Cinema Retro Editor-in-Chief Lee Pfeiffer provides an in-depth review of one of the most eagerly-awaited DVD releases of the year.
Warner Home Video has finally released a DVD edition of Bonnie and Clyde that does justice to director Arthur Penn's masterpiece of American filmmaking. Although the movie was a sensation when released in 1967, the abundance of other great films that year (The Graduate and In the Heat of the Night among them) somewhat distracted from the appreciation that should have been accorded the movie at that year's Oscars, where it lost in most of the major categories. Yet, moreso than any other film released in 1967, Bonnie and Clyde remains as relevant today as it ever did. There isn't an aspect of the movie that seems dated and from the technical point of view, it still seems as fresh and innovative as ever: especially in an era in which many young directors envision their feature films as though they are big screen versions of video games. Despite being one of the crown jewels in the Warner Brothers catalog, the studio had only released a bare bones DVD version. That mistake has been corrected with Bonnie and Clyde: The Ultimate Collector's Edition, a 2 DVD set that lives up to the hype. Curiously, this set wasn't ready for release last year, which would have marked the 40th anniversary of the film. However, patience is a virtue when it comes to something this good and the release was well worth the wait.
Here is a detailed breakdown of what the set contains: