Because other films might have some sex and some violence in it, but this one raised the bar and opened the gates and nothing was ever the same.
"Bonnie and Clyde" set a new standard for crime films in 1967, with its scenes of intense violence that had never before been seen in American film. This somewhat fictionalized account of Depression-Era bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker earned Oscar nominations for all five of the stars; Warren Beatty (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard (both for Best Supporting Actor), and Estelle Parsons (Best Supporting Actress), who was the only one who won, for her fine performance as Blanche.
It also depicts the sexual tension between Bonnie and Clyde (its implied that he's either impotent and/or latently gay), and she's poor white trash who's never been in a meaningful relationship with a man. The final scene when Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by machine gun fire is one of the most visually graphic death scenes in film history.
It's got good character development. Bonnie and Clyde start out reckless, thinking robbery is fun, but one day they end up killing a fellow and at that point law enforcement makes them a priority. The farmers who lost their farms and homes to banks really didn't care as long as they were just taking stuff - they were considered heroes. Blanche, a timid soul, marries into more than she bargained for when she becomes a Barrow. And Denver Pyle plays s a lawman with revenge on his mind after Bonnie and Clyde capture and humiliate him. At least that was the story two years before the Summer of Love when movie goers thirsted for anti-establishment heroes. Watch the film "The Highwaymen" to get a truer look at what Bonnie and Clyde, and the lawman who went after them, were actually like.
This was also the end of the last of the movie moguls - Jack Warner. One day, rather fed up with Warren Beatty trotting about the studio demanding this and that, Warner pointed out the studio water tower with WB on it and asked him whose initials were on that thing anyways? Beatty replied - "Mine actually - Warren Beatty". The right answer being Warner Brothers. At that point Jack Warner decided to retire. It just wasn't fun anymore.
"Bonnie and Clyde" set a new standard for crime films in 1967, with its scenes of intense violence that had never before been seen in American film. This somewhat fictionalized account of Depression-Era bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker earned Oscar nominations for all five of the stars; Warren Beatty (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard (both for Best Supporting Actor), and Estelle Parsons (Best Supporting Actress), who was the only one who won, for her fine performance as Blanche.
It also depicts the sexual tension between Bonnie and Clyde (its implied that he's either impotent and/or latently gay), and she's poor white trash who's never been in a meaningful relationship with a man. The final scene when Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by machine gun fire is one of the most visually graphic death scenes in film history.
It's got good character development. Bonnie and Clyde start out reckless, thinking robbery is fun, but one day they end up killing a fellow and at that point law enforcement makes them a priority. The farmers who lost their farms and homes to banks really didn't care as long as they were just taking stuff - they were considered heroes. Blanche, a timid soul, marries into more than she bargained for when she becomes a Barrow. And Denver Pyle plays s a lawman with revenge on his mind after Bonnie and Clyde capture and humiliate him. At least that was the story two years before the Summer of Love when movie goers thirsted for anti-establishment heroes. Watch the film "The Highwaymen" to get a truer look at what Bonnie and Clyde, and the lawman who went after them, were actually like.
This was also the end of the last of the movie moguls - Jack Warner. One day, rather fed up with Warren Beatty trotting about the studio demanding this and that, Warner pointed out the studio water tower with WB on it and asked him whose initials were on that thing anyways? Beatty replied - "Mine actually - Warren Beatty". The right answer being Warner Brothers. At that point Jack Warner decided to retire. It just wasn't fun anymore.