Bonnie and Clyde. Sex and Violence.

It may be difficult for the modern viewer to fully appreciate groundbreaking techniques and revolutionary styles found in classic films. This is because many of these methods are now used in everyday cinema and we have grown accustomed to seeing them in most films. In the same way, the average viewer of today’s age may find a film like Bonnie and Clyde to be ordinary and may not feel that certain scenes are neither shocking nor disturbing. We have become so tolerant to seeing violence in media that we no longer respond to it like we naturally would. It is important to realize that in the late 60s when Bonnie and Clyde was first released, this was not the case. The Hays production code (1930) had been newly lifted and this film was the result of this new freedom where one could glorify crime, frankly depict sex and violence, or show the bad guys winning. The amount of violence that was graphically and realistically portrayed (such as a man being shot in the face, or showing the gun being fired and the bullet hitting a person in the same shot) was very new to the American public. The viewers no longer had a comforting reassurance that the main characters would not be killed off after becoming somewhat attached to them. This is the kind of film that shatters preconceptions of how a film pans out and makes us realize that there is so much danger and crime in the story that it is very possible for the central characters to die before our own eyes. The violence kept on increasing as the story went on and ended in a tragic bloodbath. This last scene by the way was traumatizing! I know that in real life they were really shot with that many rounds, but it was horrifying to watch... they were pulverized! And the look in Bonnie's eyes was for some unknown reason devastating.

I cannot image how the American public first took this film. I am sure that some were horrified by what they had just seen while many were entranced by the violence that now captivates our culture. It was interesting to note how even though the killings were pretty accurately portrayed they, at times, seemed a little comical and almost slapstick-like. The whole topic of murder and crime is spoken about fairly lightheartedly by the notorious gang. This is particularly noticeable when they are trying to figure out what to do with the policeman that they see when they are parked off the road. They joke about hanging him and then decide to take pictures of him with the gang to send to the newspapers and slander his reputation. They finally handcuff him and send him out on a boat after he spits on Bonnie Parker. The seriousness that you would expect the crimes committed to have is sometimes eradicated. A couple of time though, this lighthearted corruption was morally guided. Examples are when Clyde encourages the poor farmer who lost his house to the bank to shoot the foreclosure sign (depicting his views on the wrongfulness of a family's shelter taken away), or when they allow the farmer at the bank that they are robbing to keep his own money. It is interesting how this Robin Hood approach of taking money from the rich but not from the poor makes me have a little bit of respect for the criminals. Writing in scenes like these that make the audience feel sympathy towards unlawful individuals would not have been allowed during the implementation of the Hays codes.

Apart from the attraction to violence that Bonnie, Clyde, and much of the American public now have, physical attraction was also seen in this film. The portrayal of sex was revolutionary during this traditionally conservative time. The film starts out with us seeing Bonnie’s bare back- that already surprised me. Sexually frustrated Bonnie constantly (and at times forcefully) tries to be intimate with Clyde who turns her down. I remember reading somewhere that the real Clyde Barrow engaged in homosexual relationships. Although the director Arthur Penn wanted to portray this in the film (which would have also been groundbreaking and shocking), Warren Beatty refused to play a homosexual character and so the issue was merely shown through Clyde’s impotence. The use of phallic symbols such as the gun and the soda bottle was as obvious as the steamy chess game played in The Thomas Crown Affair.

This film had a French New Wave vibe to it with the unexpected editing and the (at times) choppy editing. The numerous jump cuts right before Bonnie and Clyde were killed were especially reminiscent of Godard. Pauline Kael who wrote "Trash, Art, and the Movies," believed that this film could be considered trashy but still artistic because it at least "has some of the qualities of direct involvement that makes us care about movies." Kael also mentions that we have to keep in mind the "good distinction that all art is entertainment but not all entertainment is art." Just because a film is appealing and enjoyable does not mean that it holds true value. In my opinion though, Bonnie and Clyde would be considered art because of the techniques and style (such as the opening credits with no music and only the sound of cameras clicking) and also because of what it represented. This movie reflected the human nature that attracts us to previously unseen images even if it may be disturbing. In the same way that people may slow down when they see an accident, this film made me feel as if I was watching a car crash take place but could not look away from it. When Gene Wilder's character (I was happily surprised to see him in the film!) mentioned that he was an undertaker and was subsequently kicked out of the car, I knew that the trouble that the gang was causing would end very badly. While I did not believe that Bonnie and Clyde lived up completely to all of the hype, I do recognize it as a controversial, innovative, radical piece of art in the world of cinema.