Casablanca and Bonnie and Clyde Auteur Essay

“The Hollywood machine has always crushed any individuality in filmmaking”. Compare the extent the films you have studied display auteur individuality.

The influence of Hollywood on American films was much more prominent under the studio system during the Golden Age of Hollywood, where films were highly reflective of the studios that made them. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), for example, is characteristic of Warner Bros’ house style to the extent that the studio could be considered an auteur influence on the film. In contrast, Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) was made during the New Hollywood era, when there was much greater freedom for the directors producing under studios, but also more room for independent filmmakers and creative individuality. Bonnie and Clyde takes inspiration from the auteurs in the French New Wave, so although Penn’s style is arguably not that of an auteur himself, his influences from the French New Wave certainly were and as a result, Bonnie and Clyde shows secondary auteur individuality.

Much like many of Warner Bros’ other films during the Golden Age of Hollywood, Casablanca is a realistic film with an urban setting and fast-paced dialogue, conforming to Warner Bros’ house style. In the scene where Ilsa has gone to Rick to beg for the letters of transit, their exchanges are snappy, creating a sense of heightened emotion. Although Casablanca is an urban setting, the foreign city also provides exoticism to the film, which Warner Bros used to compete with the other studios and is shown off in the wide shots in the opening of the film. Therefore, there is some individuality in the film’s unique setting, though it still fits the Warner Bros house style. Additionally, the realistic wartime setting gave room for Jack Warner’s political agenda in wanting America to join WWII, showing his influence on the films produced by Warner Bros. Not every Warner Bros films had a political agenda, however, suggesting a degree of individuality in Casablanca.

During the Golden Age of Hollywood the studio system was supported by the star system, with each studio having their own ‘stable’. Whilst Warner Bros did not have a fixed stable, the studio frequently used the same stars, their regular collaborators including James Cagney, Edward Robinson and Humphrey Bogart, all of whom seemed more ‘guy-next-door’ than extremely attractive superstars. This set Warner Bros apart as a studio that favoured realism above everything, even in terms of its actors; for example Bogart’s heavy New York accent in Casablanca stood out from the common Mid-Atlantic accent used in contemporary films. In his earlier Warner Bros’ films, Bogart was known for playing gangster roles, and the studio used this to their advantage, even paying homage to these previous characters at the end of Casablanca, when Rick wears a suit, hat and coat with a turned up collar reflective of his gangster outfits. Therefore, whilst the actors did not have auteur individuality and were frequently typecast within their studio, Warner Bros had individuality from the other studios in terms of the stars that worked for them and the realism of them compared to hyper-glamorous stars at other studios.

Furthermore, Warner Bros showed off these unique assets, which is evident in Casablanca through the catch lights on Ingrid Bergman throughout the film to show her attractiveness. Similarly, in scenes with either Ilsa or Rick and supporting characters, the camera always favours the star; for example, in the conversation between Rick, Captain Renault and the Nazi major the camera remains focused on Rick, even when Rick stands up to leave the table and the other two men remain sat down. Equally, in the scene at the piano with Ilsa and Sam, Ingrid Bergman has a lot more screen-time, showing the importance of stars to the studios’ brands and in this case, Bergman and Bogart making Warner Bros distinct from the other studios.

Even directors at the time submitted to the dominance of the studios, forgoing much creative individuality and conforming to the studio’s house style. This is true of Casablanca‘s director, Michael Curtiz, who regularly worked for Warner Bros and made realistic films for the studio. Additionally, composer Max Steiner used his non-diegetic composed score in Casablanca for the purpose of the studio, manipulating the audience according to who Warner Bros wanted them to sympathise with. Whenever the Nazi characters are shown, the score takes a sinister turn, particularly noticeable during the arrival of the Nazi major at the airport towards the end. However, whilst directors and composers were less artistically powerful than the studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood, their contributions still altered the house style: Steiner composed over 100 scores for Warner Bros and was so influential he composed the signature Warner Bros fanfare that plays at the start of Casablanca, showing some of the artistic individuality of the time, even if it aided the studio’s overall auteur individuality.

Therefore, films produced during the Golden Age of Hollywood, such as Casablanca, were arguably the products of their studio ‘auteur’, which had individuality from the other studios, but many similarities amongst its own films, as all the artists contributed to the studio house style rather than having their own distinctive auteur individuality. In contrast, the individuals became far more important during the New Hollywood era, once the French New Wave had introduced the term ‘auteur’ and the individuality associated with it.

