Delayed Reaction: Bonnie & Clyde

The Pitch: What is the New Hollywood and how did it start?

Bonnie and Clyde fall in love, become infamous for a life of crime, and meet their demise.

One of these days, I need to fully immerse myself in the New Hollywood era. So far, I've dabbled in the hits without ever checking out the B-sides, so to speak. For those who aren't familiar with the term, the New Hollywood era is a period from the late 60s to early 80s where a crop of young new directors were able to use the fact that the studios hadn't figured out what to do after the Hays code and the old studio system fell apart to make experimental and progressive movies on the studio dime. The directors and writers briefly wrestled the control away from the producers. Suddenly filmmakers had the freedom to make risky movies with major studio backing. Among a certain group of film nerds, this was a golden age. Personally, I think it's only fine. One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest is somewhat over-lauded. The Graduate is good, but I appreciate it more as an artifact of its time than as something I like actively. Still, my favorite Woody Allen movies came out of the era, and this movement empowered directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas who, in an ironic twist, gave rise to the blockbuster era that killed New Hollywood. I have found that "New Hollywood" has just become a catch-all term for "Whatever movies were good from those years", so I'm not sure how much I trust the moniker. I mean, film noir claims the bad movies too from its era.

Bonnie and Clyde essentially started the New Hollywood movement though. Warner Brothers was embarrassed by the movie at first. They barely released it. Early reviewers panned it. But audiences and hip critics loved it. In particular, they praised the stark treatment of violence. It wasn't really more violent than previous movies. It just wasn't sentimental about it. There aren't heroic deaths. The movie became a hit and made studios throw out the old rulebook for what audiences would pay for.

I've never been a big fan of Faye Dunnaway or Warren Beatty, however I get why this turned them into huge stars. They are charismatic and compelling leads. Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons aren't bad either.

The movie does suffer from the fact that the story and structure has been used and copied so many times over the years that not much in it surprised me. I can't blame the movie for that nor can I pretend it didn't bother me.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend