A newly struck 35mm print Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece The Conversation screened at the fabulous Nuart in West Los Angeles this past week, and it looks and sounds as great as you can imagine. David Shire’s score is one of my all-time favorites. Then there’s Bill Butler’s cinematography. Then you have Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Allen Garfield, Teri Garr, and more in the cast. Not to mention Coppola was on fire in this period of his career.
BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
Director: Arthur Penn
Staring: Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, Gene Hackman, Michael Pollard
Viewed On Netflix
Great Transfer
I’ve read many books on the subject of Bonnie & Clyde. Hell, once while I was on tour in Europe (2000 or 2001 with a band I played bass in) I had brought one of those many books on the tour. We had just finished a gig in a rural part of the Czech Republic and it was very late at night (maybe 1or 2am), I was the driver, and was very tired speeding around trying to find my way to the highway. Suddenly sirens and lights started flashing, and the police were on us. I pulled over, and two cops got out of their car and approached both sides of the van. They could not speak any English. I gave them my passport, and they didn’t seem to know how to deal with the situation. Then one of the cops saw my Bonnie & Clyde book on the dashboard and he just started pointing at the book and repeating… “Bonnie & Clyde”, “Bonnie & Clyde”. Then he started mimicking machine gun sounds and acted as though he was holding a machine gun. It was strange but we both laughed, and he waved me along just repeating “Bonnie & Clyde”. It was surreal.
I decided to watch this legendary gangster movie after recently watching the Highwaymen on Netflix (a film about the men who finally tracked down and killed Bonnie & Clyde).
B & C is a true American classic. It was hard for me to take my eyes off of the film mostly because of what a knockout Faye Dunaway is. I’m not a fan of Beatty, but he plays a decent Clyde Barrow.
The film suggests that the two took great pleasure in robbing banks, and living life on the run. It also obviously romanticizes the story of the duo. Pretty much every thing I’ve ever read, and watched about them does the same. Besides the romance in the film there is plenty of gritty violence, and a stab at slapstick. This film really helped to create or at least make the duo out to be American heroes of the time period. Banks had become the real enemy. The violence is pretty awesome for a film that came out in 1967. Lots of shoot outs and cops being shot up. Its beautifully filmed, and the shooting locations are a great help to make the viewer see/understand the poverty of the time.
We all know how this ends, and its extremely bloody and violent.
Not really into the banjo music score, but hey… nothings perfect. (NW)
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Nate Wilson: NW Devon Cahill: DC Heath Row: HR Matt Average: MA
BAD TRANSFER 