“Bonnie & Clyde” may not have been the factual mini-series that some may have hoped for, but as a romanticized, crime drama mini-series that is loosely based on real events, I suppose it works perfectly in that way.
Images courtesy of © 2013 Sony Pictures Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Bonnie & Clyde
TV AIR DATE: 2013
DURATION: 174 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
RATED: Not Rated
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Released Dated: January 28, 2014
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Written by Joe Batteer, John Rice
Produced by David A. Rosemont
Executive Produced by Neil Meron, Craig Zadan
Music by John Debney
Cinematography by Francis Kenny
Edited by John David Allen, David Beatty
Casting by Richard Hicks
Production Design by Derek R. Hill
Art Direction by John Richoux
Set Decoration by Phil Shirey
Costume Design by Marilyn Vance
Starring:
Emile Hirsch as Clyde Barrow
Holliday Grainger as Bonnie Parker
Sarah Hyland as Blanche Barrow
Elizabeth Reaser as P.J. Lane
Lane Garrison as Buck Barrow
Dale Dickey as Cummie Barrow
Austin Hebert as Ted Hinton
Holly Hunter as Emma Parker
William Hurt as Frank Hamer
Desmon Phillips as Ray Hamilton
Carl Palmer as Tender
David Jensen as Henry Barrow
Though Bonnie Parker (Holliday Grainger, Jane Eyre) & Clyde Barrow’s (Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild ) crime spree is legendary, their story has never been told quite like this. Fueled by their passion for each other and Bonnie’s obsession with fame, the couple committed increasingly dangerous robberies, leaving a trail of blood – and headlines – behind them. Aided by Clyde’s sixth sense, they stayed one step ahead of the law until their final, fateful showdown. Also starring Academy Award® winners Holly Hunter (Best Actress, 1993, The Piano) and William Hurt (Best Actor, 1985, Kiss of the Spider Woman), Bonnie & Clyde is powerful, gripping entertainment.
In Dec. 2013, the television mini-series “Bonnie & Clyde” was simultaneously shown on three networks, A&E, History and Lifetime.
Best known as celebrity outlaws, the two and others members of their gang killed nine police officers and several civilians.
Their crime spree was heavily reported on newspapers and radio and also featured in news reels at the theater. But part of the reason why their lives were glamorized and not heavily depicted as mass murderers was because of the media was because Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was a small town girl who wanted to be in the movies and tried to become an actress for Columbia Pictures, while Clyde Chestnut Barrow was a young man who got caught up in a gang during the Great Depression.
And also, photos taken from their hideout by police and released to the press would showcase a loving couple, dressed up fancy, smoking a cigar and carrying a gun. But also, news of a young woman who has never been divorced, having an affair with another young man, living a wild life. Something that went against the current conservative norm in society.
The mini-series would be directed by Bruce Beresford (“Driving Miss Daisy”, “Double Jeopardy”) and would be written by writing duo John Rice and Joe Batteer (“Blown Away”, “Windtalkers”).
The mini-series would star Emile Hirsch (“Milk”, “Speed Racer”, “Into the Wild”), Holliday Grainger (“Jane Eyre”, “The Borgias”, “Anna Karenina”), Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”, “Geek Charming”), Lane Garrison (“Shooter”, “Prison Break”), Holly Hunter (“The Piano”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) and William Hurt (“Into the Wild”, “Dark City”, “The Incredible Hulk”).
And in Jan. 2013, the mini-series will be released as one entire film on Blu-ray and DVD.
“Bonnie & Clyde”, the 2013 miniseries revolves around Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow during the early 1930’s.
Bonnie (portrayed by Holliday Granger) was a smart student in school and known for writing poems and was a mama’s girl, often depending on her mother Emma (portrayed by Holly Hunter), who raised the family after the death of her husband. But as a sophomore, she dropped out of high school to marry Roy Thornton.
As for Clyde Barrow, he came from a poor farming family in a small town and when he and his brother Marvin “Buck” Barrow were younger, they would steal chickens, but Clyde would have dreams of his older brother being shot.
As they grew older, both would work as farmers in the fields and one day, the two tried to crash the wedding part of Roy Thornton (portrayed by Dean J. West) and his young wife Bonnie. It was love at first sight for Clyde, who stood their looking at Bonnie but is told to leave by Bonnie’s friend, Sheriff Ted Hinton (portrayed by Austin Hebert).
While Clyde and Buck had fun shooting rifles in the field, Buck has met his love of his life, Blanche Barrow (portrayed by Sarah Hyland). But Clyde and Buck continue their illegal activities which include safecracking, stolen vehicles and more.
Meanwhile Bonnie’s life was unraveling. Roy was rarely at home due to business and in trouble with the law, while Bonnie had hopes to make it into showbiz. As a big fan of talking pictures, she imagined herself on the big screen and wish she should become a superstar. But after a rejection letter from Columbia Pictures, not only did her dreams of becoming an actress end, but her divorce was over as she would never see Roy again.
Hearing that Bonnie’s husband has left her, Clyde goes to Bonnie’s home to ask her out on a date and he takes her to a pub which is raided by police. Clyde is arrested but for Bonnie, seeing Clyde make it into the newspaper, this gives Bonnie the idea of how she can become well-known and possibly a star.
And immediately, she decides to partake in criminal activity and helping Clyde escape from jail and immediately, they begin a life of crime together.
