Editing Bonnie and Clyde (film) (section)

==Historical accuracy==
[[Image:Bonnieclyde f.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The real [[Bonnie and Clyde]], March 1933]]
The film considerably simplifies the lives of [[Bonnie and Clyde]] and their gang. They were allied with other gang members, were repeatedly jailed, and committed other murders. In the part of the movie where Bonnie and Clyde escape the ambush that killed Buck Barrow and captured Blanche, Bonnie is shown being wounded by a deputy sheriff, whom Clyde then kills. Although they escaped the ambush, no lawmen were killed. Between June 1933 and April 1934, however, the Barrow gang did kill three law officers in Texas<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/14044-patrolman-edward-bryan-wheeler|title=Patrolman Edward Bryan Wheeler|website=The Officer Down Memorial Page|access-date=February 5, 2020|archive-date=October 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006112109/http://www.odmp.org/officer/14044-patrolman-edward-bryan-wheeler|url-status=live}}</ref> and Oklahoma.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/2735-constable-william-calvin-campbell|title=Constable William Calvin Campbell|website=The Officer Down Memorial Page|access-date=February 5, 2020|archive-date=August 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804050050/http://www.odmp.org/officer/2735-constable-william-calvin-campbell|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the run, they suffered a horrific auto accident in which Bonnie was severely burned and disabled.{{citation needed|date = January 2021}} In the scene depicting their death, Bonnie and Clyde are portrayed as having stopped their automobile, with Clyde exiting the car and then looking back at Bonnie as they realize they've been trapped, but reports say the car was still moving when lawmen opened fire.

The sequence with Wilder and Evans is based on the Barrow gang's kidnappings of undertaker H.D. Darby and his acquaintance Sophia Stone, near [[Ruston, Louisiana]], on April 27, 1933. The real Darby and Stone were not romantically involved. The gang also stole Darby's car.<ref>Barrow, Blanche Caldwell, edited by John Neal Phillips (2005). ''My Life with Bonnie and Clyde''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|0-8061-3625-1}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2019}}

The film is considered to stray far from fact in its portrayal of [[Frank Hamer]] as a vengeful bungler who was captured, humiliated, and released by Bonnie and Clyde. Hamer was a decorated [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Ranger]] when he was coaxed out of semi-retirement to hunt the couple down. He had never met them before he and his posse ambushed and killed them near [[Gibsland, Louisiana]], on May 23, 1934.<ref>Guinn, Jeff (2009). ''Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde''. New York: Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|978-1-4165-5706-7}}.</ref> In 1968, Hamer's widow and son sued the movie producers for defamation of character over his portrayal. They obtained an out-of-court settlement in 1971.<ref>Guinn, Jeff (2009). ''Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde''. New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 364. {{ISBN|1-4165-5706-7}}</ref>

{{multiple image
|title='''Bonnie and Clyde & Faye and Warren'''
|footer= In 1932 "shotgun photo", Bonnie Parker points at Clyde Barrow; 1966 photo shows publicity reenactment with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty.
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|image1=Bonnie apuntant de broma a Clyde amb una escopeta.jpg
|width1=158
|image2=Bonnie and Clyde (1967 promo photo - Dunaway & Beatty alt).jpg
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In 1933, police found undeveloped film in [[Bonnie & Clyde Garage Apartment|Bonnie and Clyde's hastily abandoned hideout]] in Joplin, Missouri. When they printed the negatives, one showed Bonnie holding a gun in her hand and a cigar between her teeth. Its publication nationwide typed her as a dramatic [[gun moll]]. The film portrays the taking of this playful photo. It implies the gang sent photos—and poetry—to the press, but this is untrue. The police found most of the gang's items in the Joplin cache. Bonnie's final poem, read aloud by her in the movie, was not published until after her death, when her mother released it.<ref name="nrhpinv">{{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Bonnie and Clyde Garage Apartment |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/weekly_features/BonnieClydeApartment.pdf |date=December 31, 2008 |author=Roger Maserang |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=January 24, 2014 |pages=20–21 |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104222512/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/weekly_features/BonnieClydeApartment.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The only two surviving members of the Barrow Gang when the film was released in 1967 were [[Blanche Barrow]] and [[W. D. Jones|W.D. Jones]]. While Barrow had approved the depiction of her in the original script, she objected to the later rewrites. At the film's release, she complained about [[Estelle Parsons]]'s portrayal of her, saying, "That film made me look like a screaming horse's ass!"<ref>Barrow with Phillips, p. 245n40</ref>