Last weekend Paul and I had nothing on the DVR to watch and our VHS/DVD player decided to break down. They don’t last very long but that’s another post. Anyway, we were channel flipping being it was the weekend and we were going to play a few extra games of Wii bowling and live it up and wanted to watch something. We came across Bonnie and Clyde. We hadn’t seen it in years and were delighted to come across it. I know I used to own it in VHS format but I’ve kind of gotten rid of all those movies as the quality of them is so bad. Anyway, sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. ANYWAY…..
Have you ever seen this movie about Bonnie and Clyde with that cutie pie Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway? If gangster movies are your cup of tea and you haven’t ever seen this, I highly recommend it. It’s a wonderful movie and being it’s so old, it’s very realistic as far as old movies go. It was filmed in 1967 and the ending almost ended up giving the movie an X rating because in that day, it was extremely gruesome. If you want to take a peak of the end scene, it’s here but if you’ve never seen the movie and want to, don’t watch it. It might ruin it for you.
As we were watching this movie it suddenly occurred to me that I was pulling for them. When the cops found them in that small apartment nearing the end of the movie, I found myself thinking, “come on, get away, here come the cops.” Then in the end scene I found myself willing them to somehow know they were surrounded and near death. Like my thoughts would change a movie but still……Then I thought, how can I be pulling for Bonnie and Clyde? After all, they robbed banks. They killed people and scared people. They killed 11 police officers and 2 civilians and I’m standing here rooting them on.
Have you ever done this? I can remember in The Godfather when Sonny is pulling up to that toll booth, I had the same kind of thoughts, NO!!!!!!!
Why do we glamorize gangsters? Or is it just me?
Us Girls..Our Views 
No, it’s not just you. It’s the skill of the storyteller. And isn’t it a lot easier to relate to someone breaking a rule than someone who is always perfect? It’s just fantasy, after all.
I agree with SKL. There is something fascinating about the MOB or old outlaws. Some of my favorite movies are Young Guns, American Outlaw. I always rooted for Billy the Kid! Something a lot of people don’t know about me. My far distant grandfather on my moms side is Pat Garret. He is said to be the one that shot and killed Billy the Kid. My Grandma had pictures and books about him. She LOVES when someone asks her about it.
I love that movie 🙂 I cried at the end 😦
I haven’t seen that movie, but I’m a big fan of most things Robin Hood. Technically, Robin and his Merry Men are the outlaws, and I cheer for them every time.
Lately, I’ve been watching the recently-made Robin Hood series out of England, distributed by BBC. It’s a “younger” version of Robin Hood, updated for the times (this means that they wear more leather and tights are banned, and there are plenty of horse chases).
In that RH, Sir Guy of Gisborne is portrayed as very dark and sinister, and always trying to kill Robin. But he is portrayed so well (by Richard Armitage if anyone’s keeping score), that I find myself cheering as much for him as I am for Robin, although I KNOW he’s evil, I KNOW he’s probably gonna bite it in the end of the series….. I still am pulling for him to be ok, to turn to the good side, to just give that stupid Sheriff the finger and run off to Sherwood and join the Merry Men.
SKL’s right… it’s the skill of the storyteller. I can almost guarantee that if you were living at the time of the crime spree, or were actually involved in some way, that you’d be cheering for the REAL good guys to put the bad ones away.
ok, except for Robin Hood… they ARE the good guys, and you’d still be cheering for them against the oppressive government. But you’d probably HATE Guy of Gisborne, as opposed to cheering for him as he’s portrayed in this series.
hell no you aren’t the only one. I have always been an ally of the bad boys and girls. Somebody has to be.
I hated the ending of Bonnie and Clyde (btw one of my all time favorite movies)…I wanted them to get away and I might have even shed some tears. I grew up wanting to ride with the Youngers and even dressed like that. Complete with long coat and cowgirl boots. I thought if I dreamed myself to sleep every night back in the wild wild west I would eventually wake up and be there. SIGH..never happened.
I think there in an inborn need to be “bad” and that’s why maybe we want to see these kinds of bad guys get away in the end.
so watch that ending again. WHY? WTF? Why would the cops need to rattle them the way they did? I don’t care how many people they killed at that point the cops were in the wrong.
I guess that truly is the beauty of story telling and character development. I find my self rooting for the bad guy in many different tv shows and movies!
I have to say I have never seen this movie…I’ll have to find it on Netflix!!!
Another movie/musical that leaves you wondering is Jesus Christ, Super Star. The character of Judas seems the most developed and you start really seeing things from his side. My brother used to perform in musicals like this, and the best role in this particular play was always Judas. If I were a guy, I’d love to play Judas!
I love this movie! It’s been a while since I have seen it.
It must be the skill of the storyteller. When I watch The Untouchables I root for Eliot Ness and the cops when I watch movies like Casino and The Godfather I pull for the bad guys.