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| Jack Hogan and Dorothy Provine |
THE BONNIE PARKER STORY (1958). Director: William Witney.
In 1930's Oklahoma Bonnie Parker (Dorothy Provine of
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die) has a dead end job as a waitress after her husband, Duke (Richard Bakalyan), is sent up the river for 175 years. But then Bonnie meets the cocky "Guy Darrow" (Jack Hogan of
The Cat Burglar), whose first passes are easily blocked by the feisty and easily-angered Bonnie. Eventually Guy convinces his new girlfriend that they could make a lot of money knocking off gas stations and the like, but Bonnie -- who proves much more strong-willed than Guy -- is sick of getting comparative chicken feed. Her new plan is to to break her husband out of jail and start robbing banks ...
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| Dorothy Provine as Bonnie Parker |
Made almost ten years earlier than the more famous
Bonnie and Clyde, this is arguably the better of the two pictures. Provine and Hogan give more convincing performances as these rather vicious individuals, and William Witney -- who helmed numerous cliffhanger serials -- knows how to keep things moving at a brisk pace and also creates lots of suspense in key moments. There are other good performances in the film as well: Joe Turkel [
The Glass Wall] as Guy's brother; Patricia Huston as his girlfriend; William Stevens as a budding architect who sees a more romantic and tender side of Bonnie; Richard Bakalyan as Duke; Douglas Kennedy as a cop who is pursuing the couple; and others.
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| Jack Hogan as "Guy Darrow" |
The picture has several good scenes, including the hold-up of a armored truck which is nearly interrupted by a boy scout troop and the terrified scoutmaster (Sydney Lassick), and a tense if amusing business when a cute little boy (Stanley Livingstone) seemingly identifies Bonnie and the others as "bank robbers." The climactic shoot-out is also extremely well-handled. One could argue that the film may not have a lot of period atmosphere and it's strange that Clyde Barrow's name was changed, albeit not very much.
Verdict: Very snappy AIP crime drama with vivid players. ***.
A confession...have never been crazy about the Arthur Penn/Beatty/Dunaway version, though supporting players Michael J Pollard and Estelle Parsons are wonderful in that. But I will try this earlier version you recommend...seems grittier and more noir, which is perfect for the subject matter.
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Exactly! I liked the Beatty version years ago when I first saw it, but years later I found that it didn't really hold up so well. One N Y Times critic knocked the picture when it was first released; he was seen as an old fogie because of it, and eventually was pushed out -- but it turns out he was right, the flick is very over-rated.
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