Blog #10

In the film “Bonnie and Clyde,” the dramatic elements of crime, love, gangsters, and death are implemented into two characters, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The film was shot in 1967 but the real crimes themselves took place in the 1930s during the Depression Era. “Bonnie and Clyde” first meet when Bonnie sees a man WHO is trying to steal her mother’s car, from there on out she is hooked on Clyde’s behavior and everything he does. (2.) It continues from the moment they meet until the moment they die. As the film progresses they become more skilled at running than robbing the actual banks. In the first bank robbery Bonnie and Clyde do together, the man at the bank starts laughing because the bank had closed three weeks earlier and it carried no money. From there on out Clyde, WHOSE thirst for money is excruciating, becomes the boss of Bonnie. (4.) They had a certain, I will never leave your side, connection that made the whole story about them so interesting. The world was THEIRS to have it seemed like. (3.) Clyde wanted Bonnie to run with him but then changed his mind, typical man saying he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her.

The duo would then eventually pick up people, a car mechanic and Clyde’s brother and wife, to help them with these law breaking acts. (1. a series of 3 items punctuated with just commas) They wanted to be seen as these celebrities that can get away with what they were doing. Throughout the course of the movie it was mainly them just running from the law. They became famous with their faces in the paper but were somehow seen as a gang that just wanted to take from the government and not the people. It slowly ended in hot pursuit. (8. Simple Sentence) Bonnie and Clyde were held up in gunfire, a quick and painless death. (10. Complex Sentence)

            What I found that was note worthy of this movie was the fact that Bonnie and Clyde wanted to make themselves known and they were strictly about robbing banks.(9. Compound Sentence) I found it surprisingly funny in one part of the movie that they stole a car from a couple and the couple ended following them. In the pursuit of the car chase the couple was afraid they had guns so they just turned around. Clyde then thought it would be funny to turn around as well and start following the couple. The gang ended up pulling over the couple, let them know they were robbers, and continued to have a typical conversation with them. The night ended with the group of robbers and couple getting burgers at a burger joint. I don’t think the whole idea of Bonnie and Clyde wasn’t to actually scare people straight but to mess with their heads into thinking they really weren’t doing anything wrong in the middle of stealing and robbing something.

            When this film was made in 1967, it was during a time of violence and battle especially in Vietnam. The country was torn between ITS war and antiwar protestors with prominent faces such as John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X. (6.) During this time the filmmakers did not want to make a violent film filled with shooting sprees and deaths. They felt like during that time it wasn’t a good idea to depict such violence in the film with all the violence going on around in the country.  They did it anyway whether receiving good reviews or not. The book depicts the movie story line as having some “basis in fact.” Clyde and Bonnie went on a spree of robberies in the 1930s and it ended in 1934 by a Texas Ranger. During this time of the 1930s represented the Great Depression Era and the time of “glorified gangsters.” It states in “History by Hollywood,” “The streets of American cities were relatively quiet from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Americans grew fearful about their safety, especially those who lived in an urban environment.” Because of this fear from the people they were afraid of controversy it would cause, which makes complete sense in my eyes. What I felt when I watched this movie was a rebellious lifestyle of two people with not a care in the world. It fascinates me that its idea of a man taking in a woman to tag along in the acts of robbery would be such a thrill. Bonnie portrayed herself as being fearless and that showed in the movie, but yet she was still a woman and got scared at some points. The personality of the characters in the movie is what I see as WHOM Bonnie and Clyde would be like in real life. (5.)