Arthur Penn, RIP

[dirac]

Arthur Penn, film director and brother to Irving Penn, has died at age 88.

Mr. Penn’s direction may also have changed the course of American history. He advised Senator John F. Kennedy during his watershed television debates with Richard M. Nixon in 1960 (and directed the broadcast of the third debate). Mr. Penn’s instructions to Kennedy — to look directly into the lens of the camera and keep his responses brief and pithy — helped give the candidate an aura of confidence and calm that created a vivid contrast to his more experienced but less telegenic Republican rival.

But it was as a film director that Mr. Penn left his mark on American culture, most indelibly with “Bonnie and Clyde.”

[Helene]

Rest in peace, Mr. Penn and my condolences to your family.

[Bonnette]

Oh, we have lost so many great ones this year. The world is poorer for Mr. Penn's loss.

[dirac]

Oh, we have lost so many great ones this year. The world is poorer for Mr. Penn's loss.

I saw the last scenes of Bonnie and Clyde again recently. They never lose their tension, shock, and strange beauty no matter how many times they are viewed. Penn's longtime editor was Dede Allen, who also died not long ago.

[Bonnette]

Penn's longtime editor was Dede Allen, who also died not long ago.

Yes, I saw the notice about Ms. Allen and thought it a very sad synchronicity.

I agree with you about the strange beauty of those last scenes in Bonnie and Clyde...the otherworldly picnic/reunion scene strikes me in the same manner, and many instances in real life remind me of it.

[Quiggin]

It really holds up. We were shown “Bonnie and Clyde” (and “Mickey One”) in our sleepy film school before it was released to see what we thought of it. I thought it was ok, but nowhere as good as “Breathless” - “Bonnie and Clyde” was Hollywood trying to catch up. A friend of mine remembers being upset by the ending - also he said none of us knew in our youthful ernestness how to deal with the tonal shifts - funny to bloody - how to assess the style. He remembers Pauline Kael or someone calling it balletic - or a ballet of death.

It was interesting how “Bonnie and Clyde” became the film that students said made them want to be filmmakers - as “Breathless” had been before and “Days of Heaven” would be later.

[dirac]

Yes, it does hold up, certainly for me. The first twenty or so minutes are just as instructive as the last in terms of editing and construction. (It's characteristic of the Oscars that Dede Allen was not even nominated in the editing category that year – and she never did win one. Ludicrous.) I can't say that any of Penn's other films reached the level of Bonnie and Clyde and it may be that he happened to be in the right place at the right time. But sometimes one film is enough.

I also happen to like The Miracle Worker a lot, although as a stage adaptation it tends to get short shrift.

I thought it was ok, but nowhere as good as "Breathless" - "Bonnie and Clyde" was Hollywood trying to catch up.

Which is true. Although B&C has stood the test of time better, I think. When Truffaut turned down B&C, he directed the scriptwriters to Godard. It would have been interesting.

the otherworldly picnic/reunion scene strikes me in the same manner, and many instances in real life remind me of it.

Very true, Bonnette.