The Movie That Made Moral Idiocy Chic

[corbe]

The Movie That Made Moral Idiocy Chic

How “Bonnie and Clyde” represents a milestone in the transformation of American culture.

January 17, 2018
 
Bruce Thornton
 

Fifty years ago, the movie that changed the movies premiered. Anybody old enough to remember films before “Bonnie and Clyde” can testify to the jolting power of Arthur Penn’s kinetic blend of bluegrass slapstick, Depression-era nostalgia, and gruesome, stylized violence. But something else was revealed then, something that I, just 14 at the time, was too callow and ignorant to notice behind the movie’s aesthetic sheen—the moral idiocy that has since come to define so much of contemporary American popular culture.

“Bonnie and Clyde” staked a claim to a moral seriousness that supposedly validated the stylistic innovations and elevated the film beyond mere flashy entertainment. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, played with fashion-magazine glamour by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, are “just folks,” as Dunaway says in the movie, salt-of-the-earth Americans driven to crime by the machinations of the evil banks they rob for some justified payback, Texan Robin Hoods admired by the common-man victims of American capitalism. Yet “the Man,” embodied in the sadistic Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, wouldn’t let them be, hunting them down and slaughtering them in the film’s famous bloody climax, just after Bonnie and Clyde had finally found the soft-focus sexual fulfillment long a cliché of Hollywood romantic sentiment.

“Social Bandits” on Screen

<..snip..>

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269018/movie-made-moral-idiocy-chic-bruce-thornton

[goatprairie]

There were a number of movies that came out during that time that tried to reverse what they thought was the prevailing pro American ethos in the movie industry.
The real Bonnie and Clyde while not exactly folk heroes were probably not totally evil either.  Somewhere in the middle. Maybe a couple of not too bright young people who went down the wrong path and paid for it with a very bad end.
"Little Big Man" was another one. The Indians were totally good, the white soldiers were totally evil. Custer was depicted as a grinning ninny/idiot.
No gray areas there. That's what happens when leftists get control of the movie industry. The facts were sometimes gov. soldiers did bad things, but the Indians certainly did their share as well.
I didn't bother to see "Dances With Wolves" not wanting to see another "whitewash" of history.
 There were evil people on both sides.

[WingNot]

B & C was a badly acted pos movie only gay movie critics and Hollywierd elites could love.  In the big picture it couldn't carry Cool Hand Luke's jock strap. 

[Frank Cannon]

B & C was a badly acted pos movie only gay movie critics and Hollywierd elites could love.  In the big picture it couldn't carry Cool Hand Luke's jock strap.

I agree. You never see this on anyone's top 10 list of anything movie related. It was a bunch of schlock in Technicolor. All the actors in it made better films after this that they are remembered for. The French Connection, Reds, Young Frankenstein, Chinatown.

Whoever the hell Bruce Thornton is, he is first and foremost a jackass.

[Cripplecreek]

There were a number of movies that came out during that time that tried to reverse what they thought was the prevailing pro American ethos in the movie industry.
The real Bonnie and Clyde while not exactly folk heroes were probably not totally evil either.  Somewhere in the middle. Maybe a couple of not too bright young people who went down the wrong path and paid for it with a very bad end.
"Little Big Man" was another one. The Indians were totally good, the white soldiers were totally evil. Custer was depicted as a grinning ninny/idiot.
No gray areas there. That's what happens when leftists get control of the movie industry. The facts were sometimes gov. soldiers did bad things, but the Indians certainly did their share as well.
I didn't bother to see "Dances With Wolves" not wanting to see another "whitewash" of history.
 There were evil people on both sides.

Unfortunately the destruction of Custer began immediately. The army deferred to the widow about what info was released in those days and the army used it as an opportunity to absolve themselves of blame. After all, the army made the decision to send the 7th out without repeating arms against an enemy who had them. Custer's mistake was in leaving Gatling guns behind (understandable for a man leading cavalry which is supposed to be light and fast) His tactics were textbook but the Indians behaved differently than they always had before.

[andy58-in-nh]

B & C was a badly acted pos movie only gay movie critics and Hollywierd elites could love.  In the big picture it couldn't carry Cool Hand Luke's jock strap.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate....."  Great film.

