celebration of the 40th anniversary of Bonnie And Clyde, Warner Brothers has re-released the movie on a special edition DVD that not only features the movie and the requisite special features, but also comes with a 30-page hardbound booklet and a reproduction of the original press release. It’s a superlative home video presentation worthy of an undisputed classic like Bonnie And Clyde, but the lavish treatment that Warner Brothers has given the movie is a little ironic given that the studio barely even released the movie in theaters initially. Bonnie And Clyde is now indisputably considered to be one of the most important and influential films ever made in Hollywood, but in 1967 it was considered odd, dangerous, and trashy. The movie was almost completely dismissed by critics and audiences before catching on with a new generation of filmgoers who were disillusioned by the glossy Hollywood productions of the time. These audiences immediately identified with the reckless abandon and moral ambiguity of Bonnie And Clyde. They embraced the film as their own, changing the film industry forever.

When writers David Newman and Robert Benton began work on their first screenplay, they decided to make a crime movie based on the life story of two notorious lovers/robbers from The Depression. At the time, the genre was not considered to be capable of producing art. Despite the generally accepted acclaim for film noir classics like The Maltese Falcon or Double Indemnity, most crime pictures were relegated to B-movie status and considered to be guilty pleasures at best. However, the young writers had been inspired by the revisionist crime movies produced by French New Wave auteurs like Jean-Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut. With films like Breathless and Shoot The Piano Player, these directors had reinvented the genre by adding layers of realism, dark comedy, self-consciousness, and experimental visual storytelling that were unlike anything that had been seen before. Newman and Benton wanted to bring this style of filmmaking to U.S. and chose the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow as their means of doing so.

The writers initially gave the script to Francois Truffaut, hoping that he would come to America to direct. Truffaut was intrigued and helped develop the screenplay further, but ultimately turned down the opportunity to helm the project. The script then found its way into the hands of a young Warren Beatty, who was so enamored with the fresh and exciting writing that he not only signed on to star in the film but decided to produce it as well. With his name on the line, Beatty convinced Warner Brothers to shell out a low budget, hired his subversive friend Auther Penn to direct, and cast the movie with some of the finest undiscovered talent of his generation including Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, and Gene Wilder. It was a risky move and one that almost failed.

When studio executives saw Bonnie And Clyde, they didn’t know what to think. The movie (particularly the final scene) was much more overtly violent than anything they had ever seen. Characters didn’t just collapse after being shot li, they bled profusely and convulsed in pain. Even more troubling was the moral ambiguity of the movie. Despite the fact that they were robbers and brutal killers, Bonnie and Clyde were portrayed as being funny, eccentric, and even likable. It was completely unlike the morally righteous movies that the studios were used to producing and the executives panicked. They dumped the film, giving it a small theatrical release befitting an exploitation movie. To make matters worse, the major critics all panned the film, dismissing it as the same violent trash as the studio heads. Bonnie And Clyde died a quick death at the box office.