Bonnie and Clyde(1967)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
After surviving one police raid (wherein Buck is killed and Blanche is captured), a group of vigilantes led by Ranger Hamer ambush and kill Bonnie and Clyde. It’s revealed that CW’s dad set up Bonnie and Clyde in exchange for CW’s safety.

Long Ending:
During the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) catches a recently released convict named Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) stealing her mother’s car. The two joke about it and spend the day together, where it’s clear that Bonnie is excited by Clyde’s criminal lifestyle. She goads Clyde into robbing a grocery store, and he later convinces Bonnie to run away with him. The two fall in love, although Clyde is unable to perform in the bedroom.

The pair rob banks across the Midwest, mainly for fun (Clyde saying that banks deserve it, and he never robs the customers of their valuables). During one heist, in a moment of panic, Clyde fatally shoots a pursuer. Having now become a murderer, Clyde offers to bring Bonnie back home so she won’t be branded a criminal, but she declines. The pair soon recruit others to their “gang,” – mechanic/getaway driver C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), Clyde’s brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and Buck’s wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons). The “Barrow Gang” soon develop a cult following due to many people’s admiration for their ability to elude law enforcement and their principled decision only to rob banks. The police get so frustrated they issue a reward out for the Barrow Gang. The Gang captures a Texas Ranger named Frank Hamer (Denver Pyle) and humiliate him, resulting in Hamer vowing to get them all. They also abduct and briefly befriend a young couple (small roles for Gene Wilder and Evan Evans) before stranding the couple on the side of a road.

Bonnie starts to get depressed, so Clyde arranges a day to meet her family. Although Bonnie’s mother supports what she’s done, the mother also notes that Bonnie is sure to be killed by police if she ever stops running from the law. Indeed, the police soon ambush the Barrow Gang. All but Moss are wounded, Buck is killed, and Blanche is captured. Ranger Hamer later is able to trick Blanche into giving up Moss’ identity (until then, Moss was always referred to as an “unknown member” of the gang). Meanwhile, Moss takes the nearly dead Bonnie and Clyde back to his father’s (Dub Taylor) home so they can recuperate. Although Moss’ dad feigns politeness to the pair, he confides in Moss that he despises them.

As the pair recover, Bonnie writes a poem about the tragedy of Bonnie and Clyde (noting that their story is certain to end in death) that is printed in the paper. She and Clyde also finally are able to consummate their relationship. They talk about having a normal life, but they admit they’d never be able to. Unknown to them or Moss, Moss’ dad gets in touch with Hamer and arranges a deal to turn in Bonnie and Clyde in exchange for Moss’ safety.

One day, the trio go into town. Before they leave, the dad tells Moss not to come back home with them. Bonnie and Clyde drive back to the dad’s farm after seeing some police on patrol and are unable to find Moss. On the way, they find Moss’ dad seemingly trying to fix a broken down tractor on the side of the road near some bushes. The pair stop to help, but are gruesomely shot to death by Ranger Hamer and his associates who were hidden in the nearby bushes. As Bonnie predicted, their story ended in death.