Bonnie and Clyde (1967)


Movie Description
One of the landmark films of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde changed the course of American cinema. Setting a milestone for screen violence that paved the way for Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, this exercise in mythologized biography should not be labeled as a bloodbath; as critic Pauline Kael wrote in her rave review, "it's the absence of sadism that throws the audience off balance." The film is more of a poetic ode to the Great Depression, starring the dream team of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the titular antiheroes, who barrel across the South and Midwest robbing banks with Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman), Buck's frantic wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons), and their faithful accomplice C.W. Moss (the inimitable Michael J. Pollard). Bonnie and Clyde is an unforgettable classic that has lost none of its power since the 1967 release. --Jeff Shannon

Review: The Stuff of Legend
This movie ignited critics and the public alike when it was first released in theatres. Much discussion centered around the movie's graphic violence (which was considered shocking by 1967 standards --- two years later "The Wild Bunch" would raise the ante even higher); there was also considerable hullaballoo over the film's glamorization of its lawless true-life anti-heroes (which was in fact an old Hollywood tradition best exemplified by a handful of late 1930's and early 1940's biographical Westerns including "Jesse James", "Belle Starr", "Billy the Kid", etc. in which beautiful actors portrayed the murderous title characters as Technicolored lads and ladies).

35 years later the fires of debate have burned out, and what remains notable about "Bonnie and Clyde" is neither its cutting-edge violence nor its historical inaccuracies, but instead the fine craftsmanship that went into its creation. The performances are uniformly outstanding; the cinematography is evocative of a time and place that can still be glimpsed in parts of the Ozarks, Oklahoma, and North Texas; the editing is clean and well-paced; the direction is innovative and assured, even poetic in some sequences (the initial acquaintance of Barrow and Parker, the reunion of Bonnie's family, the final ambush scene). This film is the telling of legend, not the chronicle of biographical scholarship, and it unfolds its story masterfully.

The DVD showcases the film beautifully. The edition I purchased offers both the widescreen and reformatted versions; an earlier issue of this title on DVD offered only the widescreen release (which I personally prefer and recommend, but you may not agree). This is a classic worthy of multiple viewings, and a DVD I endorse without reservation.

Review: A classic
Released in 1967 to controversy and criticism, now considered a classic film (the American Film Institute rated it #27 on their list of America's 100 Greatest Movies) responsible for a significant shift in cinematic direction in the late '60s, "Bonnie and Clyde" is one of those rare films in which every facet combines to create something truly extraordinary. Anchored by strong performances from Beatty and Dunaway as the titular characters, with Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, and Michael J. Pollard shining in supporting roles, the film also features a terrific script, riveting camera work, and a bizarrely amusing banjo soundtrack. Juxtaposing comedy and tragedy, history and myth, "Bonnie and Clyde" succeeds because it craftily grabs the viewer's heart, until they are left at the end of the final scene with their mouth hanging open in sheer amazement and their heart in their throat. See "Bonnie and Clyde" not for the entertainment, but for the experience.

Review: Bonnie & Clyde
"Bonnie & Clyde" is #27 on The American Film Insitute's Top 100 above films like Midnight Cowboy, Pulp Fiction, and Unforgiven to name a few. I don't like this movie as much as those films, but this is a damn good crime film with some great performances; I honestly know nothing about Bonnie & Clyde, all I know is basic stuff. Two madly-in-love Depression era bank robbers. Having said that, I don't know how much of this film is fact and how much is fiction and whether you do or not, this is a really enjoyable movie. Bonnie Parker (the beautiful Faye Dunaway) first meets Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) when he attempts to steal her mother's car. She catches him by surprise and the two go into town and after some flirtation, he tells her he has just gotten out of prison for armed robbery. She's intrigued, but doesn't believe him. To prove that he is what he says he is, Clyde quickly robs a store and drives Bonnie into a field; She's kind of unnerved, but after some talking. She joins him on the road and eventually begins robbing banks with him. After driving through a town, they enlist the help of a young kid named C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard) who proves to be a good young protege.

Eventually, Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and his nervous wife
Blanche (Estelle Parsons, who won an Oscar for her role in the movie)
join the Barrow gang for eventually tragic results. Gene Wilder makes a hilarious cameo as a man who's car is stolen by Bonnie and Clyde.

Now, the casting is wonderful. I can't think of anybody better than Beatty and Dunaway (at least at the time this film was made) to play these characters. Hackman is great as Buck Barrow; Even though Parsons won an Oscar for her role as Blanche, I didn't like her at all. The character is completely unlikeable and annoying, which is the point, but it just bothered me. The movie balances the love angle and brutality nicely...This formula has been used countless times since this film (notably in the Brad Pitt-Juliette Lewis film "Kalifornia"). Anyway, not a crime film to miss.

GRADE: A-

Review: A great flick!
It follows the adventures of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker as they rob banks throughout the midwest. I wish I was Clyde Barrow...

