The fact that the two don't stick together, but are followed by a group of associates: Clyde's brother Buck, his wife Blanche, and CW, a small man who fixes cars, is the main focus of the story, which revolves around the conflict between the two groups: Clyde and his brother have a strong bond, while Bonnie and Blanche are at loggerheads. The relationship between the four is therefore a delicate one: Clyde has to maintain his "buddy" relationship with Buck, while at the same time trying to appease Bonnie, who is often torn between her ideal of freedom and the sacrifices she has to make because of the love of her life. This tension ends when Buck is shot and Blanche is arrested. The two are given the opportunity to be alone and have a full-blown orgasm. Yet it is still implied that the brother-brother relationship and the love affair between a man and a woman are often incompatible. It's the kind of theme that's often found in action movies with men as the audience counterpart.
The car figures prominently in the movie. The hero and heroine meet because Bonnie sees Clyde about to steal her mom's car, and the two end up in a car where they are shot at random. They switch cars with each robbery, and of course one is better and newer than the other. The car in this movie is not only a means of escape, but also a projection of material desires and a machine for freedom.
The final scene is a classic of violent aesthetics: a flock of pigeons flies up into the treetops, and the two men are enjoying a moment of beauty. The informer suddenly burrows under the car. The hero and heroine glance toward the trees and realize that the jig is up. The two men look at each other, and the male protagonist rushes to the car, but by then the chaos of gunfire has already begun. In slow motion, the two are shot to hell. There are many elements here that have been borrowed again and again for future movies. It's not unfamiliar to anyone.
Bonnie and Clyde may end with the two men in jail, but the movie is not a cliché of "what goes around, comes around". On the contrary, its use of visual language wants us to sympathize with the dead. In fact, the movie has been extremely controversial since its release. Families of those killed by Bonnie and Clyde have accused the film of glorifying the killers, while teenagers on the other hand have idolized them. Faye Dunnaway, who played Bonnie in the movie, even wore the most fashionable outfit of the year. At a time when protests, strikes and anti-war protests were the order of the day, the movie did have its effect.
Romeo and Juliet on the Run
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde, Warner Bros. Home Pictures released a commemorative edition of Bonnie and Clyde on March 25, 2008, including a special edition, an ultimate collector's edition, a Blu-ray, and an HD version. As a result, this long-lost classic film noir once again came into the eyes of movie fans. Bonnie and Clyde, like Romeo and Juliet in the world of gangsters, are on the road of no return ......
Opening the period of "New Hollywood"
Bonnie and Clyde, a Taiwanese movie that is very popular, is the most popular movie in the world. Clyde" ("邦妮和克莱德"), which is fatalistically translated by the Taiwanese as "No Tomorrow for Us" (我俩沒有明天), and the Hong Kong translation is the generic "The Female Bandit" ("女雄大盗"). Based on the latter title alone, one would be forgiven for thinking that the movie is all about a pair of outlaw lovebirds on the rampage, and how clever they are at committing crimes. It's not, as Bonnie and Clyde, along with Clyde's brother and sister-in-law, and a car mechanic named Moss, are on the run together; and the gang of thieves (who are also a makeshift family) is portrayed as sleazy, childish, and naive.
While this 1967 film is based on a true story and set in the Depression era of the 1930s, the underlying sense of defiance, depression and despair was the anti-war, anti-government sentiment of American society at the time (1960s). At this time, the Golden Age of Hollywood was far behind us, and young American directors were following the example of the French New Wave, striving to make movies that were full of vibrancy and youthful remorselessness. Most people believe that the sound of cars and motors "Bonnie and Clyde" ushered in the "new Hollywood" period, and its director Arthur Payne has been described as a "post-classical Hollywood director".
Homage to the New Wave
The flavor of the New Wave was present from the time the script for "Bonnie and Clyde" was written, and screenwriting partners David Newman and Robert Benton say they wrote the characters because they thought Bonnie and Clyde were a bit like Belmondo in Godard's "Exhaustion. Of course what inspired them the most was Truffaut's Jules and Jim and The Gunshot Pianist, especially the former, which Robert Benton once said he watched 12 times in two months and mimicked by writing a triangle of the main characters because the real-life Clydeborough was exactly that: bisexual. Truffaut, who was the first choice for director, dropped the script due to the opening of his Fahrenheit 451, although he liked it. Godard was also interested in the script and reportedly wanted to change the setting to Japan and make Bonnie and Clyde teenagers, which no doubt scared the producers away. Star Warren Beatty bought the script and approached director Arthur Payne, with whom he had worked, and the book was said to have passed through the hands of 20 directors by this time.
