150 Word Review: 'Bonnie & Clyde' (1967)
Fight the power
Peter Biskind's excellent 1998 book 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls' argues that director Arthur Penn's 1967 movie Bonnie & Clyde changed Hollywood forever, ushering in a new era of young auteurs, risk-takers who imbued their films with politics, shocking realism, and moral ambiguity.
I recommend rewatching—or watching for the first time—Bonnie & Clyde. It is more than a footnote in movie history; it is a visceral, violent crime drama about doomed lovers set during the Great Depression, a distant time and place remembered for hobos and soup kitchens that was, in truth, an economic apocalypse that devastated millions.
And who was to blame? The fat cats. Warren Beatty's Clyde and Faye Dunaway's Bonnie—sexy and swaggering— robbed banks with Tommy guns because the times were desperate. Are they anti-heroes? Depends on your perspective. To some, they fought the system. The rich and powerful hated them so much they sent assassins after them.
Seriously, This Is One Of My Absolute Favorite Flicks: ‘Reds’ (1980)