Review: The Beginning of Modern American Film,
The Helpful Part: The movie tells the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, two Texans who formed a gang during the Depression and robbed banks. The events were high publicized and they captured the hearts of America before they were eventually ambushed by the law. While several of the events are true to life, it's still a romanticized account of the actual events.

The Review: If you're just beginning to take an interest in older films, this is a perfect one for starters. If you're already into action movies, classics, or art films, this movie is a must see. "Bonnie and Clyde" was a film that marked the beginning of Hollywood's best years. It combined the action and intensity of the modern era with the artistic stylings of the French New Wave and the charismatic star presence of the thirties and forties.

"Bonnie and Clyde" was obviously inspired by the films of the French New Wave and it brought a new, fresh depiction of love and violence to Hollywood. Along with the French films, it served as a template for hundreds of other films about star-crossed lovers ("Badlands," "Drugstore Cowboy," "Natural Born Killers," etc.).

When this movie opened it was a failure critically. American critics were still looking for conservative, unoriginal romantic comedies. But it quickly developed a cult following as the bluegrass soundtrack and the berets and skirts worn by Faye Dunaway became popular. Eventually the movie was re-released, made a lot of money, and won multiple Oscars.

Some films age poorly, but not this one, despite being almost 40 years old. Part of the reason is because it's not much different from a modern film. The depictions of violence and human behavior seem real, not censored. Another reason is because people will always be attracted to the story line of outsiders on the run in search of happiness. But I think the biggest factor has to be the two leads. Warren Beatty is exceptional as Clyde, making him a sympathetic character despite being a murderer, and every guy on the planet would be a fool to not fall in love with Faye Dunaway's Bonnie. When this movie was made, Beatty was the only established star, but it was cast so well that many of the unknowns became household names--including Dunaway, Gene Hackman, and Gene Wilder.

Overall, if you like older films but aren't afraid of violence or sexuality, you'll love this movie.

My Life With Bonnie & Clyde (Hardcover)

Review: Blanche's Story
At one time I thought the last thing the world needed was one more book on Bonnie and Clyde. The sixty years following their deaths saw hundreds of articles, a dozen or more books, millions of words printed about the infamous duo and the Barrow gang, all adding varying degrees of old, new, and contradictory information. Then came John Neal Phillips, whose "Running With Bonnie and Clyde" brought the story into new focus through his own extensive interviews with many of the leading participants. It was, it seemed, an historical breakthrough we weren't likely to see again as they're all dead. But Phillips has surpassed himself now by uncovering the first true inside account of the Barrow gang in the form of the prison memoirs of Blanche Barrow. It's a tragic, harrowing, haunting story of family life on the run, full of surprises and rounded out with a superb collection of Blanche's own photos (most seen here for the first time) and Phillips' own research and extensive endnotes. You just can't get any closer to the real Barrow gang than this.

Review: Blanche Barrow: The Survivor of the Barrow Gang
I highly recommend this historical autobiography deftly completed by one of the finest writers and experts on Bonnie & Clyde: John Neal Philips. His previous work is a definite must-read as well: Running With Bonnie and Clyde. It was through his first book that I learned whatever became of Blanche Barrow. I had often wondered and he has now completed her story and what a fine job he has done in completing an autobiography which Blanche Barrow wrote while in prison. He had only a handwritten first draft but Mr. Philips cites Blanche Barrow as the author and gives himself the title of "Editor". If you want an academic tome of the only member of the Barrow Gang who went on to live a life away from crime, this book is the one. It is thorougly researched with endnotes to read while reading the book itself (and it is more enjoyable to read it in that manner) then this book is the one. I do agree that it is also well worthwhile to also read "Running With Bonnie And Clyde" which provides a first hand account by a former gang member named Ralph Fults. John Neal Philips did a superb job in finding those still alive who knew Bonnie and Clyde and Blanche is also interviewed and quoted in his first book. Mr. Philips is thorough in his research and never relies on tabloid style rumours which others who have written about these Depression Era Outlaws have published as fact. He treats Blanche Barrow with dignity and respect and had she lived to see this book go to press, I believe she'd have been very grateful.

Review: Like being there with the Barrow Gang!
This book was GREAT! I am a huge Bonnie and Clyde fan (and an historian) and this is the best thing I've read on them in years. Blanche's memoirs are easy to read and very descriptive. The endnotes fill in details and what Blanche didn't quite remember (which is very little considering her circumstances). Highly recommended reading for the die-hard Bonnie and Clyde fan, or if you are just interested in the 1930's or the Great Depression.

