Bonnie and Clyde [Blu-ray] [1967] [US Import] [Region A]

Bonnie & Clyde - 40th Anniversary Edition [DVD] [1967]The real - life exploits of Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) who created a reign of terror and killed eighteen people whilst robbing banks in the American South - West of the early 1930s. The film won two Academy Awards in the year 1967. Co -star Estelle Parsons won her Academy Award for her preacher's daughter wife of Barrow's brother, Buck, portrayed by Gene Hackman. The second Academy Award went to Burnett Guffey for his wonderful cinematography. The original script of Bonnie and Clyde passed through divers' hands before the finished film opened to critical indignation and audience acclaim. David Newman and Robert Benton first submitted the script to Jean-Luc Goddard and then Francois Truffaut, both of whom suggested improvements before turning it down. Then Warren Beatty bought the property and produced it with Beatty as star and Arthur Penn as director. Robert Towne, who later wrote `Chinatown' and Beatty's `Shampoo', polished the final draft without taking screen credit. The result was one of the most popular and influential films ever made. The film's vivid account of social banditry paralleled the growing counter - culture and Vietnam protest movement and was developed later in many subsequent films. The film's graphic violence ricocheted into the Seventies and Eighties. The climatic slow - motion massacre turns the heroes into frenzied corpses. The ugly and humourless Texas Ranger, Hammer, lowers his smoking carbine and stares directly into the camera, in silent admonishment of our own impulses. Special Features in this DVD Include: Revolution! The Making of Bonnie and Clyde consisting of three featurettes: - Bonnie and Clyde's Gang (22 mins). The Reality and Myth of Bonnie and Clyde (24 mins) - Releasing Bonnie and Clyde (18 mins) Love and Death: A History Channel documentary about the real life Bonnie and Clyde (43:13) Warren Beatty's Wardrobe Tests (07:39)
Two deleted scenes: The Road to Mineola (2:06) and Outlaws (3:17)

This film is somehow both dated and not dated, you can tell when it was made but at the same time it looks like it was filmed last year. Both leads are excellent and the support is second to none with a nice bit of comic relief from a young Gene Wilder.
The blu-ray picture and sound is fantastic, one of the best transfers I've seen for an old movie.
Extras are good too , although the factual documentary was overshadowed a little by the recent one put out on the BBC.
A few liberties taken with the truth but everything works!

THE FILM: You can't deny BONNIE AND CLYDE was influential for its time, blending humour and realistic violence perfectly. Because of the 1930's setting, I can't see the film dating too much, even after 43 years.
PERSONAL: I saw BONNIE AND CLYDE when it first came out in 1967. I was just old enough to see "X" rated films (16). The film was a sensation then, and having watched tame violence for years, I walked out of the cinema stunned after the explosive finale. It can't possibly have the same impact today, but hopefully new viewers will still be impressed by some of the film's qualities.
BLU-RAY: I've watched this film improve in picture quality over the years, from video, to laserdisc, to DVD, to HD. Obviously the Blu-ray is an improvement over the SD version, details as always sharper with vibrant colours. Sound is now mono through each speaker rather than just the centre one, very clean, but it would have been nice to have a 5:1 mix for the HD version. Good documentaries and interesting to see most of the main cast interviewed who are still with us after 4 decades. Where was Gene Wilder though?