Crime has always been as much of a problem today as it was in the past. Now we have technology that works both ways for both the criminals and their victims. Stories of a back and forth cat and mouse game have intrigued writers and filmmakers, giving the people a taste of a life of crime. The lives of Bonnie and Clyde practically revolved around odds. They traveled across the states with their gang, pilfering small stores along the way. Yet these petty crimes managed to get this duo on every wanted poster in the midwestern United States. Earning them a title of “most famous criminal couple” in American history.
Clyde Barrow was born in Texas, to a family of eight. His parents were poor and were rarely around due to working long hours. Growing
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up, Clyde was a free-spirited young man who was quickly getting into mischief. The family moved to Dallas, where he took a variety of low-paying jobs. Clyde dropped out of high school as soon as he could. By this point in his life, Clyde knew that he wanted to rise from a life of poverty and dead-end jobs. Clyde didn’t want to toil himself when it came to earning money and showed no enthusiasm when it came to work. Around the 1920s, Clyde started attracting the attention of the police. He joined a gang that stole booze and tires along with his brother. Around December, 1926, Clyde and his brother were arrested for stealing turkeys. Clyde was released but his brother Buck, wasn’t so lucky and had to stay in jail for a few days. In 1929, the New York Stock Exchange crashed sending the nation into depression. One day Clyde and Buck along with a few others were driving a stolen car with a safe they took from a garage, and began driving around Denton, Texas. Clyde’s reckless driving however, led to them being caught by the police. Clyde managed to escape with his brother willingly taking all the blame. This was the moment in Clyde Barrow’s life that he realized that he wasn’t a very good criminal. Nevertheless, while his brother rotted in prison for the next five years, Clyde began thinking of new crimes. Unlike Clyde, Bonnie Parker and her family were just a step up the social ladder. She moved to Dallas just after her father passed away when she was four. In school, Bonnie was a good student. She had honors in her classes and had a talent in writing and composing poems. A mere adolescent, she was seen as beautiful and deemed to have no potential as a fugitive. Bonnie’s life took a real turn before she turned sixteen. In September of 1926, she married her classmate Roy Thornton. The marriage ended disastrously, so they parted their separate ways. The couple never divorced, and they never saw each other again. Three years later, Roy was sentenced to jail for a robbery while Bonnie moved in with her grandmother. Bonnie supported herself as a waitress. Her job fell through by the time the Great Depression began. There’re many inquiries on how Bonnie and Clyde met. Some writers claim that Clyde was one of Bonnie’s customers from her day as a waitress. Others say they“met through a mutual friend.” More specifically, they met through Clyde’s sister, who had broken her arm. Clyde dropped by to see his wounded sister. There, he encountered the illustrious Bonnie Parker in the kitchen making hot chocolate. They spent the entire night chatting as if their meeting were fate. Bonnie and Clyde’s relationship started to emerge as the months followed. Clyde didn’t seem at all fazed that Bonnie was still married to a convict. Meanwhile, Bonnie found Clyde handsome and charming, despite all his crimes. It wasn’t long before Bonnie was driving the getaway car for his gang. Problems suddenly began to rise for the couple. Clyde was arrested and sent to a prison in Waco for a robbery in Denton and other crimes. Bonnie was crushed and wrote to him constantly and even moved to the city to be near him. “This outside world is a swell place and we are young and should be happy like other boys and girls instead of being like we are.” - Written in a letter to Clyde from Bonnie Parker. Although Clyde was behind bars, it didn’t mean he wasn’t planning an escape. One of Clyde’s cellmates often bragged how he had a pistol stashed somewhere in a house in East Waco. He just didn’t have any of his family members smuggle it to him because he was worried of the consequences for them. Clyde, however, was willing to take the risk. An optimistic Bonnie agreed to the plan and went to the house. In March, 1930, Bonnie walked into the Waco prison with a gun hidden underneath her clothes.