Review: Not another Bonnie & Clyde Book!
Yes, many readers probably thought; "Oh no! Not another Bonnie & Clyde book!" But I say; "Oh yes!" This is a historically accurate and well researched work on the saga of Bonnie & Clyde. Author John Neal Phillips has out done his previous venture into the life & crimes of the Barrow gang, by writing from Blanche Barrow's own prison memoirs. This detailed new look into the gangs activites is truly interesting and Blanche Barrow's collection of photo's, included in the book, added a new richnest to the sage of "Bonnie and Clyde!" Phillips exhaustive endnotes tells all that he is a remarkable researcher. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the Barrow gangs saga.


From Wikipedia
Bonnie & Clyde
This text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

This article is about the robbers. For the film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, see Bonnie and Clyde (film). For other uses see the Popular culture section.

Bonnie Parker
Bonnie and Clyde clowning.Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were notorious robbers and criminals who travelled the central United States during the Great Depression. Their exploits were known nationwide. They captivated the attention of the American press and its readership during what is sometimes referred to as the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1935. Though remembered as bank robbers, Clyde Barrow preferred to rob small stores or gas stations.

Though the public at the time believed Bonnie to be a full partner in the gang, the role of Bonnie Parker in the Barrow Gang crimes has long been a source of controversy. Gang members W.D. Jones and Ralph Fults testified that they never saw Bonnie fire a gun, and described her role as logistical. Jones' sworn statement was that "Bonnie never packed a gun, out of the five major gun battles I was with them she never fired a gun." Writing with Phillip Steele in The Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde, Marie Barrow, Clyde's youngest sister, made the same claim: "Bonnie never fired a shot. She just followed my brother no matter where he went."

In his article "Bonnie and Clyde: Romeo and Juliet in a Getaway Car", the noted writer Joseph Geringer explained part of their appeal to the public then, and their enduring legend now, by saying "Americans thrilled to their 'Robin Hood' adventures. The presence of a female, Bonnie, escalated the sincerity of their intentions to make them something unique and individual -- even at times heroic."

Contents
1 Bonnie Parker
2 Clyde Barrow
3 The pair meet
4 Buck joins the gang, life on the highway
5 Platte City
6 Final run
7 Death
8 Controversy and aftermath
9 Remembering
10 Popular culture
11 See also
12 References
13 External links

Bonnie Parker
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born October 1, 1910, in Rowena, Texas, the second of three children. Her father, a bricklayer, died when Bonnie was four, prompting her mother to move with the children to West Dallas, where they lived in poverty. Bonnie was a precocious child. An honor roll student in high school where she excelled in creative writing, she won a County League contest in literary arts, for Clement City School, [4]and even gave introductory speeches for local politicians. Described as intelligent and personable by those who knew her, yet also strong willed, she was an attractive young woman, petite at 4’11” (150 cm) and weighing only 90 pounds (41 kg).

On September 25, 1926, at age fifteen, she married Roy Thornton. The marriage was short-lived, and in January 1929 they parted ways. He was sentenced to five years in prison shortly thereafter. They never divorced; Bonnie was wearing Thornton's wedding ring when she died.

Bonnie Parker then met Clyde Barrow and the two immediately became enamored with one another. From then on she would be a stalwart and loyal companion to him as they carried out their crime spree and awaited the violent deaths they viewed as inevitable. Her fondness for creative writing and the arts found expression in poems such as "Suicide Sal"[10] and "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde."

Jimmy Fowler of the Dallas Observer noted "although the authorities who gunned down the 23-year old in 1934 conceded that she was no bloodthirsty killer and that when taken into custody she tended to inspire the paternal aspects of the police who held her ... there was a mystifying devolution from the high school poet, speech class star, and mini-celebrity who performed Shirley Temple-like as a warm up act at the stump speeches of local politicians to the accomplice of rage-filled Clyde Barrow." [5]

Clyde Barrow
Clyde "Champion" Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909 in Ellis County, Texas, near Telico just south of Dallas (some sources[2] claim he was born in 1910). He was the fifth child of seven or eight children (the census is not clear, since some of the children were not living at home) in a poor farming family. Clyde was first arrested in late 1926, after running when police confronted him over a rental car he had failed to return on time. His second arrest, with brother Buck Barrow, came soon after — this time for possession of stolen goods (turkeys). In both of these instances there is the remote possibility that Clyde acted without criminal intent. Despite holding down "square" jobs during the period 1927 through 1929, however, he also cracked safes, burgled stores, and stole cars. Known primarily for robbing banks, he preferred smaller jobs, robbing grocery stores and filling stations at a rate far outpacing the ten to fifteen bank robberies attributed to him and the Barrow Gang. According to John Neal Phillips, Clyde's goal in life was not to gain fame and fortune from robbing banks, but to eventually seek revenge against the Texas prison system for the abuses he suffered while serving time. Despite the image of Warren Beatty as Clyde in the 1967 film, Clyde actually felt guilty about the people he killed.

The pair meet
There is some disagreement over how Bonnie and Clyde first met, but the most prevalent story is that it was through Clyde's friend Clarence Clay. In another account, they met when he visited one of her girlfriends, who sent him to the kitchen to meet "a nice girl." All stories agree on one thing: it was love at first sight for them both.

