Bonnie and Clyde (film) - Historical Accuracy

Historical Accuracy

The film considerably simplifies the lives of Bonnie and Clyde, which included other gang members, repeated jailings, other murders and a horrific auto accident that left Parker burned and a near invalid. One of the film's major characters, "C.W. Moss", is a composite of two members of the Barrow Gang: William Daniel "W.D." Jones and Henry Methvin.

The Gene Wilder-Evans Evans sequence is based on the kidnappings of the undertaker H.D. Darby and his acquaintance Sophia Stone, near Ruston, Louisiana on April 27, 1933. In the film, Velma and Eugene are romantically involved; Stone and Darby were not.

The film strays farthest from fact in its portrayal of the Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (played by Denver Pyle) as a vengeful bungler who had been captured, humiliated, and released by Bonnie and Clyde. Hamer was already a legendary Texas Ranger when he was coaxed out of semi-retirement to hunt down the duo; he had never seen them before he and his posse ambushed and killed them near Gibsland, Louisiana on May 23, 1934. In 1968, Hamer's widow and son sued the movie producers for defamation of character over his portrayal. They were awarded an out-of-court settlement in 1971.

The film portrays an unarmed and unsuspecting Clyde walking away from the car to investigate the broken down truck when he was ambushed. It suggests that Bonnie, still in their car, may also have been unarmed. Both remained in the vehicle and had weapons at the ready in the front seat; the back seat contained a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Neither outlaw got out of the car alive.

Bonnie and Faye: Infamous 1933 cigar photo branded Bonnie as a gun moll; 1966 publicity reenactment with Faye Dunaway

The couple's notoriety in 1933 came from photos found by police as undeveloped film in a hastily abandoned hideout in Joplin, Missouri. In one, Bonnie holds a gun in her hand and a cigar between her teeth. Its publication nationwide typed her as a dramatic gun moll. The film portrays the taking of this playful photo. It implies the gang sent photos — and poetry — to the press, but this is untrue. The police found most of the gang's items in the Joplin cache. Bonnie's final poem, read aloud by her in the movie, was only publicized posthumously from her mother.

The only two members of the Barrow Gang who were alive at the time of the film's release were Blanche Barrow and W. D. Jones. While Blanche Barrow approved the depiction of her in the original version of the script, she objected to the later re-writes. At the film's release, she complained loudly about Estelle Parsons's portrayal of her, saying, "That film made me look like a screaming horse's ass!"

In 1968, W.D. Jones outlined his time with the Barrows in a Playboy magazine article. That same year, he filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers-Seven Arts, claiming that the film Bonnie and Clyde "maligned and brought shame and disrepute" on him and damaged his character by implying that he was complicit in the betrayal of his old partners. He repeated what he had said at his arrest in 1933, that far from being a willing member of the gang, he had tried to escape several times. There is no record that his petition was ever heard by a court.

The movie was partly filmed in and around Dallas, Texas, in some cases using locations of banks that Bonnie and Clyde were reputed to have robbed at gunpoint.