Reports rose about how Clyde and his two cellmates have escaped with a smuggled pistol. Despite all that Bonnie did for her true love, Clyde decided to go on a crime spree immediately after he escaped. He was caught a week later and taken back to the Waco jail.
Clyde was released two years later from prison. He had learned nothing from his past with authority and continued with his crime sprees. Bonnie reunited with him, and together, along with a small group of men, robbed small banks and businesses. They’ve had several close calls with the police as well.
One particular robbery was different than the ones in the past. The duo and their gang went to a grocery store with the intentions of stealing cash. They held the owner and his wife at gunpoint and demanded they open the safe. Somehow while the safe was being opened, a gunshot was fired, leaving the owner dead. Unlike all the other crimes committed, this one involved murder.
At this point, Clyde knew he would be fleeing for the rest of his days. He went up to Bonnie and gave her two options: to go with him or stay and not risk getting arrested. Bonnie wanted to remain with Clyde so she said goodbye to her mother, and left with Clyde. They decided to put distance between them and the police. Bonnie and Clyde then decided to go to New Mexico and visit her
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aunt. On their way, a police officer noticed that their license plate was from out-of-state, which was quite rare at that time. The officer decided to investigate this even further, but was met with a gun in Clyde’s hand. Bonnie and Clyde forced him into their car and drove off. Bonnie’s aunt sensed something was wrong and alerted the police. The police were surprised when they heard from the abducted officer that he was still alive. Bonnie and Clyde’s reputation began to take off. They were on headlines all over America, letting those know of names of Bonnie and Clyde. While they were in Joplin, Missouri, 1933, hiding out in a garage, the neighbors called in a report due to suspicion. The police raided the building hoping to find bootleggers. Imagine to their surprise of finding the wanted Bonnie and Clyde and the other members of the Barrow Gang. The victory was short because a firefight soon broke out allowing them to escape. Since they left so suddenly for Shamrock, Texas, they left the majority of their belongings behind. Including a camera with pictures of themselves that were later published, adding to their image as “a couple on the run” and “folk-heroes of the Great Depression.” The year of 1934 was short-lived for the pair.
By this point they have committed at least 13 murders and several robberies. The majority of the killings were police officers that came way too close. Other times they were abducted and taken for a joyride, then dropped off in the middle of nowhere.
Running from authority wasn’t always all fun and games. Eventually, Bonnie and Clyde would run out of places to go to. The pressure was growing on both sides of the law and them.
Texas Ranger, Frank Hamer, pursued the duo, setting a trap to catch them.
On May 23, 1934, a group of police officers combined from Texas and Louisiana, stood near a highway and waited for the gangsters. As soon as Bonnie and Clyde pulled up in a stolen automobile, the officers launched an attack. Bullets rained against the car and shattered the windows. The pair of thieves were killed almost instantly, finally ending their short-lived crime spree.
Bonnie and Clyde’s lives weren’t exactly a typical “Romeo and Juliet tale”. Despite being short, they’ve done more than most humans have in their done for a means of survival. The public even now, sees them as a mixture of both hero and villain. Both being lost souls who wanted to rise in life and believed they deserved what they wanted. However, unlike most people, if Bonnie and Clyde wanted something, they take
it.
... Later the grave was robbed, the pistol and jewelry were gone. In the legendary period of American history known as the Old West, the law of the whole nation had yet to tame that frontier, which was spottily settled. This resulted in lawlessness seen in the personage of those known as outlaws and lawbreakers whose notorious reputations often exceeded their very person to mythical proportions. Belle Starr was one such outlaw.
Bonnie had a bitter taste in her mouth thinking that she wasn't part of the gang but still knowing it was for her own good.4 Clyde had picked her up in Dallas and they had started to make their way to New Mexico, while during the depression it was very hard for anyone to take a vacation during these times; a police officer had seen the car and had their plates ran. The police officer had realized that the car had been reported stolen so he approached the car and Bonnie and Clyde forced him into the car at gunpoint, but later releasing him so he could tell their story.