Although stars in the Golden Age of Hollywood did not have much freedom, this changed in New Hollywood, where actor Warren Beatty had enough control over his portrayal of Clyde to emphasise the sexual ambiguity of the character, which might have been omitted without his input and star quality. He also chose to maintain a limp throughout the film to create a sense of naturalism. Beatty’s other significant influence over the film Bonnie and Clyde was as a first-time producer. Despite it being his producing debut, Beatty received 40% of the gross rather than a fixed fee for the film, which shows the increasing importance of individuals compared to the domination of studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Director Arthur Penn is arguably less distinct as a creative presence in Bonnie and Clyde due to the amount of inspiration taken from the French New Wave in the film. For example, Bonnie and Clyde was shot on-location in the deep American South to create a sense of realism promoted by the French New Wave. The South had not fully recovered from the Great Depression era, providing an apt, deprived-looking setting for the film, which would not have been the same in the more stable Eastern cities. Since they were shooting on-location, available light was used more instead of expensive lighting set-ups that would have to be transported. To take advantage of the sun as natural lighting, Bonnie and Clyde was often shot at golden hour, such as in the sequence where the Barrow Gang meets up with family members. The warmth of the sun at this time, along with the filters on the lenses make the sequence look dreamlike, which contrasts the harshness of the rest of the film. However, the shadows also create a sense of conflict, as the meet-up is only temporary and the gang have to return to their life of violence on the run.

Other than the one warmer sequence, the film is very harsh and realistic, from setting to dialogue and editing. The French New Wave encourage improvised dialogue, with less focus on the overarching plot and this is evident in Bonnie and Clyde, as the focus is more on the characters themselves. Additionally, in the opening sequence in which Bonnie and Clyde meet for the first time, they often speak over one another, which is more accurate to reality than the carefully constructed and timed dialogue in films such as Casablanca.

The editing in Bonnie and Clyde moves away from the traditional continuity editing in Golden Age of Hollywood films that aimed to tell the story in a straightforward way. The French New Wave made use of editing as an artistic element and featured jump cuts that Arthur Penn was inspired by in the making of Bonnie and Clyde. The opening has jarring editing between the photographs, with loud camera click noises to emphasise the harshness and set up the violent nature of the film. The photos themselves show effects of the Great Depression, immediately grounding the film in a sense of realism that reflects French New Wave films.

Another huge change in Hollywood films from the Golden Age to the New Hollywood period was the presentation of character. The strict Hays Code implemented during the Golden Age restricted sexual or violent imagery in films, showing the limits Hollywood put on creative freedom and expression at the time. Therefore, the protagonists were reduced to ‘heroes’ and the female characters were demure and pure, evident in Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa in Casablanca. However, by the time of New Hollywood, cinema had become more bold through the French New Wave influence and in Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie is sexualised from the very beginning through the close-up of her red lips and her implied nudity. The French New Wave also featured anti-authoritative characters, such as in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Similarly, in Bonnie and Clyde, the protagonists are violent criminals who are against the state and rob banks, yet the audience is positioned with them despite their lacking morals, in stark contrast to the characters in Casablanca.

Ultimately, there was much greater individuality and variety in films made in New Hollywood, compared to the Golden Age of Hollywood, where studios had a monopoly over American cinema and mass-produced films that conformed to their house style. However, through the individual studios, there was auteur individuality in each of their different outputs, meaning the studio Warner Bros had more of a claim to the title ‘auteur’ than director Michael Curtiz for the film Casablanca. Equally, it is not director Arthur Penn that has the auteur individuality in Bonnie and Clyde, but his French New Wave influences, directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Therefore, it could be argued that the ‘Hollywood machine’ had crushed individuality to the degree that it required foreign influence to revive individuality and create the concept of individual auteur style.

Unconventional Auteur: Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) was part of the New Hollywood era, which took great influence from foreign film. Arthur Penn was particularly inspired by the French New Wave, which produced strong auteur directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut and was the movement that popularised the term ‘auteur’. Therefore, whilst Penn’s style was not necessarily distinctive enough to consider him an auteur, his influences from the French New Wave were auteurs and the film Bonnie and Clyde is a product of that movement.

