Arthur Penn: Copycat Auteur

Lessons from the French new wave

The film echoes Godard’s Breathless as the films protagonists are both anti-heroes that break the law. The audience roots for these characters as they develop despite the crimes they commit and share sorrow for their deaths.

Bonnie and Clyde is shot entirely on location apart from driving scenes due to safety giving a sense of realism.

Cinematography often consisted of handheld shots without fluid movement as opposed to the carefully orchestrated shooting style of Casablanca.

Penn was influenced by French New Wave techniques and this can be seen in the film. Despite his experimental style, he is not an auteur.

Screenwriters: David Newman and Robert benton

Fond of the tragicomedy of Francois Truffaut. They worked together throughout the 1960’s including this collaboration for Bonnie and Clyde.

Director: Arthur Penn

Known in the 60s for westerns and worked on films such as Mickey One (1965) which were greatly influenced by the French New Wave and can be seen in Bonnie and Clyde.

Bonnie and Clyde one of the first films to focus on the anti-hero due to Penn, placing them as the protagonists and creating sympathy for the bad guys.

Editor: Dede Allen

Worked on many films with Penn and Beatty including the early westerns before Bonnie and Clyde and later working on Reds (1981) with Beatty.

Producer: Warren Beatty

He produced and acted in Bonnie and Clyde so he was given the liberty of greater control. Influenced the Clyde character who could be given a homosexual reading due to Beatty’s desire to portray a character different from the typical handsome Hollywood hero’s he was used to.