“William Henry Furman, a twenty-six-year-old black man with a sixth grade education, was not what most people called a “bad” man,” (Herda 7). Furman was just laid off of his job and was struggling to find work. But there was none. Every job did not pay enough, or was a short term job. Eventually, depressed, hungry, and broke, Furman turned to breaking and entering and to petty thievery by means of survival. Furman was caught a few times and was given a light sentence. He was also examined by a psychiatrist and was determined to be mentally impaired, but not enough to go to a mental institution. But on August 11, 1967, Furman went to rob the house of twenty-nine-year-old William Joseph Micke, Jr. with his wife and five young children. When searching through the house, Furman made too much noise, which alerted Micke. Furman heard Micke walking down the stairs and pulled out his gun that he used for scaring people away. But Micke kept walking downwards. Not wanting to be caught, Furman tried to run away and tripped over an exposed cord. His gun discharged. The bullet ricocheted to the back door. On the other side, a body fell to the floor. William Joseph Micke Jr. was dead. “The police responded to the call quickly and, within minutes, they had apprehended Furman just down the street from the scene of the crime. The murders weapon was still in his pocket,” (Herda 9). Furman tried to plead guilty by insanity and the psychiatrists described him as legally insane. But then, several days later one of the psychiatrists revised their medical opinion. Because he was not insane, the case would go on. The state of Georgia charged him with murder and issued the death penalty. This was because Georgia state law stated that any form of murder is...
dangerous man and was guilty of the murder, and who knows what else. Upon Walter’s release
Even as Clyde drove along the lane in Louisiana to his death, he carried a saxophone and reams of sheet music, as well as an arsenal of firearms. Clyde loved and named his guns, and regarded them as tokens of his power. At the age of sixteen, Clyde dropped out of school to work at Proctor and Gamble. Clyde’s crime streak started with helping his brother steal a small flock of turkeys and transporting them to Dallas to sell for Christmas money. Dallas officers saw the back seat full of live fowl, and pulled them over, arresting them both. His brother claimed full responsibility, and they let Clyde go since he was so small and innocent looking.
...ays of getting out of his punishment including insanity, which was professionally proven not the case, and that someone with black gloves signed for him to do what he did. Which was also proven wrong. Mesa was charged with charged with two counts of felony murder, one while armed, along with some robbery and burglary charges. He went to jail for the rest of his life without parole.
The 1960s till 1980s was the period of the Hollywood New Wave, where American cinema reflected the politically and socially driven films of the time. The Hollywood New Wave overlapped with the Second Wave Feminism. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) reflects those movements of the time with its unique editing and shooting techniques. Geoff King describes the camera movements as (Smith, 2010). When Bonnie and Clyde premiered in 1967, America was in the height of a sexual revolution, which reflected these themes in the film. In the film, Bonnie is a sexually frustrate woman, because the man she loves is initially impotent in their sexual encounters. She gets sexually attracted by violence and crime, which is a concept that was rarely explored on screen.
...ssed as police officers, cornered and shot seven members of a top rival gang in the back. Such levels of violence were horrific however it appeared that no-one might touch him till 1931, wherever where was finally convicted for tax evasion instead of the four hundred murders he was presumed have committed.
and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Wyatt was never caught and tried because he
On the run leaving stores and banks empty and the police right on their tail. This is how possibly the most well known crime duo lived in the 1930’s. Going town to town and business to business looking to find their next big score. All with the cops always being one step behind and struggling to figure out the duo’s next move. This is the rough and interesting life of Bonnie and Clyde and the barrow gang.
On August 2, 2009 around 2:30 p.m., David Riley, an alleged member of the Lincoln Park gang, was parked in a San Diego neighborhood with his girlfriend and three other men. When a member of a rival gang, Mr. Webster, drove through the nearby intersection, the three men near Riley’s car fired multiple shots into Mr. Webster’s car. After Mr. Webster’s car crashed, the three nearby shooters got into Riley’s car, an Oldsmobile, and drove away. Eyewitnesses to the shooting claimed that Riley could have been one of the shooters but declined to give a definitive positive identification of Riley as one of the shooters. Police found Riley’s Oldsmobile in a known Lincoln Park gang area the next day almost completely hidden.