The French New Wave sought to move away from the ‘lacking sincerity’ of the Golden Age of Hollywood films that had reached France after the end of the Second World War and the French filmmakers wanted to introduce more realism to their films. Therefore, they often chose to shoot on-location rather than create sets, which helped keep costs low in post-war France. The concept of on-location shooting influenced New Hollywood films, such as Bonnie and Clyde, which was filmed in the deep American South. The South had not fully recovered from the Great Depression era, providing an apt, deprived-looking setting for the film, which would not have been the same in the more stable Eastern cities.

Since they were shooting on-location, available light was used more instead of expensive lighting set-ups that would have to be transported. To take advantage of the sun as natural lighting, Bonnie and Clyde was often shot at golden hour, such as in the sequence where the Barrow Gang meets up with family members. The warmth of the sun at this time, along with the filters on the lenses make the sequence look dreamlike, which contrasts the harshness of the rest of the film. However, the shadows also create a sense of conflict, as the meet-up is only temporary and the gang have to return to their life of violence on the run.

Other than the one warmer sequence, the film is very harsh and realistic, from setting to dialogue and editing. The French New Wave encourage improvised dialogue, with less focus on the overarching plot and this is evident in Bonnie and Clyde, as the focus is more on the characters themselves. Additionally, in the opening sequence in which Bonnie and Clyde meet for the first time, they often speak over one another, which is more accurate to reality than the carefully constructed and timed dialogue in films such as Casablanca.

From the very opening of the film, Bonnie is sexualised through the close-up of her red lips and her implied nudity. This was a new presentation of women in Hollywood cinema, as the Golden Age of Hollywood presented stars such as Ingrid Bergman as pure and demurely feminine as a result of the strict Hays Code. In contrast, France was much more open about sexuality, which is reflected in its films. Therefore, Bonnie and Clyde is more reflective of the French films that earlier classic Hollywood films.

The French New Wave also featured anti-authoritative characters, such as in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Similarly, in Bonnie and Clyde, the protagonists are violent criminals who are against the state and rob banks, yet the audience is positioned with them despite their lacking morals. However, in Casablanca, the protagonists are seen as the ‘heroes’ against the evil Nazi characters.

The editing in Bonnie and Clyde moves away from the traditional continuity editing in Golden Age of Hollywood films that aimed to tell the story in a straightforward way. The French New Wave made use of editing as an artistic element and featured jump cuts that Arthur Penn was inspired by in the making of Bonnie and Clyde. The opening has jarring editing between the photographs, with loud camera click noises to emphasise the harshness and set up the violent nature of the film. The photos themselves show effects of the Great Depression, immediately grounding the film in a sense of realism that reflects French New Wave films.

The other large artistic presence in Bonnie and Clyde is actor and producer Warren Beatty. His influence was enough to secure the funding for the film, despite being a risky venture for the studio. He also had significant control over his portrayal of Clyde, opting to include ambiguity around the character’s sexuality, which might not have been presented without his input and star quality. He maintains a naturalistic limp throughout the film, showing his commitment to continuity of character.

Bonnie and Clyde is a film highly influence by the French New Wave and the French auteurs who created the movement. Therefore, whilst Arthur Penn may not himself be considered an auteur, Bonnie and Clyde is still a product of the auteurs who inspired him. In addition, Warren Beatty made a significant impact on the film, though he could perhaps not be considered an individual auteur either.

New Hollywood: Bonnie and Clyde

New Hollywood came after the decline of the studio system and the popular rise of the television, meaning the film landscape had vastly changed in America. There was greater influence from abroad, in particular the French New Wave, and more room for creative expression in cinema, without the strict confines of the studios and their agendas. The filmmakers were given more control over their own films, even those still produced under a studio; for example, Warren Beatty made his producing debut with Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967), receiving a massive 40% of the gross rather than taking a fixed sum, which would have been unheard of during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

During New Hollywood, the studios continued to exist but in diminished form, whilst the creators thrived with their new freedom. At the start of Bonnie and Clyde, the Warner Bros logo is not accompanied by fanfare, whereas Casablanca presents the studio as an institution through this fanfare. Additionally, the logo in Casablanca has the name of executive producer Jack L. Warner on it, showing his control over the film in comparison to the plain logo in sepia at the start of Bonnie and Clyde suggesting its age and decline. Star actor Warren Beatty also had more control over his presentation of the character, choosing to play up his ambiguous sexuality, which would not have been suggested or even promoted by the studio alone and Arthur Penn had more freedom as a director than the Golden Age of Hollywood directors who served to channel the studio’s vision; Casablanca is very much a product of Jack Warner’s vision, rather than that of director Michael Curtiz.

