Bonnie and Clyde Context Flashcards
Auteur
What was the contribution of Arthur Penn
Director
- shot on location (Texas),
- Art House influence (Francois Truffaut, Japanese cinema),
- social justice for the common man,
- subvert genres and classic American myths,
- watched real Bonnie and Clyde on TV (emotional connection),
- born in 1920’s (aware of GD and Dust Bowl),
- experimental background in TV,
- repulsed by Vietnam War (deaths were balletic and visceral)
Auteur
What was the contribution of Warren Beatty
Star Producer
- Helped cast the movie (hired Faye Dunaway),
- convinced Warner to re-release the film (made it the 2nd highest grossing film for Warner $50 million),
- begged Warner to finance the movie,
- paid Allen out of his pocket when she was fired for the scene that demonstrated Bonneis sexual freedom by initiating oral sex
- one of the first star and producer combinations
Auteur
What was the contribution of Burnett Guffey
Cinematographer
- trained in the Golden Age of Hollywood,
- used chiaroscuro with side lighting on Bonnie’s face (but due to no studio lighting),
- him and Penn wanted nothing to be beautiful- ‘raw realism’,
- offered technical skill on real locations (the bank),
- no gauze filter or key lights
- agreed thet there would be no slick lighting (especially on Faye Dunaway) for a documentary aesthetic
Auteur
What was the contribution of Benton and Newman
Screen =writers
- personally invested in the movie and its ideologies (feminism, sexual freedom),
- heavily influenced by FNW (‘Breathless’, 1960, Goddard- Bonnie and Clyde modeled on Michiel and Patricia),
- Benton was from Texas,
- wanted Truffaut to direct,
- Newmans parents attended the funeral of Bonnie and Clyde,
- listened to ‘Bluegrass music’,
- writers of ‘The New Sentimentality’
Auteur
What was the contribution of Dede Allen
Editor
- cutting style favoured jump cuts and close ups in the middle of scenes to push the narrative (pioneered film pacing),
- used sound bridges to keep narrative moving/increase tension,
- jump cuts at the end (FNW influence),
- employs continuity editing,
- Penn- “a great collaborator” and “she wasn’t an editor; she was a constructionist”,
- first editor to be given sole credit
Auteur
What was the contribution of Jack Warner
Executive Producer and Studio
- hated Bonnie and Clyde, financed the film,
- encouraged by Beattys star power and homage to 1940’s gangster flicks
Auteur
What was the contribution of Scruggs and Flat
Composers
- Used Bluegrass music, evokes the era and location,
- supported Penns trait, added to the comedy and tragedy
Auteur
What was the contribution of Theadora Van Runkle
Costume Designer
- Kept Bonnie feminine for equality,
- kept her in a chic dress as a 1940 WB homage
Rise of New Hollywood (NH)
What caused audience fragmentation
different audiences, Art House cinema appealed to younger audiences
Rise of New Hollywood (NH)
what year saw audience attendance rise for the first time in theatres
1967
same year as Bonnie and Clyde
Rise of New Hollywood (NH)
When were there demonstrations against the Vietnam War
1955-75
1964, due to the violence seen on TV
First ever broadcasted War
Rise of New Hollywood (NH)
When was the Hays Code abolished
Bonnie and Clyde didn’t abide by it
1968
replaced by MPAA
Social
What did executive producers do to the initial release of Bonnie and Clyde
didn’t approve of film
short cinema release
popularity made it re-release
Social
What were the targets like
Baby Boomers
- rebellious,
- anti-establishment,
- questioned older values,
- campained for racial and gender equality,
- wanted the end of the Vietnam War,
- counter-cultural,
- receptive to foreign, experimental films
New Hollywood
What is the NH style
12 points
- low budget;
- director driven;
- on location;
- Art House-European influence;
- Stanislavskian acting;
- anti-authority; political;
- liberal attitudes to sex and drugs;
- asynchronous and expressionistic sound design;
- taboo stories;
10 jump cuts; - slow motion