Often teaming up with other gang members that Clyde was involved with, the two begin robbing banks, Bonnie invades local reporter P.J. Lane (portrayed by Elizabeth Reader) and begins branding the name “Bonnie & Clyde”. And as the two continue their robbery attempts, P.J. Lane’s articles begin to become front page news.
But when they start robbing and killing innocent individuals and seeing their crimes now being made into news film reels at the movie theater, this begins Bonnie’s attraction of being in the limelight and finding a way for her poetry to get read by the public but also making her and Clyde celebrity outlaws.
While their parents deal with their children becoming criminals, one man, a former Texas Ranger named Frank Hamer (portrayed by William Hurt) is determined in bringing them down.
As Bonnie & Clyde’s crimes continue to worsen, will Frank Hamer catch the two most wanted criminals in America?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Bonnie & Clyde” is presented in 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and audio in English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Cinematography for the mini-series is very well done and it helps to have awesome costume design and also having various pieces (such as classic automobiles) to make the film feel like it took place in the 1930’s.
But it’s important to note that if you want the best quality for this film on DVD, “Bonnie & Clyde” will be available on Blu-ray. But for the DVD release, I didn’t see any major compression or issues during viewing.
As for audio, audio is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Dialogue and music is clear and and understandable.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Bonnie & Clyde” comes with the following special features:
- Iconography: The Story of Bonnie & Clyde – (15:31) Director Bruce Beresford, the crew and cast discuss the making of “Bonnie & Clyde”.
- Becoming Bonnie – (10:35) Holliday Grainger talks about playing Bonnie.
- Becoming Clyde – (5:38) Emile Hirsch talks about playing Clyde.
EXTRAS:
“Bonnie & Clyde” comes with a slipcover.
With the 2013 mini-series of “Bonnie & Clyde”, I was expecting dramatization of the actual story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
Afterall, it was premiering on Lifetime, A&E and also the History Channel, which has the benefit of showcasing shows that can actual document the true story of America’s celebrity outlaws.
I wasn’t expecting 100% accurate depictions of the two criminals as I’m sure to attract the viewers, there would be some major use of dramatization and somehow focus on the couple. But part of the problems with “Bonnie & Clyde” is the fact that the writers strayed too far from the facts.
Bonnie uses her beauty to free Clyde from jail and become his getaway car, she orchestrated Bonnie & Clyde because of her love of talking pictures and wanted to see herself on the big screen. One scene shows her blasting the face of a painting in the bank. This Bonnie Parker was a femme fatale that benefited from Holliday Grainger’s beauty and sexiness, Emile Hirsch as Clyde was a good match for Grainger, who ditched the British accent and was able to learn how to speak ala Texan via watching Sissy Spacek films.
But both individuals came from different locations and upbringing and as a farm worker, I suppose the true facts of how the two met would not be as striking than to do what they did in the mini-series by having Clyde and his brother crashing Bonnie’s wedding party out of the blue.
Also, the introduction of a journalist named PJ who would help created media stories about Bonnie and Clyde and hype them up to be celebrity outlaws is also not true. Media did play a part of hyping Bonnie and Clyde in the newspapers and also the news reels at the theater, many thousands of people attended the funeral of both Bonnie and Clyde.
But there is no doubt that critics and viewers were not so appreciative of the fact that Bonnie was made to be the person that orchestrated the crimes because she was the ultimate fame whore. And changed the facts to steer people towards that primary focus throughout the mini-series.
But the problem that I had with the film is that the mini-series does glorify these two criminals who shot and killed a number of people. Yes, media made them out to be more than they are, courtesy of Bonnie Parker’s poetry and the photos that the two abandoned at their hideout (in the mini-series, she mails the photos, so they would stop using her high school photo).
But while this mini-series is nowhere near the romanticized 1967 adaptation, what made the original a much better film is that Bonnie and Clyde were shown as psychopath killers. And while the film benefited from a Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway paring and of course, a Hollywood romance, these two made you sick for what they did and by the film’s end, you felt that it was justified.
It also was a film that shocked audiences by incorporating heavy violence into a film that had a romantic comedy angle.
But “Bonnie & Clyde” is far from a terrible mini-series, it’s actually quite entertaining. For one, it does no good for writers Joe Batteer and John Rice to copy any work of what has done so far about Bonnie & Clyde.
And coming up with something different and appealing for the A&E audience, especially a new generation of viewers not familiar with the 1967 film or have never heard of “Bonnie & Clyde”, there would have to be something new and different to appeal to the audience and with the stylish presentation of the series and the casting of Emile Hirsch and Holliday Grainger, and sure enough, the series received 9.8 million total viewers with its simulcast.
As for the DVD, it’s great that the two-part mini-series was combined as movie as everything flows smoothly. Cinematography was very good and loved the costume design and the fact that director Bruce Beresford and crew were able to recreate the ’30s, especially finding the vehicles used for the film.
Picture quality is good but for those who want to see a much better version, an HD release on Blu-ray will be available. Audio is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital and subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.  A second DVD for the special features are included featuring three featurettes to round out this DVD release.
No, “Bonnie & Clyde” is not a mini-series/film that will make history buffs happy and unfortunately, descendants of victims that were murdered in cold blood by Bonnie & Clyde will not gain any solace for the film’s upbeat portrayal of both characters. But at least we know the end result to the crime spree by Bonnie & Clyde and how satisfying to see karma work in mysterious ways.
“Bonnie & Clyde” may not have been the factual mini-series that some may have hoped for, but as a romanticized, crime drama mini-series that is loosely based on real events, I suppose it works perfectly in that way.
