Bonnie and Clyde (film) Clyde Barrow firing a Thompson submachine gun as he escapes from the Red Crown Tourist Court. Bonnie and Clyde (film) Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 American biographical crime film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The film features Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons, with Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor, Gene Wilder (first film role), Evans Evans, and Mabel Cavitt in supporting roles. The screenplay was written by David Newman and Robert Benton. Robert Towne and Beatty provided uncredited contributions to the script; Beatty
Bonnie and Clyde (film) possibility to play Bonnie, but when Beatty decided to play Clyde, obviously a different actress was needed. Those considered for the role were Jane Fonda, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, Leslie Caron, Carol Lynley and Sue Lyon. Cher auditioned for the part, while Warren Beatty begged Natalie Wood to play the role. Wood declined the role to concentrate more on her therapy at the time, and acknowledged that working with Beatty before was "difficult." Faye Dunaway stated that she won the part "by the skin of her teeth!" The film is forthright in its handling of sexuality, but that theme was toned