Daily Dialogue — May 24, 2014

Bonnie: What’s it like?
Clyde: What you mean, prison?
Bonnie: No. Armed robbery.
Clyde: It ain’t like anything.
Bonnie: Shoot, I knew you never robbed any place, you faker.

Clyde reaches into his pocket. Reveals a pistol. Bonnie touches it.

Bonnie: But you wouldn’t have the gumption to use it.
Clyde: Awright. You just wait right here and keep your eyes open.

Clyde enters a grocery store across the street. Moments later, he exits, a wad of cash in hand. They head toward their stolen car. The grocer store owner exits. Clyde fires a warning shot. He and Bonnie hustle to the car. Clyde jump starts the engine and they dive inside.

Bonnie: Hey, what’s your name anyhow?
Clyde: Clyde Barrow.
Bonnie: Bonnie Parker. Pleased to meet you.

— Bonnie and Clyde (1967), written by David Newman & Robert Benton

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Robbery.

Trivia: A crucial fact left out of the movie was that Bonnie Parker was virtually incapacitated for the last year of her life from a car wreck. Clyde Barrow was driving fast down a lonely country road in Texas when he came upon a washed-out bridge. Unable to stop in time, the car went over the edge crashed and into the creek. The force of the impact jarred Bonnie’s seat forward, pinning her in the car as it began to catch fire. She received severe burns on the backs of her legs that made it difficult to walk. She would either limp or was carried by Clyde. She was, in fact, injured at the time of the nighttime tourist court shootout and the field shootout (where Buck was killed) that occur near the end of the film.

Dialogue On Dialogue: It’s difficult to understate the importance of this movie and its influence on American cinema, ushering in French New Wave sensibilities to a generation of young filmmakers who over the next decade completely reshaped Hollywood movies. And to think Warren Beatty had to basically extort Warner Bros. to release the film.

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