[musiclady]

I hated Bonnie and Clyde.   Never understood why anyone liked it.   

[goatprairie]

Unfortunately the destruction of Custer began immediately. The army deferred to the widow about what info was released in those days and the army used it as an opportunity to absolve themselves of blame. After all, the army made the decision to send the 7th out without repeating arms against an enemy who had them. Custer's mistake was in leaving Gatling guns behind (understandable for a man leading cavalry which is supposed to be light and fast) His tactics were textbook but the Indians behaved differently than they always had before.

To be sure, Custer was a rash officer who thought he couldn't be killed. However, no matter how rash he was, he was a very brave soldier and proved it in the Civil War.  But Arthur Penn decided to make him a burlesque figure instead of the somewhat foolhardy, brave soldier he actually was
You just cannot count on leftists to depict history as it was.

[goatprairie]

I hated Bonnie and Clyde.   Never understood why anyone liked it.   

I liked it at the time, but it doesn't stand up well through the years. However, it was Gene Hackman's breakthrough movie, so I guess it was good for something.

[WingNot]

I liked it at the time, but it doesn't stand up well through the years. However, it was Gene Hackman's breakthrough movie, so I guess it was good for something.

Estelle Parsons won an Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role.  The academy had to throw a bone to someone.  Better her than Shirley's little brother or Faye.

[musiclady]

I liked it at the time, but it doesn't stand up well through the years. However, it was Gene Hackman's breakthrough movie, so I guess it was good for something.

I forgot about that.

Yes, I guess it WAS good for something.  He's done pretty well for himself.  ^-^

[sneakypete]

The Movie That Made Moral Idiocy Chic

How “Bonnie and Clyde” represents a milestone in the transformation of American culture.

January 17, 2018
 
Bruce Thornton
 

Fifty years ago, the movie that changed the movies premiered. Anybody old enough to remember films before “Bonnie and Clyde” can testify to the jolting power of Arthur Penn’s kinetic blend of bluegrass slapstick, Depression-era nostalgia, and gruesome, stylized violence. But something else was revealed then, something that I, just 14 at the time, was too callow and ignorant to notice behind the movie’s aesthetic sheen—the moral idiocy that has since come to define so much of contemporary American popular culture.

“Bonnie and Clyde” staked a claim to a moral seriousness that supposedly validated the stylistic innovations and elevated the film beyond mere flashy entertainment. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, played with fashion-magazine glamour by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, are “just folks,” as Dunaway says in the movie, salt-of-the-earth Americans driven to crime by the machinations of the evil banks they rob for some justified payback, Texan Robin Hoods admired by the common-man victims of American capitalism. Yet “the Man,” embodied in the sadistic Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, wouldn’t let them be, hunting them down and slaughtering them in the film’s famous bloody climax, just after Bonnie and Clyde had finally found the soft-focus sexual fulfillment long a cliché of Hollywood romantic sentiment.

“Social Bandits” on Screen

<..snip..>

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269018/movie-made-moral-idiocy-chic-bruce-thornton

The article couldn't be more wrong. The Depression was engineered so the uber wealthy could legally steal all the property of the poor,the middle class,and the "merely" wealthy.

Working class people saw ALL their banked money disappear as the banks closed,and their money disappeared with the bank managers.

AND....,let's not forget that the Feebs flat-out murdered Bonny and Clyde from ambush.

[Cripplecreek]

To be sure, Custer was a rash officer who thought he couldn't be killed. However, no matter how rash he was, he was a very brave soldier and proved it in the Civil War.  But Arthur Penn decided to make him a burlesque figure instead of the somewhat foolhardy, brave soldier he actually was
You just cannot count on leftists to depict history as it was.

The actual history is far more interesting than the popular version. The popular version has him foolishly attacking a massive village when in reality he skirted around the village to round up the women and children as they were led away by old men as was a common tactic. Custer was really playing it by the book because he was on thin ice with the army already.

[Frank Cannon]

A reissue of Gone with the Wind grossed more than Bonnie and Clyde in 1967...

https://www.the-numbers.com/market/1967/top-grossing-movies

[goatprairie]

The actual history is far more interesting than the popular version. The popular version has him foolishly attacking a massive village when in reality he skirted around the village to round up the women and children as they were led away by old men as was a common tactic. Custer was really playing it by the book because he was on thin ice with the army already.

