Bonnie and Clyde — Both Sides Now
By: Jim Labate
Tags: Film, Perspective, Writing, Point Of View, Movies

Photo by Wade Lambert on Unsplash

Whenever I teach point of view to my writing classes, I always ask for four student volunteers: two to pretend to be driving cars, one to be a witness to the accident that involves those two cars, and one to be the police officer called to the scene to determine what really happened.

Typically, the police officer faces a difficult challenge because the three versions of the accident differ. The first driver may claim that the second driver ran a stop sign, the second driver may claim that the first driver “was speeding and came out of nowhere,” and the witness may say that both drivers were on their cell phones at the time of the crash. The purpose of this lesson, of course, is to demonstrate that the narrative of any incident will depend on who is telling the story. That lesson came back to me recently when I viewed the new film The Highwaymen starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson and directed by John Lee Hancock, a film which tells the Bonnie and Clyde story from the police perspective.

By contrast, the 1967 Bonnie and Clyde movie, directed by Arthur Penn, tells the story from the perspective of the criminals, played by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. As viewers, we see the protagonists when they meet, we smile at their initial attraction to one another, and we experience their euphoria when they pull off their first heist together. They are a likable pair, and, despite their unlawful intentions, we want to see them succeed. Our perception changes quite a bit, however, when their new friend and driver, C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), botches an escape plan, and Clyde Barrow shoots a police officer for the first time. Clyde himself is shocked and enraged by what happened, as if it were an accident, one that he didn’t see coming. Thus, we give him the benefit of the doubt, and we continue to ride along.

Photo by Cheryl Winn-Boujnida on Unsplash

Our attachment to this new family increases when Clyde’s brother, Buck (Gene Hackman), and his wife, Blanche (Estelle Parsons), join the gang. Like most families, they laugh together, and they argue with one another, but under duress, they look out for and protect each another. We continue to root for them because they seem like ordinary folks. During one armed robbery, for example, Clyde steals the bank’s money but allows an elderly customer to keep his own money, money which he had just withdrawn. Later, the Barrow gang holds an extended reunion in an open field, and we watch sadly at the end of that scene as Bonnie says goodbye to her mother, both knowing they will likely never see each other alive again.

The new version of this story begins in 1934, two years after Bonnie and Clyde met. By the time we meet Texas Rangers Frank Hamer (Costner) and Maney Gault (Harrelson), the Barrow Gang is wanted for multiple burglaries and murders, including six police officers, and, naturally, Bonnie and Clyde are not portrayed as the good guys. In fact, the authorities are so desperate to track down these bad guys that Hamer and Gault are called out of retirement to accomplish the task. While the policemen in the 1967 film are sometimes portrayed as bumbling and incompetent, these two highwaymen demonstrate doggedness, resourcefulness, and ingenuity, and they know exactly how the story must end.

Photo by Lance Anderson on Unsplash

At one point, a gas-station attendant refuses to cooperate with the Rangers because he, like many others at that time, views Bonnie and Clyde as mythical heroes: “They’re only taking from the banks that are taking from the poor folks like me.”

Hamer, not surprisingly, sees Bonnie and Clyde in a different light, and he explains himself to the attendant with both physical force and an emotional appeal of his own: “There’s a peace officer died in the puddle of himself back in Dallas. He was trying to get the shells out of his pockets when his head was blown off Easter Sunday morning. His family will be on the breadline next week.” Convinced, the attendant provides the information the Rangers need, and the story proceeds to its brutal conclusion.

All writers and filmmakers, obviously, have a story they want to tell. Their point of view, however, can often be just as important as the story itself. Thus, as you consider your next creative endeavor, you may want to explore both sides of the story before you make a final decision about your point of view or your narrative perspective.