Bonnie And Clyde: 40th Anniversary Edition
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
Issue 105 July 2008
(1 votes, average: 7 out of 10)
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The Lowdown: Set during the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker is a bored, small town girl who hooks up with young drifter Clyde Barrow. Clyde fancies himself as a criminal, and together he and Bonnie set off on a crime spree that takes them from Oklahoma to Texas.
Review: It just goes show how far things can change. 40 years ago, Warner was so convinced that Bonnie & Clyde would flop that they barely gave it an opening, treating it as a trashy b-movie. However as word slowly built, the studio soon realised they had something important on their hands. They then gave it more promotion and a bigger release, with the film eventually getting nominated for 10 Oscars, and winning two. In 2008, the studio isn’t about to allow this classic miss the boat again, so they’re giving it the royal treatment on Blu-ray.
Well, it’s sort of the royal treatment. Compared to most catalogue Blu-ray releases, it has a very good assortment of Special Features, but they are exactly the same as on the recent two-disc DVD release. These include the three part ‘Revolution!’ documentaries, which look at quite how different Bonnie & Clyde was to anything that had gone before (which is probably why the studio didn’t initially realise what they were dealing with). There’s also ‘Love & Death’, which is a History Channel documentary about the real-life Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, and their shocking crime spree. With some deleted scenes and Warren Beatty’s wardrobe tests, it’s undoubtedly a pretty good selection, it would just have been nice to have something Blu-ray exclusive.
However, the most important things with this release is the video and audio transfer. While you have to bear in mind that few old movies are ever going to look absolutely pristine in HD, for the 40th Anniversary DVD and Blu-ray releases, Bonnie And Clyde has undergone extensive restoration, particularly to bring out the colours and remove flaws, which were incredibly evident on the first DVD release. The result is a movie that looks far better in HD than you’d expect, given its age. Admittedly it’s not absolutely perfect, with some grain remaining and certain shots looking a little soft, but overall it’s been a very successful restoration, which has rejuvenated this crime classic.
Likewise the sound mix is pretty good. Again you can’t expect the sort of bombastic sound we’d expect from modern movies, because the masters this track was restored from simply won’t allow it (and nor should they, as it’d completely change the character of the movie). However it is effective, particularly during the infamous and devastating finale, when the sound deliberately becomes an assault on your senses.
There’s no doubt that the Bonnie And Clyde Blu-ray is a decent step up from the DVD, and as long as you don’t expect a 40-year-old film to look precisely as crisp and oversaturated as the latest digitally filmed, Hollywood blockbuster, this is a very successful journey into HD for one of cinema’s most fascinating classics.
PICTURE: 7
AUDIO: 6
FILM: 9
EXTRAS: 7
DVD Info:
Certificate: 18
Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman
Directed By: Arthur Penn, 1967
Distributor: Warner
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Visuals: 1.85:1 Widescreen
Running Time: 111 mins
Price: £24.99
Special Features:
Scene Selection
‘Revolution! The Making of Bonnie and Clyde’ Three-Part Documentary
‘Love and Death’ History Channel Documentary
Warren Beatty Wardrobe Tests
Deleted Scenes