By mid-February 1930, Clyde and Bonnie were seeing each other regularly, to the point where the police staked out her mother's house hoping to catch the wanted Barrow. They arrested him there, and he was sentenced to prison for two years (seven concurrent, two-year terms for burglary and auto theft). Except for a one-week escape ending with his recapture in Ohio, Clyde remained incarcerated in the Texas state prison at Eastham Farm until early 1932. Fellow inmate Ralph Fults said that it was Eastham where Clyde turned "from a schoolboy to a rattlesnake".

After his release in 1932, Clyde moved to Massachusetts, purportedly to make a clean start. However, he returned to Texas within weeks, embroiled in a plan to raid Eastham prison and free associate Raymond Hamilton and others. He recruited help and set about arming and financing the operation.

In April, a night watchman saw Barrow and Ralph Fults breaking into a hardware store. They escaped after exchanging fire, rejoined Bonnie, and attempted to leave the "hot" area. The incident followed a pattern for Bonnie and Clyde that persisted until their deaths — desperate evasion at high speed down sometimes impassable roads, stealing cars and swapping stolen plates regularly. Though Clyde's driving skill and ability to evade capture were later grudgingly respected by law enforcement, this situation ended poorly, perhaps because the gang was finally reduced to stealing mules for transportation in the Texas farm country. Clyde escaped, and Bonnie and Fults were arrested. She claimed to have been kidnapped, and a grand jury failed to indict her. Having spent two months in the Kaufman, Texas jail, Bonnie returned to Dallas in June 1932, and was soon back on the road with Clyde.

Buck joins the gang, life on the highway
On March 22, 1933, Clyde's brother Buck was granted a full pardon and released from prison. By April, he and his wife Blanche were living with W.D. Jones, Clyde, and Bonnie in a temporary hideout in Joplin, Missouri—according to some accounts, merely to visit and attempt to talk Clyde into giving himself up. As was common with Bonnie and Clyde, their next brush with the law arose from their generally suspicious behavior, not because their identities were discovered. Not knowing what awaited them, local lawmen assembled only a two-car force to confront the suspected bootleggers living in the rented apartment over a garage. Though caught by surprise, Clyde, noted for remaining cool under fire, was gaining far more experience in gun battles than most lawmen. He and W.D. Jones quickly killed one lawman and fatally wounded another . The survivors later testified that their side had fired only fourteen rounds in the conflict.

During Bonnie's time in jail, Clyde had been the driver in a store robbery. The wife of the murder victim, when shown photos, picked Clyde as one of the shooters. In August 1932, while Bonnie was visiting her mother, Clyde and two associates were drinking alcohol at a dance in Oklahoma (illegal under Prohibition). When they were approached by the local sheriff and his undersheriff, Clyde opened fire, killing the undersheriff Eugene C. Moore. That was the first killing of a lawman by what was later known as the Barrow Gang, a total which would eventually amount to nine slain officers.

Between 1932 and 1934, there were several incidents in which the Barrow Gang kidnapped lawmen or robbery victims, usually releasing them far from home, sometimes with money to help them get back. [12] Stories of these encounters may have contributed to the mythic aura of Bonnie and Clyde; a couple both reviled and adored by the public. Notoriously, the Barrow Gang would not hesitate to shoot anybody, civilian or lawman, if they got in the way of their escape. Clyde was a probable shooter in approximately ten murders. Other members of the Barrow Gang known or thought to have murdered are Raymond Hamilton, W.D. Jones, Buck Barrow, Joe Palmer, and Henry Methvin.

The Barrow Gang escaped the police at Joplin, but W.D. Jones was wounded, and they had left most of their possessions at the rented apartment — including a camera with an exposed roll of pictures. The film was developed by the Joplin Globe, and yielded many now famous photos, two of which are shown above. Afterward, Bonnie and Clyde used coats and hats to cover the license plates of their stolen vehicles when taking pictures.

Despite the glamorous image often associated with the Barrow Gang, they were desperate and discontent. A recently published manuscript provides Blanche Barrow's account of life on the run. Clyde was a machine behind the wheel, driving dangerous roads and searching for places where they might sleep or have a meal without being discovered. One member was always assigned watch. Short tempers led to regular arguments. Even with thousands of dollars from a bank robbery, sleeping in a bed was a luxury for a member of the Barrow Gang. Sleeping peacefully was nearly impossible.

