Warren Beatty is famously known as the link between old Hollywood and, with “Bonnie and Clyde,” the new. The film, which Beatty also produced, heralded a new direction for American movies, a new realism and an emphasis, however brief, of art over commerce. (Not that anyone wanted to lose money, ever, including Beatty.) Enjoy these facts that you probably never knew before about the groundbreaking 1967 film.
Michael J. Pollard didn’t realize in eating scenes that you don’t actually eat all the food because of the possibility of repeated takes. Sure enough, he soon regretted it in the scene in which the outlaws kidnap a couple and eat their lunch in the car. By the 12th take, Pollard was feeling decidedly ill, having had to eat 12 whole hamburgers.
One of Arthur Penn’s intentions was to make the character of Blanche as hysterical as possible. This was done in order to make Bonnie look even cooler.
The real Blanche Barrow sued Warner Brothers over the way she was depicted in the film. In reality, Barrow was the same age as Bonnie Parker, arguably better looking than her, she was not a preacher’s daughter and had married Buck knowing full well that he was an escaped prisoner and twice divorced.
Roger Ebert had only been a film critic for six months when he saw this film. He hailed it as the first masterpiece he had seen on the job.
The family gathering scene was filmed in Red Oak, Texas. Several local residents were watching the film being shot, when the filmmakers noticed Mabel Cavitt, a local school teacher, among the people gathered. She was chosen then and there to play Bonnie Parker’s mother.
In one scene, while holding up a bank, Clyde Barrow tells a farmer he can keep his own money. (“Is that your money or the bank’s?” “It’s mine.” “You keep it then.”) In real life, it was bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd who allowed a farmer to keep his own money during a holdup.
Many consider one of the reasons why the film was so successful was because of its anti-establishment stance. At the time, disillusionment with America’s involvement in Vietnam was gaining ground.
Before deciding to play the role himself, producer Warren Beatty’s first choice for the role of Clyde Barrow was musician and composer Bob Dylan. Dylan clearly resembled the actual Barrow more strongly than Beatty.
Cher auditioned for the role of Bonnie Parker. Her husband/manager at the time, Sonny Bono, heard about the audition, and he was furious at Warren Beatty for letting his wife audition for such a “controversial film”.
Besides the first to use a lot of different things… It was one of the first films to feature an extensive use of squibs.
In reality, the bank robbers picked up about three people in their travels.
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