With the availability of television, film in this era had to offer something different and exciting, which could not be provided at home. This led to more daring images, both sexual and violent. Bonnie and Clyde is excessively violent at times, particularly in the final scene, when Bonnie and Clyde are brutally murdered with rounds and rounds of shots being fired at them. A 1960s/70s audience would not have expected this type of violence from a film and it certainly wasn’t available at home on the television, where there were strict regulations. Similarly, the introduction of Bonnie with her implied nudity was very edgy and the character is seen as beautiful in a sexual way, rather than the demure beauty of female stars such as Ingrid Bergman during the Golden Age of Hollywood. These two elements of violence and sexual imagery are often combined in the film in that the violence carried out by the Barrow Gang is glamorised. At times, the cruelty of the gang is even comical, such as when they throw the two passengers out of the car in the middle of nowhere, or leave the sheriff floating and stranded on a lake.

However, the film also has very realistic elements, indicated by the opening sequence which displays real photos from the Great Depression. This places the audience into the context in a jarring way, which contrasts the soothing tones of the narrator’s exposition in the Golden Age of Hollywood film Casablanca. Another notable difference is in the performance and accents of the stars in Bonnie and Clyde compared to Casablanca. The regional Southern accents heard in Bonnie and Clyde were more reflective of reality, but unusual in American cinema until New Hollywood, as previously the ambiguous Mid-Atlantic accent was preferred. Additionally, the characters in Bonnie and Clyde seem more human as opposed to being careful, unruffled stars as in Casablanca. At times, Clyde is dishevelled in appearance and does not maintain a cool exterior as Rick does in Casablanca, presenting him as a realistic character with faults, rather than an aspirational star.

Furthermore, instead of large, expensive sets created by the studios, New Hollywood films often shot on-location, giving a more naturalistic setting to the films. In Bonnie and Clyde, the vast majority of the film is shot in the expanse of the American South, which still had remnants of the hard times of the Great Depression, having not recovered in the same way as the big cities in the East. Therefore, the audience is placed more thoroughly into the environment in a way that Golden Age of Hollywood films don’t manage as successfully with their extravagant sets, such as Rick’s Diner in Casablanca.

From the Golden Age of Hollywood to New Hollywood, there was a shift in what narratives focused on and the portrayal of characters. The typical Golden Age of Hollywood film Casablanca has a strong focus on the plot, using the narrative device of the transit letters to drive it. The audience are placed firmly with the ‘hero’ characters Rick, Ilsa and Victor against the caricturised Nazi villains, who are always accompanied with a dark turn in the composed score. In contrast, the protagonists in Bonnie and Clyde are the ones on the wrong side of the law, yet the audience is encouraged to sympathise with them and they are the main focus of the film, hence the finale being their death, as there is no reason to continue the film without them. The ending is made particularly shocking through its lack of music, forcing the audience to witness the brutality in isolation, with only the sounds of the piercing and repetitive gunshots. This emphasises the positioning of the audience, as their deaths seem unnecessary and the number of shots excessive.

The influence from foreign cinema was particularly prominent during New Hollywood and Arthur Penn’s inspiration from the French New Wave is evident in Bonnie and Clyde. The invisible editing from the Golden Age of Hollywood is replaced with jarring straight cuts in the film, as the French New Wave saw editing not just as functional but an opportunity for further artistic choice.

Bonnie and Clyde is drastically different from any of the films from the Golden Age of Hollywood, so was clearly indicative of the ‘New Hollywood’ that was being ushered in. Films of this time were eventually characterised by the foreign influence and more daring content contained within them, such as the extreme violence and evident sexuality in Bonnie and Clyde. Arguably, the film would not have existed under the strict studio regime or safe output of the Golden Age of Hollywood before television came to challenge cinema, so it is very much a film of its ‘New Hollywood’ time.