From Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s “Bonnie & Clyde” to Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson’s “Highwaymen”, regardless of era, Bonnie and Clyde continue to inspire curiosity decades after their deaths.
Clyde Champion Barrow. (DURIEZ Frederic)
Whether it was the '30s public insatiable infatuation with the corrupt couple or their Hollywood depictions years later, the public just can’t quit the dainty charlatan and her machine gun wheeling beau. Discerning why these two particular criminals rose to such national prominence remains debatable.
Falling Through The Cracks
A rapscallion from the start. (wacohistory)
While the crimes of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker included murder, kidnapping, and robbery, people worshipped them like rockstars. Why? The most crucial factor in Bonnie and Clyde’s overwhelming fame: the era. The ’30s marked the worst economic decline in American history. Many people were out of work, depressed, and bored.
Romanticized Killers
As anyone on Instagram knows, it's all about the angles.
Then along comes this alluring outlaw couple who takes what they want when they want while skirting the law at every turn. In a fanatical way, Bonnie and Clyde represented the perverse dreams of millions living through the Great Depression. As one who spent 15 years researching the pair, screenwriter John Fusco deduced, "They were glamorized because of the Bonnie element – lovers on the run outside of society just really attracted the public.”
1930s Social Media
One of pictures that set their stardom afire. (nationalpost)
Long before the internet replaced newspapers, the daily press served as the singular way people received the news. The bandit lovers were cognizant of that fact and conveniently left pictures of themselves at their various crime sprees, according to Jeff Guinn, author of “Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde.” In one picture Bonnie “propped one foot on the fender of the V-8 sedan — a very unladylike posture — and then compounded the shock value by waving a handgun that she also brandished or wore in several other pictures.”
Newspaper Culpability
The heartthrob couple taunting the police.
The press understood the sensation they had on their hands. Gun-tooting lovers with panache and presence sold like hotcakes and newspapers around the country cashed in. As Guinn wrote, “They wanted to cram as many Barrow Gang stories into their publications as possible before the cops inevitably caught the kids and ruined a good storyline.” As “Highwaymen” director John Lee Hancock pronounced, “If they were around today, they would have more Instagram followers than the Kardashians.”
Hard Reality
The end of the line for Bonnie and Clyde. (TexasRangerHallofFame&Museum)
Just like many social media stars today, the real-life experience rarely lives up to the hype. Bonnie was far from a Hollywood starlet at 4’11’’ and 90 pounds. She also walked with a terrible limp due to a hellacious car accident during her time on the run and third degrees burns to boot. And as one onlooker exclaimed while peering at Cylde’s bullet-riddled body, “He was nothing but a little bitty fart!'' Barrow was also missing two toes as part of his plan to avoid hard labor while incarcerated the first time. Suddenly, the sexy heroine and courageous outlaw that awed people in the papers emerged as gimping lilliputians that could hardly walk.
Timeless Infamy
Their "Death Car" remains on display in the likeliest of places.
Even though their label as “modern-day” Robin Hoods was wildly misconstrued and supposed matinee good looks equally overblown, the pair endures. More than 10,000 people showed up for each of their funerals. People struggled to remove clothes or even pieces off their dead bodies. According to Guinn, men attempted to remove Barrow’s ear and trigger finger. One Bienville Parish, Louisiana resident remembered decades later, ″One girl I went to school with wound up with one of Bonnie’s shoes. People were taking pieces off the car for souvenirs.” Their “Death Car” remains on display at a small casino in Nevada and their legacy continues on Netflix.
