The Highwaymen

In 1967 Bonnie and Clyde became one of the quintessential films of what historians today are calling the Hollywood renaissance. Starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as its titular, glamorous outlaw heroes, the film became a type of litmus test for the divisive times that were the late 1960s. Defenders of traditional institutions and authorities tended to hate the film. Challengers of the status quo were among the film's staunchest supporters. The film portrayed Bonnie Parker (1910–1934) and Clyde Barrow (1909–1934) as well-meaning bandits who shoot only to defend themselves as they charmingly rob the banks that are foreclosing on the farms and homes of ordinary people during the Great Depression. Parker and Barrow are violently gunned to death by a group of Texas Rangers led by Capt. Frank Hamer (1884–1955), who then steps out from the bushes where he was hiding, looking like a 1930s European Fascist in his black shirt, black pants, and villainous mustache

Art · Art history · Hollywood · The Renaissance · History · Race, History, and American Society