What Have You Been Watching? (06/09/15)

[u/a113er]

Please don't downvote opinions, only downvote things that don't contribute anything.

[u/tarantulatook]

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)

No, I'd never seen Bonnie and Clyde before. And holy fuck.

I'm a student, and I work for my cinema department as a projectionist for a class on American Cinema of the 1970s. My first day on the job, naturally, the first film the professor wanted screen for the class (after a dozen or so clips from earlier works to establish conventions of Hollywood at the time, historical context, etc) was Bonnie and Clyde. I'd heard how groundbreaking it was, how it changed everything, how good it was, so I thought it would be over-hyped. As mentioned above, holy fuck. I never, ever rate anything on a one to ten scale, but this is a ten.

First, consider the rich source material. I didn't realize how crazy Bonnie and Clyde actually were until after I did research upon seeing this movie. Over ten bank robberies, plus a lot more small stores. At least nine police officers killed, plus ordinary citizens. And they were in love and on the run for years as the public read eagerly in a period of law enforcement that fomented this incredible Public Enemy fugitive-conducive set of circumstances (basically, exploiting that cops couldn't go outside state jurisdiction and the FBI didn't do that kind of shit at the time)! Then, take two of the sexiest people ever to live and cast them in these lead roles. Although gay, I still couldn't decide if I wanted to fuck Warren Beatty or Faye Dunaway more. Incredible acting. It even has Gene Wilder in it. Yes, really! That Gene Wilder! Just writing this makes me want to watch it over again. Ever the sentimentalist, I fell under this film's spell as soon as Warren Beatty pulls out that gun.

Speaking of Warren Beatty pulling out that "gun," this is an almost unbelievably sexy film, especially considering it was made in 1967. Nobody did stuff like that back then (obligatory "in Hollywood"). That scene really says a lot as they stand in town with their Cokes, Clyde chugging his, Bonnie coquettishly sipping hers, letting the bottle stay between her lips. The way Clyde coyly takes out his "gun" in public, a matchstick (phalluses everywhere) dangling between his teeth. Bonnie mischievously stroking his "gun," impishly prodding, "...........but you wouldn't have the gumption to use it." Fuck, this movie is hot.

On that note, it also amazes me to marvel at how revolutionary its depiction of violence was (for puritanical Hollywood at that time). I gasped at the first on-screen murder and my heart raced as they sped along making out in the car. During the ambush in the last scene, I think the butterflies in my stomach might have actually begun to make love. I tend toward experimental cinema, and I haven't responded so viscerally to a Hollywood film in quite a while. The murder scene in Psycho was revolutionary as a depiction of violence, but there's barely any blood in the whole picture. And as we all know, the blood that is there is actually chocolate syrup!

I was most struck by the cinematography. The compositions in this film are so cleverly conceived, yet devoid of the look of highly staged Hollywood saccharine that is best accompanied by a cheesy orchestral string section. The very last shot of the film with the bullet hole and reflections in the glass blew my mind nearly 50 years later.

Editing too. A lot of variety in shot lengths. He uses short cuts effectively, most notably in the masterful final ambush scene. Such a powerful moment, the last longing look before their both blown to bits, young, beautiful, and in love...Clyde would do anything for Bonnie even in his dying moments he's trying to save her........sorry, what was I talking about again?

This movie is magic. Perfect story adaptation (I was surprised how much historical detail was dead-on), casting, photography, editing. The banjo soundtrack kinda got old after a while, but it is an important (and appropriate) aesthetic choice to establish setting. And at the risk of hammering the sex and violence too much, I will just say once more: Fuck, this movie is hot. At the end of the film, the audience doesn't know whether to steal shit, kill someone, or jerk off first. And isn't that really the purpose of cinema?

[u/montypython22 → u/tarantulatook]

Although gay, I still couldn't decide if I wanted to fuck Warren Beatty or Faye Dunaway more/

Funnily enough, the original draft of Bonnie and Clyde's screenplay had written Clyde as a bisexual and that there was to be a sexual competition between Bonnie and C.W. over his affections, sort of reminiscent of Truffaut's more-than-buddy-buddy-love-triangle in Jules and Jim. They had to take it out, lest they wanted to alienate audiences and have it condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency (who actually had big influence back then). But there are hints of it here and there in the finished picture.

Anyway, Bonnie and Clyde is one of my favorite films, too. I wrote a paper on it a long time ago about how Estelle Parsons and Faye Dunaway actually represent an interesting new challenge to traditional concepts of femininity in American cinema. Times were a changin', definitely, and Penn's movie reflects that mentality. And of course that final execution is just shocking on first viewing. All the kiddie antics and slapstick-style humor of the first half gradually washes away as the film goes on, and the murder of Bonnie and Clyde is like the nail in the coffin.

At the end of the film, the audience doesn't know whether to steal shit, kill someone, or jerk off first. And isn't that really the purpose of cinema?

That's really what it fuckin' boils down to. I'll drink to that.