Platte City
In June 1933, while driving with W.D. Jones and Bonnie, Clyde missed some construction signs, dropping the car into a ravine. It rolled, and Bonnie was trapped beneath the burning car, suffering third degree burns to her left leg. After making their escape, Clyde insisted that Bonnie be allowed to convalesce. After meeting up with Blanche and Buck Barrow again, they stayed at one place until Buck bungled a local robbery with W.D. Jones, and killed a city marshal. The gang moved several times, eventually renting two cabins near Platte City, Missouri, the evening of July 18, 1933. On July 18, 1933, the gang checked into the Red Crown Tourist Court south of Platte City, Missouri (although now within the city limits of Kansas City, Missouri across I-29 from Kansas City International Airport). The courts consisted of two brick cabins joined by two single-car garages. Several yards to the south stood the Red Crown Tavern, managed by Neal Houser. Houser became interested in the group when Blanche paid for dinners and beer with silver instead of currency.

When Blanche went into town to purchase bandages and atropine sulfate to treat Bonnie's leg the druggist contacted Sheriff Holt Coffee, who put the cabins under watch. Coffee had been alerted by Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas to be on the lookout for strangers seeking such supplies. The sheriff contacted Captain Baxter of the highway patrol, who called for reinforcements from Kansas City including an armored car. At 11 PM that night, Sheriff Coffee led a group of officers armed with Thompson submachine guns toward the cabins. But the submachine guns proved no match for the Browning Automatic Rifles of the Barrows, who had recently robbed an armory. Although the gang escaped once again, Buck Barrow was shot in the head, and Blanche was nearly blinded from glass fragments in her eye. [2] The prospects for holding out against the ensuing manhunt dwindled.

On July 24, 1933, the Barrow Gang was at Dexfield Park, an abandoned amusement park near Dexter, Iowa. After being noticed by local citizens, it was determined that the campers were the Barrows. Surrounded by local lawmen and approximately one hundred spectators, the Barrows once again found themselves under fire. Clyde, Bonnie, and W.D. Jones escaped on foot. Buck was shot in the back and his wife hit again in the face and eyes with flying glass. Buck died five days later at Kings Daughters Hospital in Iowa of pneumonia after surgery.

Bonnie and Clyde regrouped, and on November 22, 1933, again escaped an arrest attempt, while meeting family members at an impromptu rendezvous near Sowers, Texas.

Final run
In January 1934, Clyde finally made his long awaited move against the Texas Department of Corrections. In the famous "Eastham Breakout" of 1934, Clyde's lifetime goal appeared to come true, as he masterminded the escape of Henry Methvin, Raymond Hamilton and several others. [7] The Texas Department of Corrections received national negative publicity over the jailbreak, and Clyde appeared to have achieved what Phillips describes as the burning passion in his life — revenge on the Texas Department of Corrections.[8]

It was an expensive revenge, as the killing of a guard (by Joe Palmer) brought the full power of the Texas and federal governments to bear on the manhunt for Bonnie and Clyde, ultimately resulting in their deaths. As the guard, Major Crowson, lay dying, Lee Simmons of the Texas Department of Corrections reportedly promised him every person involved in the breakout would be hunted down and killed.[9] He kept his word, except for Henry Methvin, whose life was exchanged in return for betraying Bonnie and Clyde. The Texas Department of Corrections then contacted legendary retired manhunter and Texas Ranger Captain Frank A. Hamer, and convinced him to accept a commission to hunt down the Barrow Gang. Though technically retired, [3] Hamer was the only retired Ranger in history to have been allowed to keep an active Ranger commission, as displayed in the state archives in Austin, Texas.[13] He accepted the assignment immediately, though not as a Ranger but as a special investigator for the prison system, tasked specifically to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barrow Gang.

Clyde and Henry Methvin killed two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas, on April 1, 1934[14]; an eyewitness account stated that Methvin fired the lethal shots. John Treherne exhaustively investigated this shooting, and found that Methvin fired the first shot, after assuming Clyde wanted them killed (though Treherne found, and Melvin later admitted Clyde did not intend to kill them, but had been preparing to capture them and take them on one of his famous rides). Having little choice once Methvin had begun a gun battle with law officers, Clyde then fired at the second officer, but Methvin is believed to have been the primary killer of both. At the time, there were questions about who exactly among the gang had fired the fatal shots, Methvin's later confession, and Treherne's investigation revealed that Methvin had been the killer, and that Bonnie had actually approached the dying officers to try to help them. [10] Ted Hinton's son states that Bonnie was actually asleep in the back seat when Methvin started the gun battle and took no part in it. [15] It is notable that in accepting a pardon for these killings, Methvin admitted to both. [11] But these particularly senseless killings shocked and outraged the public, which to this point had tended to idolize Bonnie and Clyde. Another policeman Constable William Campbell was killed five days later near Commerce, Oklahoma[16] which further turned public sentiment against Bonnie and Clyde.

Death
Bonnie and Clyde were killed May 23, 1934, on a desolate road near their Bienville Parish, Louisiana, hideout. They were shot by a posse of four Texas and two Louisiana officers (the Louisiana pair added solely for jurisdictional reasons — an aspect of pre-FBI America that Clyde had exploited to its fullest when selecting robbery and hideout locations).