A lot of people said he was just too nice. He was said to help out a lot and did a lot of good work. He would get anything for anyone, no questions asked. Though, he was said to make jokes that he would one day kill all of the crack addicts and prostitutes to clean up the streets. A major thing was he was the one dealing the crack to the girls. He would give them crack in exchange for money and sexual favors. He also had a lot of sketchy jobs done and had a lot of sketchy evidence that pointed to him. For example, he had a bunch of pictures of girls, most who have went missing. He also had the same gun that was used to kill more than half of the girls. A friend of his who was interviewed said it even seems like Lonnie was trying to get caught. He would show off the gun and the pictures and even one time handcuffs fell out of his car. He would try to get different women into his car and make them come into his home. Lonnie tried to get this one prostitute, Roxanne, to go into the back of his garage. He didn’t even really have a reason. The same girl said that she witness Lonnie slit this one girls throat. It was also said that most of the cars he was working on were cars that he had stole. One of his friends in an interview said that he would steal cars and that’s the reason he thought Lonnie was getting arrested but his other friend immediately shut that down and said Lonnie had never stolen a car. His friends also thought
robbed when it was necessary, they both became famous in the newspapers because no police or authorities could capture them, their trick was to move from one place to the other, staying at different hotels or abandoned houses. As per the movie lines, “They were the strangest damned gang you ever heard of. They’re young, they‘re in love, they rob banks”. They were forced to scape from one state to the other in order to evade charges and persecution. During the 1930’s people hated banks and businesses because of their economic loss due to the great depression. This movie allowed people to make imaginary fantasies in order to fulfill their life desires that were banned. Bonnie and Clyde is one of few films that came out during this New Hollywood era which had started to incorporate violence, promiscuity, disillusionment, and ideas of going against social norms. Technological advances during the time also exposed filmmakers to use new cameras such as the hand held cameras and zoom lenses. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes to bring the characters seen as alive and in motion to the viewer. Many studios also faced financial troubles during this time due to high production costs. The idea of filming people in their natural settings without having to be staged and the loose style of editing were on the rise. Both of the movies captured the attention of the American
Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde introduced violence into the culture of film. Penn uses graphic violence in Bonnie and Clyde to bring attention to the violence youth of the 60’s were going into. The Vietnam War was at it worse and many of America youth were being killed. He uses a story that takes place in the 1930’s Great Depression and brilliantly uses it to relate to the 1960’s. He skillfully uses Bonnie and Clyde being killed in their youth to young American soldiers being send to fight in the Vietnam War, which many were oppose to. This was also a war were many young men were killed in their youth like Bonnie and Clyde. I believe this film help put the problem of violence on the national agenda. This movie also help the audience which at the time were youth, escape the horrors of war. In a sense the movie made young men face their fears of that time. The idea was if you can’t escape it why not face it. America in the 60’s was facing one of the biggest increases in violence since the 1030’s. The use of graphic violence in Bonnie and Clyde shows the real devastation many Americans were facing in their day to day lives. Another thing that was use in this movie was humor and comedy. I believe this was Penn way of helping his audience escape the devastating problem of violence and releasing the stress they might have been feeling as a result. However, it might have opposed for some, as they had become used to seeing violence in the media. In the last scene as Bonnie and
Even though Fast Sam,Cool Clyde and Stuff is written in Stuff point of view, you can still tell a lot about Clyde. Clyde is mature. Stuff says, “ he talked a little quieter than everybody else, and I wondered if he was older or something.” This explains that when he talked quiet, everyone still listened as if he was older, but he was around the same age as all of them.The text also says, “Clyde that was the kid's name-turned to me and spoke in a calm voice.” This also explains that it wasn't just a one time thing, he did this all the time.