throughout this movie he showed that he wasn’t scared of anything and towered over everyone else. One thing that did break the stereotype is his reluctance to fall in love or be with Bonnie which most men in this time period wouldn’t think twice about. C.W moss is an example of a male character who wasn’t very strong nor attractive but he believed himself to be. He was also one of the only male characters to be single in the movie which showed how little of a man he was presented as.

Authority figures –

people of colour – In the movie , there was only two black characters and they didn’t make much of an appearance. The first one to appear was towards the start of the movie although he didn’t have ay dialogue which shows how little they were recognized for the time.

The other character was at the ed of the movie after Bonnie and Clyde got shot, he also didn’t have ay dialogue

With the lack of people of colour you can assume that at the time of the movie being released, they weren’t see as important of that they didn’t have many/ any opportunities for work in the film industries.

Class of america – During the 1930’s wheer this film was set, America was going through the great depression which meant that a lot of the American population (30%)had no work. This was nicely represented in the scene below where ex-farmers that had been kicked off due to lack of funds helped injured Bonnie and Clyde. Although they didn’t have much to offer they age what little they could since they understood struggle and had compassion for humans to not want them to struggle either.

They also recognize Bonnie and Clyde and don’t seem to have a bad opinion on them. This could be because Bonnie an Clyde were only taking from the rich which shows they stood with the mistreated working class.