The posse was led by Hamer, who began tracking the pair on February 10, 1934. Having never before seen Bonnie or Clyde, he immediately arranged a meeting with a representative of Methvin's parents in the hope of gaining a lead. Meanwhile, federal officials - who viewed the Eastham prison break in particular as a national embarrassment to government - were providing all support that was asked for, such as weapons — for example, Hamer requested Browning Automatic Rifles and 20 round magazines with armour piercing rounds, which despite being military weapons were given to him at once.[12]

Hamer studied Bonnie and Clyde's movements and found they swung in a circle skirting the edges of five midwest states, exploiting the "state line" rule that prevented officers from one jurisdiction from pursuing a fugitive into another. Bonnie and Clyde were masters of that pre-FBI rule but consistent in their movements, allowing them to see their families and those of their gang members. Unfortunately for them it also allowed an experienced manhunter like Hamer to chart their path and predict where they would go. They were due next to see Henry Methvin's family, which explains Hamer's meeting with them within a month of beginning the hunt.

On May 21, 1934, the four posse members from Texas were in Shreveport, Louisiana when they learned that Bonnie and Clyde were to go there that evening with Methvin. Clyde had designated Methvin's parents' Bienville Parish house as a rendezvous in case they were later separated. Methvin was separated from Bonnie and Clyde in Shreveport, and the full posse, consisting of Capt. Hamer, Dallas County Sheriff's Deputies Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton (who had met Clyde in the past), former Texas Ranger B. M. "Manny" Gault, Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan, and his deputy, Prentiss Oakley, set up an ambush at the rendezvous point along Highway 154, between Gibsland and Sailes. They were in place by 9:00 p.m. and waited through the next day (May 22) but saw no sign of Bonnie and Clyde.

At approximately 9:10 a.m. on May 23, the posse, concealed in the bushes and almost ready to concede defeat, heard Clyde's stolen Ford V-8 approaching. The posse's official report has Clyde stopping to speak with Henry Methvin's father — planted there with his truck that morning to distract Clyde and force him into the lane closest to the posse — the lawmen opened fire, killing Bonnie and Clyde while shooting a combined total of approximately 130 rounds. The posse, under Hamer's direct orders, did not call out a warning,[3] or order the duo to surrender. Clyde was killed instantly from Oakley's initial head shot. Bonnie did not die as easily as Clyde. The posse reported her uttering a long, horrified scream as the bullets tore into the car. [13] The officers emptied automatic rifles with large 20 round specialty magazines ordered by Frank Hamer specifically for this ambush,[14] shotguns, and pistols at the car, with no warning, citing Ten Hinton's and Bob Alcorn's statement to the Dallas Dispatch on May 24, 1934: "Each of us six officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns ... There was smoke coming from the car, and it looked like it was on fire. After shooting the shotguns, we emptied the pistols at the car, which had passed us and ran into a ditch about 50 yards on down the road. It almost turned over. We kept shooting at the car even after it stopped. We weren't taking any chances."[15] The vast majority of the bullets — over 100 rounds — were fired while the car was directly across from the waiting posse. They were shooting fully automatic rifles and emptied a number of magazines during the action. Following the ambush, officers inspected the vehicle and discovered a small arsenal of weapons including stolen automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns, assorted handguns, and several thousand rounds of ammunition, along with fifteen different license plates from various states.

When later asked why he killed a woman who was not wanted for any capital offense, Hamer stated "I hate to bust the cap on a woman, especially when she was sitting down, however if it wouldn't have been her, it would have been us". [17]

Bonnie and Clyde wished to be buried side by side, but the Parker family would not allow it. Bonnie's mother had wanted to grant her daughter's final wish, which was to be brought home, but the mobs surrounding the Parker house made that impossible. Over 20,000 people streamed to Bonnie's funeral, causing the Parkers difficulty in getting to her grave. [16] Clyde Barrow is buried in the Western Heights Cemetery, and Bonnie Parker in the Crown Hill Memorial Park, both in Dallas, Texas. The bullet-riddled Ford in which Bonnie and Clyde were killed, as well as the shirt Clyde Barrow wore at his death, [citation needed] are currently on display (February 2007) at the Primm Valley Resort in Primm, Nevada.

