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People love true crime, particularly women. Maybe it’s
because they empathise with the victim (which are mostly women) or they prepare
themselves for the worst (considering woman are most likely to be victims of
serial killers). Maybe some women do empathise with the victim, but I still
feel there is that element of excitement that draws women to the genre. Like
so:
These types of films have been subjected to criticism for
glorifying the killer and neglecting the victims. This leads me on to the next
two films.
Bonnie and Clyde & The Highwayman
Bonnie and Clyde and
The Highwayman tell the same story, but from different perspectives.
One tells it from the side of the criminal lovers and other from the Texas
Rangers hired to kill them. Bonnie and
Clyde was part of the late 60s counterculture movement, it celebrated them
and Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty (Faye trumps Warren) perfectly capture this
alluring attractiveness and hipness that made them so popular.
The Highwayman does not. In fact it’s highly
critical of them and the fanatical following they got. It’s a little
moralistic, but there’s nothing wrong with holding some distain for the attitudes
that still surround Bonnie and Clyde who were murderers hiding behind façade of
helping the poor. Still I prefer The Highwayman, there’s too much shouting in
Bonnie and Clyde and it gave me a headache. Someone described it as Hillbillies
yelling at each other for an hour and a half. Sums it up well.
10 Remington Place & Let Him Have It
Both of these films deal with a miscarriage of justice where
an innocent man was hung for a crime he did not commit. Both of these films
are about a murder case that contributed to the abolition of the death penalty
in the United Kingdom. They are both good and important films about a major
change in British law.
Snow Town Murders
Beware this grisly Australian film is grim.
I didn’t know Bonnie and Clyde was based on a true crime :O
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen The Highwayman but Bonnie & Clyde is fascinating in its stylized way. It's romanticizing of the pair is wrong-headed but it does provide a great showcase for both Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
ReplyDeleteI saw Let Him Have It years ago and my memory of it is a bit hazy but I remember it being well done. I don't know 10 Remington Place but I have seen 10 Rillington Place which was brilliantly acted while being deeply disturbing and unsettling.
I've never heard of Snow Town Murders but if by grisly you mean violent and gross that's not my thing.
So many too choose from this week and it turned out two I chose are popular, which is rare for me, but my first is my favorite of the three.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)-Complex, provocative and at the time of its release scandalous story of on Army Lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) accused of the murder of a man he claims raped his loose moraled wife (Lee Remick). He’s defended by a laconic but wily lawyer (James Stewart) who goes up against an equally canny prosecutor (George C. Scott). Excellent Otto Preminger courtroom drama with a top flight cast that also includes Eve Arden and Arthur O’Connell is based on a novel whose source was an actual murder case.
Heavenly Creatures (1994)-When wealthy teenager Juliet (Kate Winslet) transfers from England to Christchurch, New Zealand, with her family, she meets and quickly bonds with quiet, brooding Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) through their shared love of singing screen star Mario Lanza and games of make believe. At first all is well but when their parents begin to suspect that their increasingly intense friendship is becoming something more the girls decide to run away to America. As the girls fears focus on anyone who might tear them apart they take extreme measures to remove anything or anyone they see as obstacles. Based on a notorious New Zealand murder case this brilliantly acted and chilling drama was the first major critical success for director Peter Jackson.
Zodiac (2007)-In the late 1960s and 1970s, San Francisco is gripped by fear as its residents are plagued by a serial killer who calls himself Zodiac. Investigators (Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards) and reporters (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.) become obsessed with learning the killer's identity and bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, Zodiac claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers and menacing phone calls. Unsettling David Finchner film has its share of good points but deals with an ugly, ghoulish story.
I liked BONNIE & CLYDE (though I didn't love it), but I didn't like THE HIGHWAYMEN.
ReplyDeleteBeatty did glamorize the murderous duo but so have many other media talking about Bonnie’s poetry and that they were there for the poor which is so wrong. I want to see The Highwayman but unsure about the others
ReplyDeleteI've only seen the Highwaymen, it was just an ok movie for me...but yeah it is an interesting take on the old Bonnie and Clyde story.
ReplyDelete