Placing humor side-by-side with violence, so that the audience is laughing whenever violence fills the screen. There is a more effective way to present a message, and that is by burying it in the method of the movie itself. The best movies are going beyond the old-fashioned story in which the moral is spelled out at the end. Certain critics have objected because, they claim, "Bonnie and Clyde" showed its heroes as attractive people in glamorous adventures and then tacked on a routine Crime Doesn't Pay moral at the end by killing them. It was a "message movie" in which the message had nothing to do with the story. Arthur Penn, the director of "Bonnie and Clyde," succeeded - and his film not only inspired the intellectuals in their cubbyholes but fascinated people who wanted to see a good gangster movie.Īnd it did something else as well, something that many other good movies this year have also done. It takes a certain amount of courage to attempt to meet everyone at his own level, and when you succeed you have probably created a work of art. Most movies cop out by appealing only to highbrows (Bergman's " Persona") or lowbrows ( Elvis Presley). It earned that attention, I believe, because it did supremely what Hollywood at its best always tries to do: It became a "total movie."īy that I mean that it tried to satisfy its audience on every level. This was particularly true of "Bonnie and Clyde," which has been damned and praised at every possible level.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |