Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde
Arthur Penn, 1967, 111’

Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a murderous cross-country crime spree stealing cars and robbing banks.

EN

“The final sequence is a great example of visual rhythm. First of all what we are witnessing are the final moments in Bonnie and Clyde’s love story. Death puts an abrupt end to all of that. It’s very brutal and very bloody. But, as the two of them die, they are already turning into legend. Extreme violence gives way to a lyrical, poetic death. Unfortunately, at the time, many critics only saw the violence and overlooked the lyrical aspect.”

Arthur Penn1

 

“The legend originated with those photos, then, but it was cemented in our
culture by Arthur Penn’s film. Initially dismissed as a flop—either too violent
or too strange, critics said—the French New Wave–influenced movie quickly
became a cult favorite, and with it the legend was reborn. Or as Boots told
me one day, ‘It kinda laid there dead-dog until Beatty came in and publicized
it worldwide.’”

Sarah Viren2
 

  • 1Arthur Penn et al., Bonnie and Clyde. United States: Warner Home Video, 1967.
  • 2Sarah Viren, "God Bless Bonnie and Clyde," Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction 14, no. 1 (2012): 85-99.
FILM PAGE
UPDATED ON 03.03.2026
IMDB: tt0061418