Bonnie and Clyde: The Violence

Dick Taylor Film 101 M W 12:00-1:50 4/14/01 Bonnie and Clyde: The Violence Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde” influenced a new era of cinema with its gruesome and bold depictions of violence and crime. These depictions displayed violence with exaggerated blood and gore. These violent scenes involved women and young kids. Crime was displayed in detail with a dash of humor. This was an extreme move in 1967 from the movies before “Bonnie and Clyde.” In movies …

…all of the following aspects: women and youth were involved in violent acts, brutal killing presented in detail, heroic, and justified criminals, a inspiration of potential criminals with a desire for imitation. All of these aspects were new to film at the time. Arthur Penn definitely made a film that turned out to be a watershed for a new breed of films that break all the production codes, and that film is “Bonnie and Clyde.”