Controversy and aftermath
Controversy lingers over certain aspects of the ambush, and the way Hamer conducted it. Historians and writers, such as Milner, Treherne and Phillips, have turned up no warrants for any violent crimes, for Bonnie Parker. [17] FBI files contain only one warrant, for aiding Clyde in the interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. [18] The only claim that Bonnie ever fired a weapon during one of the gang's crimes came from Blanche Barrow, and is backed by an article from the Lucerne, Indiana newspaper on May 13, 1933. No charges were ever taken out on either woman for the alleged act. By this account, Bonnie would have been firing a "machine gun" - the only "machine gun" (fully automatic firing weapon) Clyde or any of the Barrow Gang were ever known to use was the Browning Automatic Rifle (B.A.R.) M1918. This weapon, stolen from an armory Clyde raided, weighed 18.5 pounds unloaded, and with the 20 round heavy clip the Barrows used it weighed over 25 pounds, [18] nearly a third of Bonnie's weight. Firing up to 550 armour piercing rounds a minute, [19] it was a difficult weapon for even soldiers to control.[20]

Historians and writers have questioned whether Hamer should have given the order to fire, without warning, prior to the car's arrival. By Hinton and Alcorn's account, (and the official report made by Hamer on the ambush), Prentiss Oakley's initial shot killed Clyde, and the officers on the scene on Hamer's orders then fired automatic rifles, shotguns, pistols, until the car was on fire."[19] In the years after, Prentiss Oakley is reported to have been haunted for the rest of his life by his actions that day. [20] He was the only posse member to publicly express regret for his actions. The posse, including Frank Hamer, took and kept for themselves stolen guns that were found in the death car. Personal items such as Bonnie's clothing and a saxophone were also taken, and when the Parker family asked for them back, Hamer refused. These items were also later sold as souvenirs.[2]

In a grisly aftermath, the men who were left to guard the bodies (Gault, Oakley, and Alcorn) allowed people to cut off bloody locks of Bonnie's hair and tear pieces from her dress, which were sold as souvenirs. Hinton returned to find a man trying to cut off Clyde's finger, and was sickened by what was occurring.[21] [22] The coroner, arriving on the scene, saw the following: "nearly everyone had begun collecting souvenirs such as shell casings, slivers of glass from the shattered car windows, and bloody pieces of clothing from the garments of Bonnie and Clyde. One eager man had opened his pocket knife, and was reaching into the car to cut off Clyde's left ear."[23] The coroner realized he could not do his job in a "circus-like atmosphere," and asked Hamer for help. Only after he intervened did Hamer order people away from the car.[23]

After Ted Hinton's death, his son published an account of the ambush radically different from anything stated before. According to Hinton, the posse had tied Henry Methvin's father to a tree the night before the ambush, to keep him from possibly warning the duo off. The conventional belief that Methvin cooperated with authorities was a lie, according to Hinton, one that Hamer came up with to keep from getting in trouble over kidnapping a citizen not wanted for any crime. Hinton claimed Hamer made Methvin a deal: keep quiet about being tied up, and he would get his son a pardon for the murder of the two young highway patrolmen. Hinton then claimed Hamer made every member of the posse swear they would keep this secret as long as any of them lived. Hinton only released this story after his death, through his son. It is notable that Hamer did indeed obtain the pardon for Henry Methvin for the two murders of the young highway patrolmen.

Blanche Barrow's injuries left her permanently blinded in her left eye. After the 1933 shoot-out that left her husband mortally wounded, she was taken into custody on the charge of "Assault With Intent to Kill". She was sentenced to 10 years but was paroled in 1939 for Good Behavior. She moved back to Dallas, leaving her life of crime in the past, and lived with her now invalid father as his caregiver. She married Eddie Frasure in 1940, worked as a taxi cab dispatcher, and completed the terms of her parole one year later. She lived in peace with her husband until he died of cancer in 1969. Warren Beatty approached her to purchase the rights to her name for use in the film Bonnie and Clyde. While she agreed to the original script, she objected to the final re-write that was used in production, stating that Estelle Parsons portrayed her as (in Blanche's own words) "a screaming horse's ass". While she hated the film, she maintained a firm friendship with Beatty. She died from cancer at the age of 77 on 24 December 1988, and was buried in Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas under the name "Blanche B. Frasure" [21]. In 2004, her memoirs, My Life With Bonnie and Clyde were published (ISBN 0-8061-3715-0).

Remembering
Every year near the anniversary of the ambush, a "Bonnie and Clyde Festival" is hosted in the town of Gibsland, Louisiana.[24] The ambush location, still comparatively isolated on Highway 154 south of Gibsland, is commemorated by a stone marker that has been defaced to near illegibility by souvenir thieves and gunshot.[25] A small metal version was added to accompany the stone monument. It was stolen, as was its replacement.

Bonnie and Clyde death scene (file info)
A video clip of Bonnie and Clyde, shot to death by officers in an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana.
Problems seeing the videos? See media help.

