Bonnie and Clyde (1967), by François Truffaut
« This here’s Bonnie Parker, and I’m Clyde Barrow. We rob banks. »
Clyde Barrow
Warren Beatty couldn’t believe it when he received news that Truffaut had accepted to direct
Bonnie and Clyde. After an ultimate snub from Jean-Luc Godard [1], Beatty had desperately been trying to convince producers, who were definitely worried by the story’s graphic and abundant violence, which was far from being marketable and would bring the discontent of the Motion Picture Association of America [2]. But with such a big name as Truffaut’s, everything changed. Beatty immediately offered to Truffaut a month-long trip to California in order to discuss the movie.
Upon his arrival in Hollywood, what astounded Beatty was the extremely poor English of François Truffaut, which made him think of how terrible their mutual understanding would be during the filming [3]. Nevertheless, Beatty took Truffaut to the Universal City Studios offices : these ones had been waiting the filming of
Fahrenheit 451 for years, that was postponed indefinitely [4]. Learning that they could still have the privilege of producing the first American movie from the famed French New Wave director, they accepted to fund
Bonnie and Clyde as well, on the condition that they could have a right of inspection on
Fahrenheit. Lewis M. Allen, the latter’s film producer, took back his role on
Bonnie and Clyde ; however, the chiefs at Universal were aware of the controversial script, and accepted that Warren Beatty take helm as producer with 20% of the gross instead of the habitual fee ; such an agreement had already been discussed by Beatty with Warner Bros [5].
Truffaut took advantage of his Californian trip to meet the Hollywood society and to pay a visit to his friend Alfred Hitchcock ; he was far from being impressed by the Hollywood star system. Nevertheless, he would meet during these receptions Paul Newman, who accepted to take on the role of Montag in
Fahrenheit 451 (and who would have a cameo in Mel Gibson’s 1999 remake) [6]. He reached an agreement with Beatty, who had by then decided that he would have the title role : Truffaut would respect the script but would have complete artistic licence, a right to bring his own team members and an inspection to the casting ; Beatty instead would have to recruit the cast and to spot the locations. Truffaut went back to France, corresponding with Beatty, in order to start the filming in August 1966 [7].
Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons had been on the cast since the beginning. Warren Beatty, for the role of Bonnie Parker, that had just been vacated by her sister Shirley MacLaine, had wanted Jane Fonda, Sue Lyon or Natalie Wood [8]. Wood had Truffaut’s nod but was suffering of mental exhaustion at the time. It was Truffaut who suggested him the one who got the part : Jean Seberg. Beatty had already worked with her in 1964 on
Lilith, that was a critical success and that he enjoyed ; having the female actress of Godard’s
Breathless starring on this new movie would further reinforce the status of
Bonnie and Clyde as the « movie that imported French New Wave into America ». By the way, being both fluent in French and English, Seberg would be a very valuable interpreter between the main actor and the film director. Seberg immediately agreed and joined the cast.
Truffaut, after he had managed to bring on Godard’s director of photography Raoul Coutard, also persuaded Beatty to let him cast his
Jules and Jim’s German actor and friend, Oskar Werner, in the mute yet pivotal role of Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger who finally caught and took down Bonnie and Clyde [9].
Then something funny happened. Truffaut insisted on the shockwave the film would have in the ever-protesting youth, by showing these two young gangsters defying all authority : it needed a strong youthful actor to help identification. That would be C. W. Moss, the fictional driver and crime partner to Bonnie and Clyde. Warren Beatty had been considering his friend Jack Nicholson for the part when Allen came with an unexpected name : Bob Dylan. The famous folk singer had narrowly escaped a motorcycle accident on July, 29 [10] and, after the very bad reception of his rock about-turn, had expressed his desire to explore new horizons. Hollywood offered it to him, and Bob Dylan accepted, as he was very interested in the story of Bonnie and Clyde, and also wrote the opening song to this movie,
The Ballad of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, that would become a major hit. The future Nobel Laureate of Literature [11] was the last one to enter the cast (along with a young Gene Wilder [12]) and the filming began in Dallas, Texas, on August 1966.
The filming didn’t went well : scheduled to last for two months, it would finally end on December, due to Truffaut’s very precise methods. Due to the strong media promotion by Universal, passerbys would frequently come on location, some of them finally being recruited as extras. François Truffaut disliked the Texan weather and had stormy relations with Warren Beatty, that could only be eased by Jean Seberg’s bilingual mediation : he would at some times enter his tent and continue working on his script for
Stolen Kisses [13], leaving Coutard to work. Truffaut first disliked the use of graphic violence in the film but finally left them, feeling it would help the impact of the movie, coupling them with a pulsating editing and shifts of tone that would give to the movie its particular New Wave taste. Truffaut also insisted on the costumes, giving them more of a 30s style than Beatty initially wanted.
While on his iconoclastic deconstruction work, François Truffaut stressed the sexual themescontained in the original script : he finally focused on the idea that the Parker-Barrow-Moss band had to be a ménage-à-trois, showing Clyde Barrow as a bisexual but also an impotent. It was also a small nod to
Jules and Jim. He worked heavily with Robert Towne to insert sexual innuendos in the dialog, and added ambiguous shots. For example, in the iconic bed scene where Clyde shows his gun to comfort his manhood and Bonnie suggestively strokes the weapon, he can later see Moss take the revolver and wash it off with his bare hands. Seberg and Dylan were very amused by these implied tensions, but Beatty was extremely uncomfortable about them, saying that the MPAA would react. [14] Finally the filming was complete : Beatty swore that he would never work again with a foreign director, while Truffaut was eager to direct
Fahrenheit 451 so he could stop making English-speaking movies abroad.
