by Julian Spivey

Partly truth, mostly fiction, Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde stands the test of time.

Bonnie and Clyde was controversial in its day for being gritty and graphically violent. The film is still gritty, but the violence may seem tame to modern viewers.

The final scene in Bonnie and Clyde is one of the most notable in cinema; it ushered in a new way of portraying violence on the big screen. Almost everyone knows the infamous story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the bank-robbing killers who roamed the South and Midwest during the Depression.

However, Penn’s film takes many liberties with the story.

In real life, Bonnie and Clyde were not the most glamorous people, but Hollywood filmmakers look for beautiful women and handsome men; thus the young Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were cast in the title roles. At the time, Dunaway was a relatively unknown actress and Beatty was a fresh face who had received critical acclaim six years earlier in his debut in Splendor in the Grass.

The supporting cast was rounded out by a group of amazing young talent who at the time were unknown. In his first notable role, Gene Hackman played Clyde’s brother, Buck. Estelle Parsons won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as Buck’s wife, Blanche. Michael J. Pollard played C.W. Moss, Bonnie and Clyde’s accomplice. Denver Pyle played Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger who organized the ambush on Bonnie and Clyde.

Bonnie and Clyde also marked the screen debut of actor Gene Wilder in a small role as an undertaker. In the film, Bonnie has fallen in love with Clyde’s wild, uninhibited lifestyle. However, every time she makes a sexual advance, he seems disinterested.

In real life, it is alleged that Clyde Barrow was bisexual as a result of spending much of his early life in prison, but Penn’s version explains Clyde’s nonchalance with impotence instead of bisexuality.