'Bonnie and Clyde': A 1967 Classic Ranked 27th Among 'Greatest American Films'
'Bonnie and Clyde': A 1967 Classic Ranked 27th Among 'Greatest American Films'
Will SayreSun, April 26, 2026 at 1:00 AM UTC
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It's been over a year since Gene Hackman passed away, but he certainly won't be forgotten after a decorated career in Hollywood.
His second Academy Award arrived in 1993 for his supporting work in Unforgiven — and 25 years earlier, he was nominated in the same category for another renowned film. Bonnie and Clyde featured a stellar cast alongside Hackman and won two Oscars (with a whopping 10 nods).
The romance crime drama is nearing its 59th anniversary since being released in the U.S. and is ranked No. 27 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. It currently holds a 91% average critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite facing controversy upon release for its excessive violence and favoring "the bad guys." Here's the official synopsis:
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Small-time crook Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) tries to steal a car and winds up with its owner's daughter, dissatisfied small-town girl Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway). Their crimes quickly spiral from petty theft to bank robbery, but tensions between the couple and the other members of their gang — hapless driver C.W. (Michael J. Pollard), Clyde's suave older brother Buck (Hackman) and Buck's flibbertigibbet wife, Blanche (Estelle Parsons) — could destroy them all.
While certain critics were unsure what to make of Bonnie and Clyde as it hit the masses in 1967, Roger Ebert came onto the scene and boldly gave the film four of four stars, writing: "Bonnie and Clyde is a milestone in the history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance. It is also pitilessly cruel, filled with sympathy, nauseating, funny, heartbreaking, and astonishingly beautiful. If it does not seem that those words should be strung together, perhaps that is because movies do not very often reflect the full range of human life."
Decades later, fellow critic Wael Khairy would also praise the film on Ebert's website, writing, "Bonnie and Clyde saved American cinema once. The time has come for it to save it again."
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