The film opens with strong traces of New Wave: three or four shots in 50 seconds or so, starting with the lips of Faye Dunaway's Bonnie, who pans and pushes and pulls freely, her face and figure taking up the entire screen. These shots, in which space is almost cut off from the body, reveal a mood of boredom, depression, and mania (a mood that also accompanies Bonnie all the way through). Later, the film's pizzicato-based soundtrack accentuates the sense of trivial comedy and has a lively flavor of life. According to film historian Gregor's analysis, the film's great appeal stems from its tendency to isolate itself from its real social environment, while at the same time realistically setting up a picture of small towns and villages. Much of this is due to the film's "scriptdoctor" Robert Towne, the screen playwright who would go on to fame with Chinatown, who is not routinely credited with writing the screenplay. According to a blog post, "Bonnie and Clyde, The Beginning of a New Hollywood," Towne consciously altered four things that used to be the norm in mainstream movies: the characters always found a place to park their car; they never got change for their purchases; the couples never slept together in the same bed; and the women always slept without removing their makeup. To subvert these four, the movie captures many small, memorable moments.
Metaphors and technological innovations
With producer and star Warren Beatty objecting to writing Clyde as bisexual, the screenwriters changed the leading man to a sexual impotent. This rewrite did give the movie some psychological metaphors and social metaphors. Clyde is then transformed into a victim of state oppression; and his criminal behavior becomes a substitute for sexuality. The scene where Bonnie caresses the barrel of the gun when Clyde draws it for the first time is quite sexually charged. As a result of this physical defect in Clyde, he degenerates back into a child; the love between him and Bonnie is, for the most part, platonic, both sincere and pure. This is a stark contrast to the movie's villains - the police and the parents. When Clyde and Bonnie proclaim, "We're bank robbers," in front of the downtrodden farmer whose property has been confiscated by the bank, the look of pride and shyness is endearing. They rob clumsily, they flee, and they fall in love for no reason at all, just like Romeo and Juliet. It's because of the fairy tale quality of Bonnie and Clyde that it still manages to move us completely, even though the movie techniques that were so refreshing at the time have long since become commonplace for today's moviegoers.
Arthur Payne did employ a number of new technical techniques in this movie, such as the backlit, upward shot of Bonnie as she first descends the stairs to meet Clyde, or the out-of-focus, hazy scene in which Clyde's gang meets Bonnie's family. The most famous and influential passage is of course the shocking shooting scene at the end: the wind blowing, birds flying, then machine gun fire, smoke, Bonnie and Clyde as a "puppet on strings in the rain of bullets trembling", their bodies like a beehive, beautiful slow-motion as if the ballet dance, and then everything is calm. Needless to say, you're immediately reminded of some of John Woo's classic gunfight scenes; in fact, wouldn't Warren Beatty's bowler hat, matches, and soda pop have reminded you of Chow Yun-Fat in the days of Heroes of Might and Magic?
Overall
The movie is based on a true story, and is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression, when the two of them not only robbed a bank, but also killed a lot of innocent people, and went on the road of no return.
In director Arthur Penn's unique aesthetic, the whole film exudes a strong nostalgic color, and the end of the slow-motion shooting footage, more like a poignant death ritual. It makes you tense and at the same time, you don't know whether you hate or love the main character.
When it premiered that year, it was lambasted by defenders and critics alike, but instead of collapsing under the assault, it became a hit, earning huge sums of money, and making young people dress and think like they did in the '30s.
The film also has a particular style that combines comedy and horror, with a romantic, tongue-in-cheek approach to crime that is amusing, but gradually leads into the horror and gore of the deaths that influenced Oliver Stone's "The Shining".
The film won two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress and Cinematography at the 40th Academy Awards in 1967.