BONNIE AND CLYDE (Film)
Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 American biographical crime film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The film features Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons, with Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor, Gene Wilder, Evans Evans, and Mabel Cavitt in supporting roles. Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film, and is regarded as one of the first films of the New Hollywood era, since it broke many cinematic taboos and was popular with the younger generation. It was among the first 100 films selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. (More from Wikipedia)
Another song on Dust Bowl Ballads, “Pretty Boy Floyd” has one of Woody Guthrie’s most famous lines. Like the outlaw couple depicted in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd was a bank robber during the Depression era. While he was elevated to “Public Enemy No. 1” by the FBI following the shooting of John Dillinger, many see Floyd as a tragic figure who was a victim of his times.
“Pretty Boy Floyd” also highlighted the outlaw’s generosity, which was attributed to Bonnie and Clyde as well in the Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway movie.
(March 2015)
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Arlo Guthrie starred as himself in a movie called Alice’s Restaurant (1969) that brought the song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” to life better than anyone could have expected. It was directed by Arthur Penn whose other films include Bonnie and Clyde and Little Big Man. Other cast members include Pat Quinn, James Broderick, and M. Emmet Walsh. Stockbridge police chief William Obanhein (“Officer Obie”) appears as himself, as does the blind judge, James Hannon. Pete Seeger and his bandmate in the Weavers, Lee Hays are also in the film. Alice Brock has a cameo in the movie; as the song says, the name of her restaurant was never “Alice’s Restaurant” – originally it was called The Back Room.
(March 2016)
