Bonnie and Clyde Opening Credits Analysis

The film starts with a slide show of pictures, that is presumably each actors picture. The pictures show the character and also the way of that time, showing us the American depression in the sepia pictures After about 4 pictures the actor's name comes up on screen bold red writing. After the main actor have had their pictures and their names come up in the thirty snapshots, in the same bold font Bonnie and Clyde comes up in white writing, which gradually turns to red, like blood, presumably symbolising how they made the transition from innocents (especially Bonnie) to cold blooded murders . As the The opening credits continue rolling, non-digetic music of the jazz/swing genre - a song called "Deep Night" by Etting and Henderson, comes on. Just before the actual film starts up comes pictures of the historic pair and an introduction of them, of how their life was before they became the famous duo bank robbers.

The pictures and music from the introduction fade in to a woman's lips, which tranforms to a close up of a woman's red lips, having had lipstick just put on them, which transforms to a close up shot of a young blonde woman primping in a mirror. The woman then flings herself down on the bed, the close up shot being taken from behind the bed frame, with bars in front of her face, giving the impression she's trapped, like behind jail bars, which setts off the thought that she is meant to be behind bars later, when she becomes a fugitive. the camera then does an extreme close up of the woman's eyes. Faye Dunaway, playing Bonnie Parker is restlessly, lying around naked in her room, and pounding on her bed frame, until she gets to the window and sees Warren Beatty's Clyde looking around, contemplating whether to try and steal her mother's car. As Bonnie looks out the window at Clyde she shows lots of skin, being quite provocative, however the clever camera movements make sure she never actually reveals anything, by doing close ups of her face when it teeters on the edge of nudity. The camera exchanges shots between the two characters after Bonnie yells out the window "Hey Boy, what you doin' with my mama's car?" After the two characters seem to have sized eachother up, Bonnie tells him to wait there, while she runs back to throw some clothes on as she rushes down the stairs.

Theres lots of jump cuts in the opening scene, the editing enhances the fact that the film is all about pushing boundaries. The film is renound for being an openly violent and sexualized film. There are also not many films like this that you learn so much about the characters in the opening scene. It's one of the 60's most talked about films, as it was a volatile, controversial crime/gangster film, with comedy, terror and love.