Sat down to watch the 1967 Arthur Penn version of Bonnie and Clyde with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway last night.
My previous suspicions confirmed, i reached the end of the film feeling like i'd been lied to and had meanwhile been distracted by the shiny cars, Beatty's texas charms and Dunaway's crimson lips. And cheated too, because not only were most of the significant scenes altered (if not totally plucked out of thin air) but the characters were just that. Pawns in a lovely movie which sold this story as a fairy-tale ,without the happy ending, that you could probably sum up on the back of a postcard.
It is a great film, beautiful to look at too by all means, but it's just made so much less enjoyable knowing the real story was so very much more.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow posing for Joplin photos
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as 'Bonnie and Clyde' 1967
(I've also learnt there is a remake in the works to be released later this year with Hilary Duff as Bonnie Parker. Oh dear.)
