Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Some films truly stand the test of time. Bonnie and Clyde is one of those films. It's not a good film, or a great film.. no, it's way beyond that. It's one of those rare flawless masterpieces that audiences of any age bracket can walk away from with their minds blown. 1967 was the year cinema changed forever. If The Graduate was the flash point, Bonnie and Clyde was the inferno. Hollywood was known for making cops and robber capers. This was the first one that felt truly real. Bonnie and Clyde were not portrayed in that classic Hollywood way. Not as a couple in a simmering noire or as star-crossed lovers in a light romp. They are nuts, and raw, and rugged. They scare the crap out of you. When they put a gun to your head to empty the cash register, you believe them. In terms of character, this approach changes everything. It's a challenge all by itself to make the bad guys the characters to root for, it's another challenge when you allow them to be entirely unlikeable and cruel. To that effect, we get perhaps the most engaging, nail-biting action thriller of all time. Arthur Penn doesn't wrack your nerves, he electrifies them. Paired with an incredible dual performance by Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons as the second rung of common bank robbers that come along for the ride. As we spend more time with Bonnie and Clyde, the walls continue to close in, until there's no way to escape their retribution. That being, an epic shoot-out that shocked audiences around the world as the first splatter-fest of any mainstream American motion picture. Talk about going out in a blaze of glory. 5 out of 5 Stars.