PatWahlquist
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Bonnie and Clyde (Blu-Ray)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: R (violence)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
HD Encoding: 1080p
HD Video Codec: VC-1
Audio: Dolby Digital English 1.0
Subtitles: English; French; Spanish; Korean
Time: 111 minutes
Disc Format: 1 SS/DL Blu-Ray disc.
Case Style: Booklet
Theatrical Release Date: 1967
Blu Ray Release Date: March 25, 2008
Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) is a bored, frustrated waitress in the slums of east Dallas when one day Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) walks into her life trying to steal a car outside her momma’s house. The two exchange flirtatious banter with Bonnie clearly seeing Clyde’s bad boy side and a means by which to occupy her time or get her out of there. Bonnie challenges Clyde’s contention that he had done time by asking him to commit a robbery, which he does. She is so turned on by this man and his actions she rushes him to the car for some frantic love-makin’. But Clyde ain’t the love-makin’ type, giving Bonnie one more reason to pursue this dangerous and dapper deviant. The pair, hopped up on adrenaline, frustration and greed cut a path of crime across the dustbowl of 1930’s America, robbing banks and stores but not the common man. They add to their crew a nebbish sidekick, C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), Clyde’s brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and his shrieking wife, Blanche (Estelle Parsons). The gang continues its spree while being chased from state to state by local law all the while fighting with one another over internal politics. No good crime goes unpunished, and the longer the group continues its heists the more willing the coppers will use any means necessary to apprehend them.
Bonnie and Clyde is one of those pictures you’ve heard so much about due to its graphic violence and its not so subtle sexual overtones. In the framework of today’s movies, it’s downright tame, but in 1967 it set the screen on fire. American audiences had never seen a bottle of pop put to such illicit use, nor had they seen that much blood coming from that many bullet holes. It ushered in the newest trend in movies: the age of deeper fictional realism in the face of social demoralization. Arthur Penn’s direction and willingness to amp it all up paved the way for the onslaught of violent and sexual pictures such as The Wild Bunch, A Clockwork Orange and Straw Dogs. While these aspects of the film may have got the most attention at first, the strong performances from all five of the primary actors garnered huge attention at Oscar time, nabbing Parsons a well deserved supporting actress win.
The movie also deals with the public’s fascination of infamy. Today we are regularly overwhelmed with the misdeeds of our famous, but that wasn’t as prevalent in the ‘30’s. Folks of the time relied on newspapers to read what the gangsters of the day were doing, and Bonnie and Clyde captured the imagination of America with their Robin Hood-esque antics and self promotion. Clyde was a big fan of his fame, making sure he told his victims his identity during a heist, and being upset when the media attributed robberies to him that were not. He and his gang would routinely read the papers to see what they were up to, even using law enforcement as unwilling accomplices.
Penn and screenwriters Robert Benton and David Newman show the gang as carefree delinquents and reinforce this theme with a jaunty banjo line trying to trick us into thinking they really aren’t bad folk, they’re just making do with what they can. Once they get down to business and bullets start flying, any charm they had is thrown out the window. We are reminded that regardless of their motives, they were still cold blooded killers. Penn and the screenwriters continue this rollercoaster of expectations throughout the pictures leaving us sympathetic, almost, to Bonnie and Clyde’s fateful conclusion. Their end, with not a legal proceeding in sight and thumbing its nose at the still new Miranda rules, only cemented their public personas as a couple of “good folk just tryin’ to get by while John Law was keeping them down.”
This release introduces Warner’s new “book format” disc cases. It’s basically, just that, a regular size disc package that is a hardcover book containing a 34 page booklet with information on the film and it reprints part of the original press kit. This is a great way to set apart these classic releases and I’m looking forward to more of these from Warner.
Video:
Note: I am watching this title using a Marantz VP 11-S1 DLP projector, which has a native resolution of 1080p. I am using a Sony Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player while a Denon 3808CI does the switching and pass through of the video signal. I am utilizing the HDMI capabilities of each piece of equipment.
The Blu-Ray disc is in the VC-1 codec presented at 1080p with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The film elements of the picture have recently been re-mastered in high definition to produce an excellent looking video image. There is not a trace of dirt or debris to be found. Color fidelity is outstanding showing distinct differences between each of the actors skin tones. Sets, both interior and exterior stand out, with the dust bowl surroundings and dilapidated houses looking suitably drab. During the first scene in the movie, where Clyde is trying to steal the car in front of Bonnie’s house, the couple walks past a bank of trees that makes the overall image look 3-D. It is no surprise that several scenes in the movie have this excellent depth of field. There are, however, some scenes where focus is soft, but that appears to be more of a stylistic choice on the part of the cinematographer, Burnett Guffey and Penn. Detail and sharpness is otherwise excellent throughout the picture and I was having fun picking out the minute detail in the labels of items on some of the shelves in the stores Clyde was robbing. Film grain is noticed but it is minor and adds to the organic feel of the image. Black levels are very good, but seemed to lighten in the latter half of the picture leaving the image a little flat. I did not notice any edge enhancement or video noise. Warner does good again by its catalog releases.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack was attained by the HDMI connection of the Sony Playstation 3 to the Denon 3808CI.
Adam Gregorich and I had a good laugh at the packaging for this disc and its boasting of “hi-def” sound, but just how “hi-def” can 1.0 be? Really not too much after watching the feature. The source elements have been cleaned up and restored producing a very clean audio track, but that’s about it. The volume on the 1.0 track is also very low and I had to raise the sound by about 25% over what I normally listen to. Obviously there was no surround information, and there was very little LFE activity. I also found it surprising there were no additional language soundtracks with this release.
Bonus Material:
The History Channel Documentary- Love and Death: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde (43:15, in SD): Some remaining family members, authors and historians talk about the real life story of Bonnie and Clyde. This is a great companion piece to the film, accompanied by numerous pictures, to give you a true feel of these people.
Revolution: The Making of Bonnie and Clyde (65:00 total in SD): This doc is split into three parts:
Bonnie and Clyde’s Gang: The screenwriters, Penn, Beatty and others talk about the genesis of the project. It’s fascinating to find who may have been involved in the picture and other story elements at different times. Funny how much Bob Dylan’s name pops up.
The Reality and Myth of Bonnie and Clyde: Here we dig into more of the nitty-gritty of the movie, talking about set design, costumes, locations and more. All the participants talk about the filming as well.
Releasing Bonnie and Clyde: This third part talks about the activity after shooting, including editing and music. It details Jack Warner’s review and other reviews as the film was rolled out, as well as how Beatty and others changed the advertising to better suit the picture. The participants wrap-up the doc talking about its influence.
Deleted Scenes (5:28, in SD): these scenes were deleted prior to the theatrical release and audio for them is presumed lost. For this release, the intended dialogue is available via subtitles sourced from the film’s shooting script. There are two scenes, The Road to Mineola and Outlaws. The first one is Bonnie, Clyde and C.W. figuring out how they’re going to pull the next heist, and the second one is Bonnie vamping it up (again) to We’re in the Money while C.W. takes a bath. It then goes into the scene where Clyde tells Bonnie she may want to leave since he’s now a murderer. Nothing too exciting here with elements of this covered elsewhere in the picture.
Warren Beatty Wardrobe Tests (7:41, in SD): a way too long piece of Beatty walking around in various costumes.
Trailers (4:11): both the teaser and the theatrical. It is odd how for such a period piece of a movie you can peg these trailers as being products of the late sixties.
Conclusions:
One of the most influential and impressive films is given a deluxe treatment on Blu-Ray. Warner’s does a great job on an outstanding video presentation and some great extras.
[PG]100288713[/PG]
