On Bonnie and Clyde's 40th Anniversary, a DVD Tribute Fans the Revolutionary Embers

But don’t forget Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss — that scruffy, druggy Texas kid, the perfect mechanic and ... well, in the Newman-Benton script he was supposed to give both Bonnie and Clyde a sweet time in bed before they found each other. That wasn’t true to the history, but it was fair to the ’60s. Beatty the producer and the destined lover-boy thought it might be confusing and enough to take a few million dollars off the gross.

That is not said cynically. Producers need to like money as much as movies. I still think that Bonnie and Clyde was Beatty’s triumph, and there is extra material on the DVD that testifies (inadequately) to the battle he fought to save the picture after early reviews that were poor or worse. What really influenced Hollywood in the ’70s was Beatty’s example of taking responsibility for Bonnie and Clyde and insisting on it — with the studio, with critics, with projectionists if necessary. He knew that to make the film was only part of the battle.

They're young. They're in love. They rob banks.

Ready for their close-up: Dunaway and Beatty (right) strike a pose.

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More About

• Warren Beatty
• Lillian Gish
• Robert Towne
• D.W. Griffith
• Crime and Gangster Films

And that brings us to the oddest conclusion 41 years later. What has happened to Beatty? We can be happy for the married man and the father of four — and I will be surprised if the kids aren’t remarkable, or if they don’t have to overthrow one of the quietest control freaks of our time. But if you look at Beatty’s career, there has been nothing as wicked or beautiful as Bonnie and Clyde again. Did the film satisfy his search for money, glory, women and self? Did he say it all there? I’m talking about Warren Beatty — oh, you must remember him. Just look him up in the books. He knew Norma Desmond!

Bonnie and Clyde (Two-Disc Special Edition and Ultimate Collector’s Edition) is re­leased by Warner Home Video on Tuesday, March 25.