Custer was Sheridan's favorite subordinate officer because during the Civil War Custer was successful in whatever Sheridan asked him to do. Custer was as brave as they came and not a little bold.  Many soldiers, including Custer himself, thought he lived a charmed life as he avoided serious injuries in a number of engagements.
His good fortune continued during the Indian wars...until, of course, Little Big Horn, where he divided his troops.  Too few soldiers against too many Indians. Reno was lucky to escape with most of his soldiers.
i've read several books about Custer and "Son Of The Morning Star" by Evan S. Connell was the most interesting.

[TomSea]

I've read that "Easy Rider" was a bit of a "prototype' movie for the '70s,  "B & C" seems a bit like that too. These are counter-culture movies. A new outlook, "MASH" and probably just a slew of movies followed.

[goatprairie]

I've read that "Easy Rider" was a bit of a "prototype' movie for the '70s,  "B & C" seems a bit like that too. These are counter-culture movies. A new outlook, "MASH" and probably just a slew of movies followed.

Easy Rider was another flick that portrayed counter cultures types as heroes.
ER was a flick about two drug dealers. Even Truman Capote railed on Johnny Carson's show about the idiocy of depicting two drug dealers as heroes.
And southerners of course, except for Jack Nicholson, (a Fidel Castro admirer) were portrayed as stereotypical evil rednecks who'd shoot you because you gave them the finger.
The only thing about ER worth watching now is the western scenery.

[sneakypete]

Easy Rider was another flick that portrayed counter cultures types as heroes.

@goatprairie

I remember seeing it while it was still new,in an actual movie theater in Fayetteville. I was already "chopping" and riding Harley's,and had some scooter trash contacts despite still being in the army.

I never saw them as anything other than pathetic losers. The one actor,who played Fonda's running mate was pretty funny,but I thought both Fonda and Nichelson were cartoonish.

[Smokin Joe]

@goatprairie

I remember seeing it while it was still new,in an actual movie theater in Fayetteville. I was already "chopping" and riding Harley's,and had some scooter trash contacts despite still being in the army.

I never saw them as anything other than pathetic losers. The one actor,who played Fonda's running mate was pretty funny,but I thought both Fonda and Nichelson were cartoonish.

Yep. Mask portrayed bikers far better.

[sneakypete]

Yep. Mask portrayed bikers far better.

@Smokin Joe

The ones I knew,anyhow.

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe

The ones I knew,anyhow.

Yep, the folks I would ride with, back in the day.

[goatprairie]

@goatprairie

I remember seeing it while it was still new,in an actual movie theater in Fayetteville. I was already "chopping" and riding Harley's,and had some scooter trash contacts despite still being in the army.

I never saw them as anything other than pathetic losers. The one actor,who played Fonda's running mate was pretty funny,but I thought both Fonda and Nichelson were cartoonish.

"Fonda's running mate "

Dennis Hopper. Hopper actually turned more conservative as he got older and started voting for
Republicans. 
Fonda never did grow up. He was taking shots at Trump's children before he died.

[corbe]

   I found the Soundtrack of ER to be the film's only redeeming quality. 

   Watching Gaslight on TCM right now.

[sneakypete]

"Fonda's running mate "

Dennis Hopper. Hopper actually turned more conservative as he got older and started voting for
Republicans. 
Fonda never did grow up. He was taking shots at Trump's children before he died.

@goatprairie

Yeah,Hopper! AFAIWC,he was THE star of the movie. Rumors had it that Fonda was so afraid of Hopper he hired a bodyguard to always be near him. Seems like Fonda wasn't used to people telling him to go bleep himself or to STFU.

[Smokin Joe]

@goatprairie

Yeah,Hopper! AFAIWC,he was THE star of the movie. Rumors had it that Fonda was so afraid of Hopper he hired a bodyguard to always be near him. Seems like Fonda wasn't used to people telling him to go bleep himself or to STFU.

Seems just about every role Hopper got after that reflected Fonda's fear.