The protagonist of the title is a pair of famous couple robbers who were active in the central region of the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a time when the economy hit rock bottom, banks went bankrupt, precarious times, and everyone was in danger. A group of robbery gangs came into being. Due to the relative backwardness of communication, they could commit crimes across multiple states and get away with it. In fact, there are criminal gangs at all times, but what was special at that time was that J. Edgar Hoover, then the director of the Bureau of Investigation, developed a concept of "public enemy", which is now the "public enemy". The predecessor of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Criminals"; coupled with the media's hype and false reports, these suspects became public figures at once, and many people's legendary experiences were even sought after by fans. English Wikipedia has a dedicated entry for these thieves (List of Depression-era outlaws), the most famous of which are John Dillinger, baby-faced Nelson, handsome Floyd, and the film's protagonists Bonnie and Clyde. They all robbed many banks and were shot to death in 1934. They were all under the age of 35 when they died. Later, they were repeatedly made into film and television works. It is precisely because of the merits of the bandit suppression that the Bureau of Investigation became famous (The Bureau of Investigation, BOI), and in 1935 changed its name to the now well-known Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Now it seems that Bonnie and Clyde's fame is due to their status as a couple, and secondly, the photos of them playing selfies were accidentally leaked, which made the media see the opportunity for hype. At first, they only robbed grocery stores and gas stations, and occasionally robbed banks; after being exposed and sought after by the media, they probably became more courageous, and the mass pursuit brought by the celebrity effect made them involved in more and more murders ( shoot at least 9 police officers). As a result, fame and crimes are snowballing out of control. When more and more real and unwarranted crimes are detained on their heads, their fate is not far away. One morning in May 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were shot and killed on a country road in Louisiana following a tip-off from their accomplice's father. The six police officers fired more than 100 shots. Bonnie and Clyde embarked on the road of violent robbery, and later shot and killed several law enforcement officers on the way to escape. Especially Bonnie, the girl who loves to write poetry and follows him because she likes Clyde, gang members say she is rarely seen in gunfights, but because of a group of playful poses (with a beret, a cigar and a pistol) She was portrayed by the media as a sturdy female gangster. They don't get a lot of money, they are very poor (probably most of them are used to buy weapons), they are worried every day, they don't even sleep in hotels, and Bonnie is also crippled by a car accident. They have the tragic nature of their time and are, to some extent, victims of unscrupulous media and politics. They became legends at the expense of their young lives (both were only 25). Bonnie left her mother a set of poems two weeks before her death, The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, which she read to Clyde in the film. The poem recalls the beauty of the past, sued the law and framed it, expressed self-esteem and helplessness, and predicted the fate of destruction. The mood of this poem can be said to be the keynote of the film.
In order to highlight the character and relationship of the characters, the film has made many simplifications and modifications to the historical facts. For example, the first car repair guy who joined the gang is actually a condensation of several people in reality; the sheriff's revenge was fabricated, and the sheriff who finally killed the two had never seen them before; the photos were not sent by them, but They were found on the run (which amounts to a major change in their personalities); the poem was published after they died; both were actually in the car when they died; and so on. At the time of the film's release, two members of the Barrow gang were still alive, Blanche (the supporting actress in the film) and WD Jones (one of the prototypes for CW Moss in the film). Interestingly, both expressed dissatisfaction with their portrayal in the film: Blanche is actually very competent, but the film is completely neurotic and does a disservice (the director admits this is to foil Bonnie's ability); Jones blames The film falsely accused himself of participating in his father's betrayal. But a movie is a work of art after all, and processing is inevitable. Plus, the fact that all five of the cast members of the Barrow gang were nominated for Oscars (Estelle Parsons for Blanche also won) should in itself please the archetypes.
