Bonnie and Clyde
April 2008 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

This movie broke a lot of molds and set new standards. They all probably seem old hat now, but I can tell you that back when this film first came out, many of its scenes, particularly the ending, were shocking and the topic of many late-night party conversations. After Bonnie and Clyde are shot up in the final scene, there’s nothing but silence and the movie is over. What more could you say? Director Arthur Penn was wise in knowing the times and the effect this brutal killing would have on his audience. I remember being numb. Any wrap-up or moralizing would have been completely superfluous.

There are many other memorable scenes in this groundbreaking film, including Estelle Parsons as Blanche, Buck Barrow’s wife shrieking like a banshee as she brandishes a spatula while fleeing the police with her husband; a bank official shot through the head as seen from inside the car; Bonnie, complete with her saucy beret, posed in front of a car, automatic rifle in hand; Buck Barrow’s harrowing death; and those helter-skelter car chases as the Barrow Gang outruns the police.

Bonnie and Clyde recaptured and rekindled the romance that the public had with the murderous couple in the first place. Lawmen hated the duo, but to the general public they presented themselves as Robin Hood and Maid Marian, righting wrongs caused by the law. No such thing -- they were killers, pure and simple, and Penn’s vision blurs that fact quite a bit. His Bonnie and Clyde are described on the cover of the Blu-ray Disc: "They’re young, they’re in love. AND THEY KILL PEOPLE." Granted, it’s in all caps, but it’s the last point made about them.

The highly anticipated Blu-ray Disc has been produced with great care. The source material is excellent, devoid of tears, rips, splices, or other very noticeable flaws. There is quite a bit of grain, but it’s the kind that movie lovers like; it lets them, and you, know that they are watching a movie that was shot on film, not video. The colors are rich and detail is dandy. There are many scenes in the movie where there’s a character in the foreground contrasted with something in the distance. These scenes always looked flat on the DVD. On the Blu-ray Disc they have great depth and a three-dimensional feel.

The audio is 1.0 -- mono. Yes, you read that right. Back in the days when this movie was made, stereo and surround were not common at all. Warner is sometimes authentic to a fault, and it appears that is what has occurred here. Rather than re-mix, they’ve decided to present the sound as originally heard. Don’t let that put you off, because it is a very robust mono track. All of the sound effects register with punch, and the Flatt and Scruggs music that punctuates the car chases bristles with excellent presence.

The extras include a History Channel biography presentation, Love and Death: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde. This has some really fascinating still pictures and live-action black-and-white re-creation shots. However, it is not explained why anyone re-created the couple's crimes for black-and-white film; the footage doesn't seem intended for theatrical presentation. Coming after this is a multi-part featurette filmed recently. Acting in Bonnie and Clyde must have provided a fountain-of-youth experience for all of the actors who are still alive, and all of them look pretty much like they did, just older. They all have interesting things to say. It’s one of the best featurettes of its sort in a long time. Rounding out the extras are two deleted scenes for which the sound has been lost and a wardrobe test reel for Warren Beatty. Subtitles are used to re-create the dialogue for the former, and the latter is accompanied by music.

The packaging is worth mentioning. It’s what Warner calls "book form." It’s like a little hardcover book, containing 36-pages of photos, essays, and biographies and, of course, the disc. Warner plans on using this format for nine other classics being put on Blu-ray during 2008, including Woodstock and Gone with the Wind. Bonnie and Clyde will also be out on HD DVD in book form, but that’s it for the HD DVD format. From now on it will be Blu-ray only.

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