Wednesday, well, Thursday, due to the big anticipated films post, Classic Trailers presents one of the films that helped change Hollywood and the ways films are made -- Bonnie and Clyde. The film was released in 1967 and was the one of the first films in Hollywood, and produced by a Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., that showcased sex and youthful romance in a way that was more honest to the culture in America, that was tired of the showy, musical absurdness of the Doris Day films. That romance was not real. The romance between Bonnie and Clyde was more open, troubled and complicated, instead of a perfect fall-in-love tale from those Hollywood films of the early 60s. The other thing that stood out was the violence and how it was depicted. Blood, being shown heavily when someone is shot, the scene where they rob a bank and shoot the man that is trying to stop them in the face and the camera does not turn away. The shootout at the end of the film that is unrelentless. These two matters are what helped change Hollywood and push on the oncoming revival of American cinema, with the penultimate Easy Rider and the progression of gritty, honest, independent filmmaking in America. Filmmaking where there the auteur really grew and films were made outside of the Hollywood system and out in the streets, with whatever money these filmmakers could come up with. This film, along with Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967), changed Hollywood until Spielberg and Lucas turned it into blockbuster country.
The film, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty as Clyde and Faye Dunaway as Bonnie, revolves around the infamous thieves from Texas, that traversed the country stealing, looting and killing in Depression-era America. The film is a romanticized telling of these bandits and their gang, but also an absolute beautifully shot film in Texas. The acting is completely amazing and it is the film that made Dunaway a household name and Beatty a star. The screenplay, written by David Newman and Robert Benton, with assistance from Robert Towne, the was originally intended for one of the great French New Wave directors, like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, to be the director, but both passed. Great cinematography from Burnett Guffrey, that ideal banjo-led music from Charles Strouse and an outstanding cast, including, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parson, Michael J. Pollard, Denver Pyle and the first screen performance from a young Gene Wilder. The film went on to be nominated for ten Oscars, including, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Beatty), Best Actrees (Dunaway), two Best Supporting Actors (Hackman & Pollard), Best Director and Best Costume Design, and won for Best Supporting Actress (Parsons) and Best Cinematography. I love this film and it is one of my favorite films of all time. A movie that is important, but also highly entertaining. The film, as well as the year of 1967, that changed Hollywood for the better. Bonnie and Clyde is a great film, full of humor, suspense and a changing America. Enjoy the trailer.
Credit IMDB.
No comments:
Post a Comment