Arthur Penn's film Bonnie and Clyde brought the infamous story of the two American criminals/lovers back into the public eye for a 1960s youth generation. The film took the real-life story of the couple and simplified it into more digestible Hollywood fare. While the real-life couple was indeed a dangerous, sexy, and iconic couple and symbol of an American version of "enfants terribles," the film mythologized many elements of the story to create a more broadly relevant allegory for youthful rebellion.
Bonnie Parker, as the film suggests, lived in West Dallas and was an avid poet who was dissatisfied with her simple life in provincial Texas. Clyde met Bonnie in 1930 before he was sent to Eastham Prison Farm, allegedly at a friend's house, and they immediately fell in love. Soon after, she helped him escape from prison. In 1932, they began their life of crime, but their collaboration did not follow such a linear escape narrative. In between robberies, Bonnie went to jail and stayed with her mother for a time. W.D. Jones was a friend of the Barrow family and is the real-life person on whom C.W. Moss is based. It was not until 1932, two years after Bonnie and Clyde began robbing banks, that Buck and Blanche joined their coterie.
One way that the film diverges from truth is in its depiction of Frank Hammer. In reality, Hammer was a semi-retired Texas Ranger who was brought back onto the force as a special contact to pursue Bonnie and Clyde. Indeed, the film's depiction of Hammer was so different from the actual scenario that Hammer's widow sued the producers of the film for defamation.
Other real-life figures associated with the film also disapproved of it. Blanche Barrow, the only other character (besides W.D. Jones) who was still alive at the time of the film's release, said, "that movie made me look like a screaming horse's ass."
