Monday, November 18, 2013

Flick Pick: Bonnie & Clyde

Bonnie & Clyde
(Warner Bros., 1967)

Landmark gangster flick marking a sea change for Hollywood, esp. regarding taboos on sexuality and violence. (As you may have noticed since then, they're firmly in favor of both.)If you're going to glamorize crooks, it's hard to top Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the icons of choice. Jack Warner and the studio execs hated this film so much they tried to bury it in limited release. The public loved it so much that the studio deal giving Beatty 40% of the gross as producer instead of a rate made him a multimillionaire, free afterwards to pick parts at leisure for the rest of his career as the star system broke down completely. Virtually the entire main cast was nominated for Oscars, though the movie only picked up two; although he was nominated, neither of these wins were for a relatively new guy named Gene Hackman in a breakout role.

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