Tatira-Hiller Productions, 1967. Warner Home Video Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD, 2008. Written by David Newman and Robert Benton. Produced by Warren Beatty. Directed by Arthur Penn. Starring Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons.

    By Stephen Pytak 

     Stirring, funny, sexy and sometimes shocking film about 
two bank robbers who crossed the line, realized there 
was no way back, and accepted their dark fate.
     The best part for me was Faye Dunaway's "Bonnie," a
waitress on the fringes of Texas in the 1930s who ends up
partnering with Warren Beatty's "Clyde" to find fortune
pulling stick-ups and getting away in the put-put V8s of
the day. 
     When we meet her, she's naked in her bedroom, filled 
with sexual frustration, banging her palms on the metal 
posts. A few minutes later, she flirts with Clyde by lustfully 
working her mouth over the lip of a soda bottle. Later she 
poses for pictures while smoking a cigar and brandishing 
a pistol. Boy, is she a statement. My kind of woman.
     This story of course is based on the real life stick-up
artists who became legends in the West during the Great
Depression. The film doesn't follow the actual story blow 
for blow, but that didn't bother me. 
      I initially learned about this film's existence in the 1980s,
from a book called "Splatter Movies" by John McCarty. In
Chapter III, "Silents and Censors," the author said while
the film was "morally ambiguous and graphically violent"
it was a box-office smash and a hit with critics. That
acceptance helped relax some of the Motion Picture 
Production Code's standards at the time, McCarty said. 
     I knew I'd getting around to seeing this film sooner or
later.  I was curious about the film, had heard it was a 
classic, knew it was gritty for its time, and I had a feeling 
the acting and directing were going to move me. Considering 
I paid over $30 for the Warner Bros."Ultimate Collector's 
Edition," thank God I was right.
     The opening credit sequence is kind of haunting. It's
a series of old black-and-white still photographs showing
our two main characters growing up. There is no soundtrack
over this, just a clicking sound, like the shutter of a camera
or the click of a slide projector. 
     There are a few paradigms in this film which remind us
of the gravity of the crimes these people committed and how
dearly they would pay for it. This is the first.
     What makes these suggestions all the more powerful is
the fact we end up liking these people. It's hard not to. I love
the scene when we meet Beatty's "Clyde," and watch him walk 
into town with Bonnie and buy her a soda. But it's not all light-
hearted. When he tries to impress her by pulling out a pistol
and says he's going to rob the corner grocery, it's tense.
     Sometimes the film has a documentary feel. You feel
anything could happen at any time, like the part where Clyde 
is holding up a grocery store and attacked by a butcher with 
a meat cleaer. Really good direction. 
     The film's gore effects are pedestrian, but do the job. It's
all in the editing and how the actors sell it. They do well. 
    All scenes of violence in this film feel real, not sensational.
Imagine tripping and falling on the sidewalk. You get a shock,
right? Then while getting up, you notice the brush burns on
your palms and a trickle of read. It's kind of like that. But in
the film, you're watching characters you like engage in 
firefights through broken windows. And when they get hurt,
you feel it. Emotional stuff.
     The rest of the cast is amazing, including Gene Hackman
who plays Clyde's brother, "Buck," and Estelle Parsons, who
comes off all-too-real as Buck's wife, "Blanche," a Baptist
conservative whiner. The character grinds on Bonnie's nerves,
and we can understand why. Parsons won an Oscar for
best supporting actress for the role.
     Even if we know the ending, it's still a shocker. The editing
injects it with a bolt of lighting. The actors and make-up
people painted a picture of the ugliness of death. And the film
ends the way it began, on black.
     The only complaint I have about this release is there is
no commentary. Surely the studio could have shelled out a 
few bucks to bring in either Beatty or Dunaway to talk through
this watershed in their careers, or at the very least a film 
historian.
     We get decent interviews with the stars on Disc 2, in a
three-part documentary on the making of the film. There's
also a History Channel special on the real-life case. 
    What makes this version the "Ultimate" version is the
way it was packaged and a few extras things included. It
comes in a black box. The discs are individually packaged in
white cases which look like mini hardcover books. There's
also a little black "Photo Book," which includes a series of
behind the scenes photos and even a reproduction of a Western
Union telegram from Jack Warner to Beatty and Director
Penn, wishing them luck with the shoot. This is very nice. Also
here is a reproduction of the film's 24-page "Pressbook," which
I was also impressed with.