The greatness of this film is of course not only because of the plot (although it was nominated for the best original screenplay), but also because of the style of its director, the handling of the camera, and the rendering of the art. It's a mix of gangster, road comedy, and romance. The killers are flesh and blood, affectionate and righteous; the "good people" avenge their personal revenge in public, and violate the yang and yin. Bonnie and Clyde, they were young, they fell in love, they took risks, they took on; they were once confused, they were unwilling to be ordinary, they robbed the rich to help the poor, and they were attached to their families. The director's sympathy for the protagonist is beyond words. Although Clyde's sexual disorder was fabricated, it became a good symbol of social incompetence at that time; his gun appeared many times as the image of a phallus, which was extended from the meaning of "violence to make up for impotence" into "the grass is the society. Under the status quo, it is forced to go up to Liangshan.” The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl are recreated in an excellent way (it won an Oscar for best cinematography), while the home reunion scene is filtered to make it dreamy . And of course there's the classic carnage at the end: when Clyde tries to help Moss's dad change his tires, Moss's dad sees a car approaching in the distance, then a flock of birds flying, then a sway in the trees, and then Dad got under the car, Clyde and Bonnie realized that the deadline was coming, they looked at each other affectionately, and then they were beaten into a sieve. The sharp camera jump has obvious traces of the French New Wave (the film was originally directed by the French New Wave flag bearer Truffaut, but he had to give up because of "Fahrenheit 451"), And so the flesh and blood flew out of the brain and the bullet holes all over the face was challenging the Hays Code that was about to be abolished.
In the late 1960s, after experiencing the impact of the rise of television and the influence of the French New Wave, Hollywood films began a period of so-called New Hollywood. The term first appeared in a review on the cover of Time magazine about the film. Its restlessness, its violent aesthetic (the first use of hidden firecrackers to achieve a blood-splattering effect), its dark humor, its eclectic style, all set the tone for this new wave of American cinema. Echoing the lack of belief in Kennedy's assassination in the Vietnam War and Watergate, and in the same vein as rock and hippie culture, classics such as "A Clockwork Orange", "Chinatown" and "Taxi Driver" were born in the 1970s. .
Warner Bros. was not optimistic about the film at first, and directly sent it to a lower-level theater as a B-level film. Comments also regard it as a beast, saying that it glorifies murderers, promotes violence, and does not understand what it means. However, after the film went offline, there were gradually some praises; a famous film critic changed his mind and said that it was good, and Warners also took advantage of the situation to promote the film, allowing the film to be re-released on a large scale. This time it was out of control, and North America alone took in 50 million at the box office. You must know that its cost is only 2.5 million. To that end, The New York Times fired a critic who scolded it, while another critic who praised it got a job at The New Yorker. Warner Bros. is actually a mixed bag: it’s good to have a high box office, but they agreed to give 40% of the box office revenue to Warren Beatty, the main investor and the film’s leading actor, because they were dismissive of the film. This money made the latter an instant multi-millionaire, which made it easier to invest in filmmaking in the future (he was nominated for several Olympic awards as a producer).
After the high box office reputation, the film took advantage of the situation to win 10 Oscar nominations and 7 Golden Globe nominations, including the big5 awards, but none of them won. In the end, it only won two awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography at the Oscars. . The five leading actors in this film were actually unknown at the time, and several of them even made their debuts on the big screen; after this film, except for Michael Pollard, who played the car repair boy, who was short-lived, the other two screen couples created their own wonderful acting skills. Career: Warren Beatty, who played Clyde, went on to become the only person in history to be nominated twice for the Oscars as producer, director, screenwriter, and actor at the same time; Faye Dunaway, who played Bonnie, was nominated for best actress twice in the 1970s and won One of them; Gene Hackman, who played Buck, swept the three leading actors of the year with "French Drug Network" five years later; Estelle Parsons, who played Blanche, was the only one of the five to win, and she was nominated again for the award a year later, and then He moved to the stage play world and was inducted into the American Stage Play Hall of Fame.
In the film, Clyde said "We rob banks." when he introduced himself to the bankrupt farmers.
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