Bonnie and Clyde

Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde changed the way violence was perceived and displayed in American cinema. Penn’s stylistic innovations and camera techniques were most noticeable during the ending death scene of Bonnie and Clyde. The 30 seconds of brutal and nonstop violence has had a lasting impact on audience for decades. Prince stated, “Penn was the first American filmmaker to conjoin multicamera filming, montage editing and slow motion systematically in the visualization of screen violence.” Though Penn was the first American filmmaker to use such a technique to depict violence, he was greatly influenced by Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.
Bonnie and Clyde, was to American cinema as The Seven Samurai, was to Arthur Penn. The intercutting of shots and the slow/normal motion effects through a montage sequence was mastered by Kurosawa and used my many filmmakers after that. The usage of this technique shows the passage of time and creates a more moving and intense scene. The acceleration and deceleration of the death sequence makes the audience tremble and uncomfortable. Without the use this montage sequence, the death scene would be like any other “boring” and “mediocre” death.
Many cinematic and theme similarities can be drawn from rescuing scene from The Seven Samurai, and the death scene from Bonnie and Clyde. The Seven Samurai is about a poor town that is held hostage by bandits, and is liberated by seven samurais. The shot, which uses such techniques, can be seen in the sequence where one of the samurai rescues a kidnapped child from a thief. Kurosawa intercut shots at normal speed with slow-motion sequences to change the rhythmic balance of the film. The entire footage consisted of three slow motion shots of the thieves along with reactions of the witnesses in normal speed. In Bonnie and Clyde, the quick cutting occurs just before the rangers fire their riffles. Penn then uses a series of slow motion shots that intercut with normal-speed sequences to portray the brutal death of Bonnie and Clyde.
The reoccurring themes of The Bonnie and Clyde and The seven samurai are friendship, violence and society. Friendship is shown through Gorobei and Kambei and Bonnie and Clyde, while violence goes hand-in-hand with crime. The poor societies in both the films force the thieves to indulge in crime for their survival. Both the movies show the two sides to life, the good and the bad through fun and horror. But its Kurosawa’s revolutionary action photography that makes The seven samurai a landmark film.