Bonnie & Clyde

During the depths of the Depression in the early 1930s in America, small-time hoodlums and motley criminal gangs roamed the back roads, kidnapping people or robbing banks and grocery stores. With the exception of John Dillinger, no criminals captured the country's attention more than Bonnie and Clyde. This PBS-aired American Experience documentary, directed by John Maggio and narrated by Michael Murphy, recounts the pair's brief but deadly outlaw career. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker both grew up in a poor section of Dallas, TX. Clyde dreamed of hitting it big, while Bonnie found escape in the world of movies. Clyde drifted into a life of petty crime and after being jailed was repeatedly raped by a larger inmate, whom he later killed. Desperate to get out of work detail and be paroled, Clyde had another inmate chop off two toes, giving him a limp for the rest of his life. Out of prison, Clyde met Bonnie, and—along with his older brother Buck and a few other gang members—Clyde was soon hot-wiring cars, robbing banks and small-town stores, and easily eluding the police with his driving skills. After Bonnie and Clyde escaped from a hideout in Joplin, MO, police discovered undeveloped film that showed the couple horsing around and posing for the camera. Together with Bonnie's sentimental doggerel poetry, this would fix their public image as lovebirds, living free from society's rules while getting even with the hated banks. As Bonnie and Clyde's body count grew, the newly powerful FBI and an obsessed Texas Ranger named Frank Hamer joined the chase. Clyde's brother Buck was killed and Bonnie was badly injured when Clyde crashed a getaway car, and their brief crime spree came to an end in Louisiana, when lawmen—tipped to the couple's whereabouts—set up an ambush, pumping 150 rounds into their car. Also offering an informative look at an emerging tabloid culture, the documentary includes insights from Bonnie and Clyde's family members, as well as vintage footage of their funeral. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)