MOVIE REVIEW: Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Crime stories always interest me, whether it's the inception of how their subjects fell into their dirty deeds, or just the lurid subject matter itself, it's always great material for entertaining storytelling. Bonnie and Clyde was something I'd been meaning to get around to for awhile. Notorious for it's level of violence back in the 60s, I can assure you, they weren't kidding! Bonnie and Clyde is probably the bloodiest, bullet-riddled film I've seen that's not a western (I can assure you, in my opinion, The Wild Bunch is more comfortably the Scarface of the 1960s, in terms of violence). What some may not know is, it also happens to be a pretty interesting character study, about it's two notorious subjects.

In the 1930s, Clyde Barrow meets Bonnie Parker, after she foils his attempt to steal her car. On a rash decision, Bonnie joins Clyde on several of his bank heists and becomes infatuated with her two new loves - Clyde, and a life of crime. What begins to complicate matters between them involves Clyde's obnoxious brother and his equally grating wife coming along for the ride. Despite the obvious pressures placed on their relationship, Bonnie and Clyde somehow manage to make a decent living out of becoming cultural icons of crime...for a while, anyway...

In a way, Bonnie and Clyde can almost be seen as a dysfunctional romance/drama with tommy guns. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty bring so much charisma and life to their characters that I became riveted the minute they stepped onto the screen. It's no wonder this film was so popular when it came out, the way director Arthur Penn glamorizes the gangster life almost makes the sins of crime seem like an idyllic fantasy in itself. At times, I couldn't decide though if I felt the pace of the film was too quick, because I didn't know if I was getting enough of a sense of character development in the film. However, the hedonistic tone, and the acting easily made me forgive this. And for a 60s film, the violence is fierce, with several sustained shootouts and enough bloodshed which probably paved the way for such graphic depictions like that of The Godfather. While Bonnie and Clyde is also a tragedy, it's an extremely riveting look that enthusiastically romanticizes the gangster life of the 1930s.

8/10

Peace,
-Jon

MOVIE REVIEW: Network (1976)

Network is a film that at it's core is about the depiction of verisimilitude in broadcast media. Despite being 35 years old and grounded in 1970s social commentary, it's amazing how some of the issues prophesized by Peter Finch's character still ring true today. Many of us are quite "mad as hell" for what's been going on in the world, lately. Many of us wish there was something we could do about it. Like Anchorman but more serious, and Broadcast News but more dark, Network is that magical wake-up call for everyone; and a marvelous blend of satire and drama it is.

As a once-prominent news station starts to cut back on resources, including their head anchor, due to low ratings, the anchor announces to commit suicide on his final broadcast. This spirals off a media circus that spikes the station's ratings and resurrects their lineup for fresher programming under the fastidious eyes of execs Faye Dunaway and Robert Duvall. Ultimately, the new life for the network becomes a beast that no one in the station realizes they really know how to tame. Aside from the aformentioned valid social commentary, Network is also a complex drama that personifies the trend in the media with it's characters. From the kings of the "good-'ol-days", with William Holden, to the vapid, but "hip-and-fresh" Faye Dunaway. Network is not only outstandingly acted, but written in mind that we're not only telling a story abut characters in broadcast news, we're telling a story about characters representing the evolution of it as well.

Despite all my kudos, I will say that Network can be a little slow at times with it's heavily engrossing subplots. The ending is also somewhat anticlimactic, without any tangible resolution towards some of the major characters. Obviously, this was intentional, but a touch nihilistic, which seemed random to me in the context of the story. Otherwise, in this day and age with a bad economy, senseless violence, and technophilia, Network definitely deserves revisiting by everyone.

8/10

Peace,
- Jon