| | | "They're Young, They're in Love, and They Kill People."
Features: DVD, Collector's Edition, Widescreen, Book
Adrift in the Depression-era Southwest, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker embark on a life of crime. They mean no harm. They crave adventure -- and each other. Soon we start to love them too. But nothing in film history has prepared us for the cascading violence to follow. Bonnie and Clyde turns brutal. We learn that they can be hurt -- and dread they can be killed. Bonnie and Clyde balances itself on a knife-edge of laughter and terror, thanks to vivid title-role performances by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and superb support from Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons, who won 1967's Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. Director Arthur Penn keeps the film's sensibilities tough but never cruel. It continually dazzles, especially in the work of cinematographer Burnett Guffey (winner of the film's second Oscar) and editor Dede Allen. And as film lovers since have discovered, it's no ordinary gangster movie.
"...an excellent dramatization of outlaws against society who kill and loot, partly for the thrill and partly for monetary gain." Box Office Magazine
"Bold and brassy. Brutal and brilliant!" New York Daily News
"...a landmark film that permanently established the stellar status of its stars...along with its inventive director." The Motion Picture Guide
"...combining comedy, terror, love, and violence...this innovative, revisionist film redefined and romanticized the crime/gangster genre and screen violence forever." Tim Dirks, The Greatest Films
"Highly controversial and influential..." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Editor's Note
Based on the true-life exploits of notorious Depression-era bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, BONNIE AND CLYDE is recognized as one of the most violent films to come out of mainstream Hollywood. Bonnie (Faye Dunaway) is bored with life and wants a change. She gets her chance when she meets a charming young drifter by the name of Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty). Clyde has dreams of a life of crime that will free him from the hardships of the Depression. The two fall in love and begin a crime spree that extends from Oklahoma to Texas. They rob small banks with skill and panache, soon becoming minor celebrities known across the country. People are proud to have been held up by Bonnie and Clyde; to their victims, the duo is doing what nobody else has the guts to do. To the law, the two are evil bank robbers who deserve to be gunned down where they stand. Beatty and Dunaway are marvelous as the young criminal lovers, delivering subtle and complete performances. Also excellent are Gene Hackman as Clyde's brother, Buck; Estelle Parsons as Buck's wife, Blanche; and the always enjoyable Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss. The film has made a large impact on American culture, expressing the mood of rebellion rampant in the late 1960s and beyond.
Plot Summary
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway deliver pitch-perfect performances as the title characters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in this depression-era crime drama. Young, beautiful Bonnie Parker is bored with life in her go-nowhere small town. When she meets the charming and ambitious fledgling criminal Clyde Barrow she sees her chance for a life of excitement. The two fall in love and gleefuly begin robbing small banks across Texas and Oklahoma, making headlines and gaining noteriety along the way. But while the people see the gang as courageous rebels fighting the powers that be, the law sees them as dangerous criminals who must be stopped.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Korean |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 3/25/2008 |
| Original Release Date: 1967 | | Catalog ID: 1000025738 | | UPC: 00085391167976 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Winner (1968) | | | British Academy Awards, Faye Dunaway, Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | | | British Academy Awards, Michael J. Pollard, Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | | | Oscar, Estelle Parsons, Best Actress in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Burnett Guffey, Best Cinematography | |
Nominee (1968) | | | Oscar, Warren Beatty, Best Actor in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Gene Hackman, Best Actor in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Michael J. Pollard, Best Actor in a Supporting Role | | | Oscar, Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Leading Role | | | Oscar, Theadora Van Runkle, Best Costume Design | | | Oscar, Arthur Penn, Best Director | | | Oscar, Warren Beatty, Best Picture | | | Oscar, David Newman, Robert Benton, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"...Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway never looked better..." 01/11/2002 p.32Premiere
"...[With] a slow-motion, bullet-ridden spectacle never before seen in a mainstream movie. The blood has been pouring copiously ever since." 12/01/2003 p.10 Entertainment Weekly
"BONNIE AND CLYDE is still surprisingly fun to watch and, by its end, both shocking and moving." -- Grade: A 03/28/2008 p.53 Uncut
5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t works by confounding expectations, serving up ultraviolence in the style of the Keystone Cops, and suggesting that the Barrow gang's insouciance in the face of authority could make them immortal." 05/01/2008 p.126 Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "It rewrote the movie-rules on morality, sexuality and youth....Sexy, dark, funny, slick..." 06/01/2008 p.138 Empire
5 stars out of 5 -- "What still thrills is how alive the film is to its own possibilities....Even middle-aged, it manages to shock..." 06/01/2008 p.154 Sight and Sound
"Arthur Penn's perennial classic wears its four decades lightly. Not least among its many innovations was its far-sighted dissection of how Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow relied on their media image so much that they ended up fueling it themselves..." 06/01/2008 p.85 ReelViews 10 of 10
By today's standards, Bonnie and Clyde appears almost tame, but, upon its initial release, the level of violence was viewed as shocking...Like Birth of a Nation and Citizen Kane, this was a revolutionary motion picture -- a movie that had such a powerful impact upon audiences and filmmakers that it influenced how Hollywood approached this genre. Bonnie and Clyde has countless stepchildren -- movies like Badlands, Thelma & Louise, and Road to Perdition owe a debt to Arthur Penn's feature. If Bonnie and Clyde's overall trajectory seems familiar to modern-day audiences, that's because so many subsequent features have adopted it...Seen today, Bonnie and Clyde will only appear to be a pioneering motion picture to those who view it through lenses tinted by cinematic history. Yet, even for a viewer who is unaware of the movie's importance to the industry, it should readily be apparent that there is something special about the production, with its brash, vivid style, indelible performances by movie icons, and bold mixture of violence and comedy, romance and tragedy. Even for those without an historical perspective, Bonnie and Clyde stands apart as a great motion picture. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
"Bonnie and Clyde" is a milestone in the history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance. It is also pitilessly cruel, filled with sympathy, nauseating, funny, heartbreaking, and astonishingly beautiful. If it does not seem that those words should be strung together, perhaps that is because movies do not very often reflect the full range of human life...Under Arthur Penn's direction, this is a film aimed squarely and unforgivingly at the time we are living in. It is intended, horrifyingly, as entertainment. And so it will be taken. The kids on dates will go to see this one, just like they went to see "Dirty Dozen" and "Born Losers" and "Hells Angels on Wheels"...The performances throughout are flawless. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, in the title roles, surpass anything they have done on the screen before and establish themselves (somewhat to my surprise) as major actors...This is pretty clearly the best American film of the year. It is also a landmark. Years from now it is quite possible that "Bonnie and Clyde" will be seen as the definitive film of the 1960s, showing with sadness, humor and unforgiving detail what one society had come to. The fact that the story is set 35 years ago doesn't mean a thing. It had to be set sometime. But it was made now and it's about us. - Roger Ebert
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