DVD Report
Source: Boston Globe (Original Article)
DVD Report
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March 23, 2008
New Releases | Tom Russo
When killings were considered scandalousThere’s no moment in “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) that’s as startling today as when the movie scandalized critics during its initial release. Yet there’s also no missing the cultural significance of the movie’s edgiest moments: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway bouncing around like puppets as they’re climactically, brutally riddled with bullets, or Dunaway first discovering that Beatty - ha! - really was no lover boy. And that says everything about the filmmakers’ daring and vision. A new “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” reissue includes an hourlong production retrospective featuring fresh interviews with many key players: director Arthur Penn, Beatty, Dunaway, castmates Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons, and co-writer Robert Benton. The filmmakers assert that it was their juxtaposition of violence and humor that really threw ’60s viewers, rather than just the violence alone. Still, Beatty concedes, “We didn’t prettify killing.” It all makes for a solid 101 course on the movie’s legacy, but some may wish this set had received Criterion-style treatment, with critical observations delving much deeper. A booklet of publicity materials that’s included is like miniature coffee-table fare, giving only a loose sense of the way the film morphed from dud to bona fide phenomenon after retooling its marketing around initial scathing reviews. The retrospective is at its best in unearthing factoids from the project’s genesis, such as when Beatty, who doubled as producer, says he originally pictured Bob Dylan as Clyde Barrow. Benton, meanwhile, recalls that the European-influenced screenplay initially drew Barrow as bisexual. Early on, Benton says, Beatty called and told him, ” ‘I’m 20 pages into [the script] - I want to do it.’ I said, ‘Warren, wait till page 47.’ ” Student Credit Cards (Warner, $39.92; standard two-disc edition also …continue reading