Critical Insights Film: Bonnie and Clyde

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Directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the infamous gangster duo, 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde helped pave the way for the “New Hollywood” school of filmmaking, given its rapid shifts of tone, portrayal of sex and violence, and popularity with a younger audience. Earning two Academy Awards, a place in the National Film Registry, and the claim to “one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history,” Bonnie & Clyde still remains a classic today.

Critical Insights: Bonnie & Clyde will of be interest to a wide range of readers, both those who are familiar with Arthur Penn's controversial and influential film, Bonnie & Clyde(1967), and those who are not, but who want to explore a film that is emblematic of its violent and unsettled time. There are many ways into the subject and readers will find that this group of essays can facilitate any number of them. The coverage is both broad and deep and will provide a range of contemporary scholarly approaches to the subject, as well as essential background and context.

Context is crucial for understanding this film. Readers will come to understand that Bonnie and Clyde is both a product of its time and one whose roots and influences can be traced to earlier productions in the gangster film, genre, but it is also touched by the complex American mode of expression that the French retroactively named film noir.

Essays are 2,500 to 5,000 words in length and offer analyses of Bonnie & Clyde based on cultural and historical contexts, close viewings from particular critical standpoints (from traditional to postmodern), comparisons in the light of other films, and critical receptions over time.

The volume's appendices offer a section of useful reference resources, including:

• Cast
• Awards & Honors
• Chronology of Director's Life
• Director's Filmography
• Bibliography
• Detailed Bio of the Editor
• Contributors
• General Subject Index

Each volume in the Critical Insights: Film collection focuses on a single film classic from American cinema, providing detailed insight and contextual analysis about each subject. These brand-new titles make perfect additions to academic, public, and community Film Studies collections everywhere.

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