Culture news More than 56 years later, the end of this feature film about this iconic criminal couple is still as poignant as ever
Good films and finely crafted sequences never get old! Proof of this is with the finale of this feature film about this great couple of criminals. One look will mark the entire history of cinema.
Do you know Bonnie & Clyde? This famous couple of criminals – who really operated in the 1930s in the United States – is not only Rockstar’s source of inspiration for GTA 6… In 1967, the duo lent their name to a film that would mark all of Hollywood, notably because of its particularly poignant (and bloody) finale. But then, what makes this scene so special?
A revolutionary film
First, let’s set the scene: Bonnie & Clyde is a feature film directed by Arthur Penn (Little Big Man | The Merciless Pursuit) and released towards the end of the 60s. It is considered the first success of “New Hollywood” – a counter-culture movement, particularly inspired by the New Wave in France, which will modernize the way of thinking and making cinema. This movement works to break the taboos of majors (the biggest production studios in the USA) by showing the corruption of the powerful, violence, sex… Two last points which fit Bonnie & Clyde like a glove.
Because yes, the duo is beautiful, in love – and does not hesitate to rob anything and everything to line their pockets! Except that at the end of the film, reality catches up with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty (who play Bonnie and Clyde respectively). The couple is betrayed by one of their accomplices, and finds themselves ambushed. The police opened fire on the thugs in a scene of rare violence.
And a very poignant finale
The finale, available above, is full of incredible violence (even 56 years later), so we’ll let you imagine the reactions of spectators at the time. “Before, you couldn’t see one guy shooting and another being shot in the same frame, he had to have a cut,” notes Arthur Penn, in an interview reported by Allociné. “We wanted to break away from that. The public has the right to see things as they really are”. Apart from the brutality of the image, it is also the brief look that Bonnie gives Clyde, just before the denotations resonate, which is heartbreaking. If all this interests you, the film is available to rent on YouTube for 2.99 euros.