1967 Movie Review

1967 Movie Review: BONNIE AND CLYDE, 1967

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BONNIE AND CLYDE, 1967
Movie Reviews

Directed by Arthur Penn

Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard, Estelle Parsons, Gene Wilder
Review by Martyn Warren

SYNOPSIS:

Based on the true story on the famed bank robbers during the great depression, we see the life of Bonnie (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde (Warren Beatty) as they rob banks and become iconic in the newspapers. However, even with their exciting lifestyle, there’s always an obstacle to test the famed duo around every corner.

 

REVIEW:

Being recognised as one of the first films to inspire the ‘New Hollywood’ film movement that would change the industry drastically, Bonnie and Clyde (dir. Arthur Penn) still stands as being one of the best American films of all time and having one of Warren Beatty’s finest performances.

Based on the true story of the famed duo who robbed banks during the great depression, the film opens up with Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) having an encounter outside Bonnie’s family house and quickly become attached to one another. Their interests for one another deepens when Clyde reveals himself to be a robber, while Bonnie is tired of her boring job as a waitress.

The two young adults soon decide to both rob banks and lead an exciting life as people against the law, encountering new characters to be involved in their gang, including the innocent C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard) and Clyde’s older brother, Buck Barrow (Gene Hackman).

During the course of the story, we see how all these characters become highly recognised within the newspapers, how they each suffer with the different consequences of their actions and the police force getting closer in stopping their crime spree.

   With the cast being made up of actors and actresses who were famous and non-famous before the film’s release, they manage to bring together brilliant performances that reflect on each other.


Both Gene Hackman and Warren Beatty were very well known for the types of roles that they played during the time, with Hackman playing secondary characters while Beatty played the handsome leading man. Their performances both offer great characters that are very interesting to watch since they are equally great with the less familiar cast members show how this film managed to expand their horizons, especially with Hackman’s career in particular.

The remaining key cast members who were unfamiliar for audience members before this film all did a brilliant job in playing very human and individual characters. Faye Dunaway’s portrayal as the leading lady is absolutely superb in exploring the different challenges and emotions that she’s faced with, while Michel J. Pollard does a great job in playing the innocent-yet-unintelligent Moss. Also, look out for an early cameo by legendary comedic actor Gene Wilder!

Directed by Arthur Penn, his direction over everyone involved within the crew is done very interestingly to bring an original perspective on the screenplay.

Penn often refers to the guns used in the film as power and one very iconic scene is where Clyde shows Bonnie his gun secretly, which happens to be placed near his crotch area and Bonnie stares at it with such excitement and seduction towards such a dangerous object. Another key scene involving a gun is when Clyde actually uses it for the first time on a man that was trying to stop him and we see Clyde struggling with the fact that he actually used his weapon to kill rather then showing it off when doing a robbery.

The director also uses colour as a way to show off the emotions and the lifestyle of America during that time, as well as being used on the two main characters. For example, there’s a scene where Bonnie meets up with her family again after spending sometime doing crimes and it’s shown as a montage with a bronze filter over the shot to make it look like an old fashioned photo and preserve this precious moment for the troubled female character.

As one of the key films that started a new and exciting Hollywood movement, Bonnie and Clyde is one of the most important films in American history and one of the best films that is based on a true story. Creatively made with lovable characters, this is a film that everyone should really see if they truly appreciate American cinema.

BONNIE AND CLYDE

1967 Movie Review: BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, 1967

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BAREFOOT IN THE PARK MOVIE POSTERBAREFOOT IN THE PARK, 1967
Movie Reviews

directed by Gene Saks

Starring: Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Mildred Natwick, Charles Boyer
Review by Virginia DeWitt

Paul and Corie Bratter are newlyweds in mid-’60s New York, who have just moved into a walk up in Greenwich Village and are trying to cope with all the problems that come with living in an old building in New York City, including the eccentric neighbors. Their biggest problem, though, is their distinctly different outlooks on life. Paul is a buttoned down attorney who insists that every problem must have a logical solution. Corie is a free spirit who insists that Paul has to learn to walk “barefoot in the park”.

REVIEW:

“Barefoot In The Park” was the first Neil Simon play to be made into a movie. It was a major success on Broadway in 1963 and Simon adapted the play for the screen himself. He worked with Gene Saks, who was better known as a television actor, and who made his feature film debut as a director with “Barefoot”. Saks would go on to direct other Simon adaptations such as “The Odd Couple” (1968), “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers” (1972) and “Brighton Beach Memoirs” (1986). Saks’ television background shows through in this film. His direction of the actors and the staging of the action are straightforward, with nothing original added to the concept of a filmed play. The look of the movie, its use of colour and lighting, is just marginally better than a TV show of the era.

 Saks is good at directing his actors for comedy, however. Pacing and timing is everything in delivering Simon’s dialogue. The repartee requires rapid fire delivery because, funny and sharp as he is, Simon’s effects are all on the surface. This exchange between Paul and Corie is a good example, beginning with Paul saying to her:

“You want me to be rich and famous don’t you?”

“During the day. At night, I want you here and sexy.

“I tell you what, tomorrow night – your night – we’ll do whatever you want.”

“Something wild and crazy and insane?”

“Fine”

“Like what?”

“I’ll come home early. We’ll wallpaper each other.”

Or, a later argument where Corie gets to air her feelings about Paul’s inability to loosen up:

“You’re always dressed right. You always look right. You always say the right thing. You’re very nearly perfect!”

“That’s a rotten thing to say.”

“Before we were married I thought you slept with a tie.”

“No, just for very formal sleeps.”

Over forty years later, the film still works well and it is largely due to the terrific chemistry between its two stars. A very young Robert Redford and Jane Fonda each exhibit a wonderful naturalness in their performances. Given their later, much more serious work, both Redford and Fonda are surprisingly funny and relaxed here and their handling of the verbal and physical comedy is expert. Redford makes the uptight, anxiety ridden Paul sympathetic. In the early scenes where he spars with Corie, his exasperated reactions to her often impossible demands are perfect. In the final scenes, where he is drunk and wandering barefoot through Washington Square Park, Redford matches Fonda’s earlier exuberance with ease. For her part, Fonda is fun, sexy and spontaneous as Corie. She makes Corie’s capriciousness and emotional immaturity attractive, which is no small feat.

The cast is completed by two well known character actors. Charles Boyer, a big star in an earlier era of the movies, makes for a charming eccentric as the upstairs neighbour, Victor Velasco. Mildred Natwick, as Ethel Banks, is endearing as Corie’s slightly confused mother, subject to the same kinds of anxieties which Paul suffers from. In fact, in the scene that is the centre piece of the film – a double date at an Albanian restaurant – Simon gets a lot mileage, and laughs, from pairing off Paul with his middle aged mother-in-law. Paul, born middle aged, and Ethel commiserate with each other over the crazy night they have had to endure at the hands of Corie and Victor, both maddening in their unpredictability. Nothing comes from any of this, of course, as the couples inevitably realign, each paired off appropriately and happily once again.

“Barefoot In The Park” is still a fun movie largely due to the highly successful casting of its two young stars and Neil Simon’s writing, which is both light hearted and sharp at the same time.