Popular culture
Bonnie and Clyde were among the first celebrity criminals of the modern era, and their legend has proven durable. Certainly Bonnie knew how to enhance the pair's popular appeal by manipulating the media, and newspapers were quick to publish her poem "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde". Her other poetry, especially "Suicide Sal", shows her flair for an underworld vernacular that owes much to the detective magazines she read avidly. According to Geringer, Bonnie appealed to the out of work and generally disenfranchised third of America shattered by the Depression, who saw the duo as a Robin Hood-like couple striking blows at an uncaring government. In an A&E Network-produced Biography on the two bandits, historian Jonathan Davis expresses a similar thought, pointing out that "Anybody who robbed banks or fought the law were really living out some secret fantasies on a large part of the public." [26]

The advertising industry took note of the pair's appeal. When a letter signed "Clyde Champion Barrow" was sent to the Ford Motor Company, praising their "dandy car", Ford used it in car advertisements. Although the handwriting in this letter has never been authenticated, the same use was made of a similar letter Ford received around the same time from someone claiming to be John Dillinger.

Hollywood has treated the pair's story several times, starting with You Only Live Once, a 1937 film loosely based on Bonnie and Clyde and made only three years after their deaths. It was directed by Fritz Lang and starred Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney.

Bonnie And Clyde (1967)Dorothy Provine starred in the 1958 movie The Bonnie Parker Story, directed by William Witney.

In 1967, Arthur Penn directed a romanticized film version of the tale. Bonnie and Clyde, which starred Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was critically acclaimed and contributed significantly to the glamorous image of the criminal pair.

In the 1992 TV film, Bonnie & Clyde: The True Story, Tracey Needham played Bonnie while Clyde was portrayed by Dana Ashbrook.

The lead characters of Mickey and Mallory in the 1994 Oliver Stone film, Natural Born Killers bear many similarities to Bonnie and Clyde, particularly in the media attention that the pair received for their crimes.

In Highlander: The Series, two immortal characters named Amanda and Cory are portrayed as Bonnie and Clyde in the episode entitled "Money No Object", which aired November 4, 1996.

In a 1994 second season episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, entitled "That Old Gang of Mine", a scientist brings Bonnie and Clyde back from the dead and the two commit crime in modern-day Metropolis.

Popular music has also done much to keep the legend of the outlaw pair alive. In 1967 Serge Gainsbourg recorded his song "Bonnie and Clyde" as a duet with Brigitte Bardot (this song would be covered in the 1990s by the bands Stereolab, Luna and MC Solaar). In 1968, Merle Haggard had a hit single with his song "Legend of Bonnie and Clyde", and Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames had a hit on both sides of the Atlantic with "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde."

In his 1996 song "Me and My Girlfriend," rapper Tupac Shakur says that he and his gun are the "'96 Bonnie and Clyde." Eminem's 1999 album The Slim Shady LP features a song called "'97 Bonnie & Clyde". Tori Amos did a cover of it on her album, Strange Little Girls. The duo is also referenced in The Tears' song "Refugees" and "'03 Bonnie and Clyde" by Beyonce and Jay-Z. In 2002, country singer Travis Tritt recorded "Modern Day Bonnie And Clyde", about a man and woman on a crime spree. The song "Demolition Lovers" by My Chemical Romance describes a Bonnie and Clyde type crime couple shot down in the desert. In the song "Count on Me" by The Game feat. 50 Cent, The Game says "...used to do the homicide thing, now we in the wind doin' that Bonnie and Clyde thing..." In addition, Canadian singer-songwriter Martina Sorbara's debut single off her 2002 release, Cure for Bad Deeds, was entitled "Bonnie & Clyde," which depicts a more idealistically romantic couple in comparison to the original pair. In 2007, British indie-pop band Johnny Boy released a song titled "'Bonnie Parker's 115th Dream'" on their self-titled debut album.

In the 2003 movie Stuck On You, there is a play called Bonnie and Clyde, a play that Walt produces. In this play, it stars Meryl Streep as Bonnie.

The Lilo and Stitch TV series had an episode featuring a pair of genetic experiment criminals named Bonnie and Clyde voiced by Tress MacNeille and Jeff Bennett.

A popular Indian movie inspired by Bonnie & Clyde, Bunty Aur Babli, was released in 2005, starring Abhishek Bachchan (son of Amitabh Bachchan) and Rani Mukerji.

Japanese pop superstar Utada Hikaru's first album, First Love, has a track on it called "B&C". In it, Bonnie and Clyde are referred to simply as a couple that stayed together forever. No mention is made of their criminal activities.

Also, as of 2007, Cypress Moon Productions have announced that a remake of Bonnie & Clyde is in development.[22] It is due for release next year, on the 40th anniversary of the Warren Beatty film. [23]

Finally trying to put the duo's appeal to the public during the depression in perspective, and their enduring appeal to those who consider themselves outsiders, or oppose the existing system, "The country’s money simply declined by 38 percent," explains E.R. Milner, author of The Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde. "Gaunt, dazed men roamed the city streets seeking jobs... Breadlines and soup kitchens became jammed. (In rural areas) foreclosures forced more than 38 percent of farmers from their lands (while simultaneously) a catastrophic drought struck the Great Plains... By the time Bonnie and Clyde became well known, many had felt the capitalistic system had been abused by big business and government officials... Now here were Bonnie and Clyde striking back." [27]

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