Nevertheless,
Bonnie and Clyde was scheduled to become a true cinematographic hit. The publicity made by Universal Studios caused the last two survivors of the Barrow Gang, Blanche Barrow and W. D. Jones, to attempt to sue Warren Beatty along with Universal Studios, but they were finally pleased by the final product [15]. However, the MPAA soon learnt about the inflammatory movies : in order to be released into theaters, the « bisexual innuendos » scenes had to be cut off, and the final, bloody scene of Bonnie and Clyde’s death had to be remade into black and white. The scenes as they were imagined were later available in subsequent releases after the end of the Hays Code.
Screened out of competition at the 1967 Cannes Festival,
Bonnie and Clyde won considerable critical acclaim, praising Truffaut’s unexpected « Hollywood turn » and the unique style of cinematography provided by Truffaut and Coutard, while expressing concern about the supposed glorification of violence provided by the movie. Yet the crowds loved it :
Bonnie and Clyde would gross 83 millions of dollars worldwide, 55 in the United States only, from its premiere on June, 25 1967 [16]. It also gained a cult following, with thousands of youths sporting the 30s style of the movie, taking its message of sexual freedom and defiance of authority, one year roughly before the 1968 protests.
The film would gain ten nominations at the 40th Academy Awards : Best Picture, Best Director for François Truffaut, Best Original Screenplay for David Newman and Robert Benton, Best Actor for Warren Beatty, Best Actress for Jean Seberg, Best Supporting Actor for Gene Hackman, Best Supporting Actress for Estelle Parsons, Best Costume Design for Theodora Van Runkle, Best CInematography for Raoul Coutard and Best Original Song for
The Ballad… by Bob Dylan. It went back with three : Best SUpporting Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Original Song. [17]
If this movie was for sure a major hit on the wide screen, few people back then knew that they had witnessed a revolution.
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by François Truffaut
Produced by Warren Beatty and Lewis M. Allen
Written by David Newman and Robert Benton (
Special Consultant :Robert Towne)
Music by Charles Strouse
Cinematography by Raoul Coutard
Editing by Dede Allen
Distributed by Universal City Studios
Release date(s) June, 25, 1967
-Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow
-Jean Seberg as Bonnie Parker
-Bob Dylan as C.W. Moss
-Gene Hackman as Buck Barrow
-Estelle Parsons as Blanche Barrow
-Oskar Werner as Frank Hamer
Academy Awards performance :
[FONT="]-[/FONT]Best Picture
-Best Director – François Truffaut
-Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen - David Newman and Robert Benton
-Best Actor in a Leading Role - Warren Beatty
-Best Actress in a Leading Role – Jean Seberg
-Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Gene Hackman
-Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Estelle Parsons
-Best Costume Design - Theadora Van Runkle
-Best Cinematography - Raoul Coutard
-Best Original Song Score - Bob Dylan (The Ballad of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow)
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Godard was very uncomfortable with working for Hollywood, although very thrilled by the script. According to some, he wanted to film in New Jersey, that was impossible for a story occurring in Texas ; for others, Godard demanded to transpose it in Japan with teenagers as the title roles…
2 – According to Peter Biskind, Warren Beatty had to grovel to Jack Warner’s feet in order to reconcile with him, so Warner would accept to distribute the movie ; this led to the undermentioned and then-unusual deal of leaving Beatty with a share of the gross.
3 – This amazed Steven Spielberg as well when he recruited Truffaut on
Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While doing his interviews of Hitchcock, Truffaut relied on the latter’s few knowledge of French and the help of others.
4 –
Fahrenheit 451 lasted for years due to François Truffaut’s always busy schedule : eager to see the results of a French director working abroad, Universal Studios accepted these conditions.
5 – See number 2. Warren Beatty had a 40% share IOTL.
6 – Paul Newman was considered IOTL.
7 – The filming began IOTL in October, but an earlier greenlight helps it to happen earlier.
8 – Considered IOTL ; Faye Dunaway was far from being the first choice.
9 – Oskar Werner played Montag in
Fahrenheit 451, and it meant the end of his friendship with Truffaut.
10 – Butterfly occurrence : as a result, Bob Dylan has a certain experience and doesn’t quit the scene for three years. Michael J. Pollard impersonated Dylan’s voice for C. W. Moss IOTL ; and the singer’s performance in Sam Peckinpah’s
Pat Garrett and the Kid shows he can act for sure.
11 – Yes, this is written from a 2012 perspective.
12 – Historical.
13 – Inspired by the uneasy filming of
Fahrenheit 451 and Truffaut’s experience on
Close Encounters’ set.
14 – The reasons shown by Beatty prevailed IOTL, but the will for a nod to
Jules and Jim was far too strong.
15 – Jack Warner, who was in the middle of the selling of his company, believed the movie would bomb and only released in select theaters in order to confirm his prediction ; due to better media promotion, the last two gang members learn of it earlier ; IOTL, they criticized the take on the events but overall appreciated the movie.
16 – Better media campaign and the prestige of Truffaut’s name make
Bonnie and Clyde score 13 millions more.
17 –
Bonnie and Clyde sure had a rocky concurrence back then in 1967, but in the Original Score Song, against
Dr. Doolittle, Dylan would triumph for sure.