About:
They Kill People: Bonnie and Clyde, a Hollywood Revolution, and America’s Obsession with Guns and Outlaws by Kirk Ellis tells of the fascination of the American psyche with outlaws and firearms through the lens of Bonnie & Clyde, the criminals and the hit 1967 motion picture. Mr. Ellis is an Emmy winning screenwriter and a published author.
- 312 pages
- Publisher : High Road Books
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 0826369375
My rating for They Kill People – 4
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More books by Kirk Ellis*
Thoughts:
I’m too young to remember the effect that Bonnie and Clyde, the movie or the gang, had on society, but I do remember how much I loved the movie when I saw it on TV. Even in high school I knew it was a fantasy, glamorizing a life that might be enticing, but in truth it, well… pretty much sucked.
But I didn’t know how bad it really was.
They Kill People by Kirk Ellis blends film studies, history and cultural commentary about Americans love for the lore of outlaws and guns. There are three main narratives blended in the book: the real Bonnie and Clyde, the making of the 1967 motion picture, and America’s obsession with firearms and violence.
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, two young people who robbed and pillaged during the Great Depression, became legends are their deaths. The book shies away from the romanticism of legends, emphasizing the violence, dreariness, and tragedy of their lives. Clyde Barrow’s jail time turned him from a small-time kid trying to steal a few bucks into a broken man. Bonnie Parker’s experience, while not through incarceration, has also seem to break the social contract she believed in. There were many books written on the couple from those who knew them and historians.
Making the movie, produced by Warren Beatty, starring Beatty himself, Faye Dunaway, the great Gene Hackman, and introducing a young Gene Wilder, was difficult and had little support from Warner Brothers. The studio believed this was a low budget western (for lack of a better description) and hoped it would simply make its money back. The author describes the production, the issues, and anecdotes from the locals who came to the filming locations and were used as extras. My favorite was that of Mabel Cavitt, a local schoolteacher from Red Oak, Texas, who was cast in the role of Bonnie’s mother after arriving, like many other locals, who caught the eye of the filmmakers.
The movie went on to make a lot more than it cost to make despite, not because of, WB. Warren Beatty fought to re-release the movie after the initial mishandling by the studio and forever changed filmmaking.
We all know America’s obsession with guns, outlaws, and violence. Mr. Ellis uses the film that mythologized Bonnie and Clyde to explore this issue. He goes on to write that our fascination with those subjects is part of the American identity from the 1930s to today’s society.
This is a fascinating, well-written, and very informative book. I enjoyed the movie-making aspect of it very much, but the myth-making and outlaw worshipping (or the myth of them to be more accurate) were very thought-provoking.
Buy They Kill People from Amazon.com*
More books by Kirk Ellis*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
