The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde

By James (Alec) Murphy

[1] After years of revisions and tense, disheartening interactions with Warner Brothers Studios, first-time producer Warren Beatty succeeded in creating an unforeseen blockbuster in 1967, Bonnie and Clyde. Directed by Arthur Penn, the film was originally admonished by critics who claimed that “It is a cheap piece of bald-faced comedy” (Crowther); however, after a test run in Europe and an emerging change in critical reception, Warner Brothers agreed to reopen the picture in the United States. To the film community’s astonishment, this new type of genre-fusion film took off. Many attribute its success to its timing, “There was a great similarity between the upheavals American society experienced during the 1930s and the 1960s,” states critic Arnon Gutfeld. While this may be the case, speculative studies of history’s relation to film can only carry so much merit when explicating the success of a film. A more concrete method of judging the film’s success is based on the nominations and the awards won by the film after its release. Bonnie and Clyde accrued a whopping ten Oscar Nominations and won two of them -- one for Burnett Guffey’s camera-work and the other for Dede Allen’s editing. In a scene that should be ubiquitously agreed upon as the climax of the movie, the aforementioned award-winning camera work and editing is fully put on display, acquiring the recognition of critics and film enthusiasts alike.

[2] Heavily influencing revisions of the original treatment, renowned French director François Truffaut created a unique and well-scripted platform upon which editor Dede Allen and cameraman Burnett Guffey could operate their expertise. Matthew Bernstein illuminates Truffaut’s inspiration on the “Hitchcockian style” influence that makes this part of the script so powerful, setting the stage for Guffey and Allen’s work: “Truffaut inspired the two writers to dramatically rescript their handling of Bonnie’s poem, “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.” According to Newman and Benton’s [original] treatment [or script outline], Bonnie was to read ‘The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde’ in its entirety, with portions read by a policeman from a newspaper. The French director suggested they use a “Hitchcockian way” of cutting from Bonnie reading, to a police officer, to seeing it in the newspaper, and back to Bonnie -- all unified by Bonnie or other characters’ voices. Newman and Benton heeded the advice and with the help of Penn, Guffey, and Allen created this memorable climax that stands out as a sentimental and touching moment with great sub-visual and sub-textual implications in an otherwise “what you see is what you get” type of movie. As such, this climatic scene demonstrates a rare sentimentality, which is beneficially compounded by the skillful, aesthetic cinematic art of Allen and Guffey.

[3] Contextually, this scene is set up in a way that intentionally throws off the viewer, creating a greater level of attention to what is to come. Like a fastball pitcher who can throw the perfect change-up, the production team catches the viewer off guard when, directly after an incredibly tense and uncomfortable interrogation scene, they insert this historical, climactic masterpiece. After the final script was completed, and the reins were handed to director Penn, editor Allen, and cameraman Guffey, the potential beauty of this scene was brought to a kinetic reality. Says Bernstein, “As it is shot, with Bonnie reading through an abridged version of the poem, we cut to a shot of the poem in newsprint, then to a shot of Hamer reading it, before coming back to Bonnie, with the entire sequence visualizing the mythologizing power of Bonnie’s piece.” In addition to its contextual placement, it is the editing and camera work of this crucial sequence that further empowers it as the centerpiece of the film.

[4] The sequence begins with a medium shot of a perfect perpendicular profile of an old car in a deluge of rain. This initial shot is full of wonderment and visual foreshadowing of the tonal dynamic to come. Audibly, all we can here is the sound of the ferocious rainstorm that is depicted on camera. But visually, however, the shot hints at an unknown source of light that penetrates the storm and creates a veritable glow on the hood of the car (in which we soon figure out sit Bonnie and Clyde). This practically subliminal foreshadowing of a light, a source of hope, in a world of rain, darkness, and disparity sets the tone for what’s to come. A predictable cut to inside the car shows Bonnie and Clyde face to face, in a unique moment of social normality as Clyde reads the newspaper (further intra-scene foreshadowing), and Bonnie writes. The light, which was noted shining on the hood and frontal section of the car, is assumedly the light that illuminates the two lovers inside. As the rain continues to pound, creating audible omens of darkness, the light and dry inside of the car reflects the mood shared between the two as they chat with a sort of lovers’ banter. Clyde breaks the silence and asks what Bonnie is writing, to which she replies with an unadulterated smile, “I’m writing a poem about us.” Naturally, Clyde encourages her to read the poem aloud marking the initiation of the famous montage, perfected by the camera work and editing of Allen and Guffey.

[5] For a while, the camera stays inside the car, showing close-ups of Clyde’s enthusiastic interest in Bonnie’s work. Then, unexpectedly, the aforementioned original shot of the scene reappears, identical to the first of the car sitting in the rain. With barely a chance to reflect on the sudden change of scenery, a dark, medium-close up of policeman Hamer reading the poem fills the screen -- yet, it is still Bonnie’s voice that we hear, and the continuous, now non-diegetic sound of the rain. While at first glance this might seem like a simple transition, the complexity of the use of sound would attest to the contrary. As the camera transitions to Hamer, cloaked in a deep shadow, shrouded by smoke from his pipe, reading (what we must first assume to be the poem) with a grimace on his face, the instillation of Bonnie’s sweet, truly innocent sounding voice as she reads to Clyde, as well as the sound of the rain from the initial scene, compliments the visual transition, creating a strong sub-visual current. The sound of the rain darkens the image of Hamer considerably, and the sound of Bonnie’s youthful voice further promotes the darkening image of Hamer (a foreshadowing of his ruthless desire to finish them off once and for all).

[6] The following two shots continue to demonstrate the advanced art of editing and camera work that Guffey and Allen bring to the film. A quick shot, including dutch angle (an off-angle shot) of the poem in Hamer’s hands, continues to tell the story of Hamer’s need for revenge, for the dutch angle of the newspaper cut-out of Bonnie’s poem allows the viewer to see (if paying close attention) two more copies of the same poem on his desk (a clear sign of his obsession). Finally, a beautiful fade transitions from the poem in his hand to the newspaper Bonnie now reads to Clyde as they sit languidly on picnic blanket in a field. This transition tells the viewer that what Bonnie has written initially as a poem for Clyde has now been published and is a certain point of public fascination.

[7] The conclusion of this scene, the couples’ first love-making, is well received as the climax of their previously frustrating sexual relationship and thus should also be noted as the climax of the movie (despite its occurrence with only ten minutes left in the film -- which was done intentionally to create a sentiment of hope for them before the brutal murder). It is only right that this crucial moment in the film is treated with such filmic detail. The use of light to symbolize hope and love, the use of darkness and non-diegetic rain and Bonnie’s voice (as well as the shot of the newspaper clip in Hamer’s hand to infuse the passion of Hamer’s obsession for revenge, and, finally, the direct fade transition to Bonnie and Clyde reading the poem in the newspaper tells the story of their peaking affection, side by side with story of their peaking demise. A beautiful montage created by the award-winning Guffey and Allen marking the climax of the lives and the infamy of Bonnie and Clyde.