Dallas. They stole and killed, but Bonnie and Clyde became romanticized gangster icons. Why do we idealize criminals?
90 years ago, perhaps the most famous game of cat and mouse in American history came to an end in a hail of bullets: in the middle of nowhere, in the US state of Louisiana, Bonnie Parker and Clyde “Champion” Barrow were surprised by a group of police officers who were near Sailes emerged from an ambush. Before the pair’s Ford DeLuxe could stop, police riddled the car with more than a hundred bullets – and thus killed the famous gangster couple on May 23, 1934.
Nine decades have passed since the terrible end of the two Texas criminals, but they are still legendary today. Numerous books, films and songs speak of his nefarious acts. Arthur Penn’s film “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967), with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in particular, gave the criminal couple cult status. And Toten Hosen sang in 1996: “Put your head on my shoulder/It’s good to feel it there/And let’s play Bonnie and Clyde/Come on, let’s steal a car/I’ll take you around in it/And we’ll play.”
Dream of a better life
But who was this often idealized couple who were not only hunted for some minor crimes but also responsible for a series of murders? The two met in 1930. Both were in their early 20s, came from poor backgrounds in the Dallas slums, and dreamed of a better life. Bonnie Parker, an artistically talented and ambitious woman, faced a broken marriage; Her husband was in prison for murder. Clyde “Champion” Barrow worked as a con artist and opportunist thief.
It was love at first sight. But soon after, Clyde is put behind bars for two years. When he is released, he is a bitter and vengeful man. He would rather die than go to prison again. And he does everything he can to give back to the Texas justice system for what was done to him in “dirty hell.”
Their joint criminal career begins: as a couple or with accomplices, the couple travels around the country in stolen cars. Every time they run out of money, the two organize a robbery, and Clyde increasingly resorts to the pistol. When the police appear at the scene of the crime, the two have already disappeared from the face of the earth. Newspapers across the country reported the persecution with fascination.
Coordinated hunt
The tide only turns after the gang frees five prisoners from the hated Clyde prison in early 1934. Police band together across state lines and launch a coordinated manhunt. And when the two returned from a party on the morning of May 23, police officers lured them into an ambush on the side of a highway and opened fire.
In the end, there are more than a dozen murders, several bank robberies and countless robberies and car robberies. Bonnie and Clyde were often amateurish in their approach, but even during their lifetime they had a kind of cult status: crowds of people gathering at remote crime scenes. One of the spectators cut off a lock of Bonnie’s hair and took a piece of her blood-soaked dress as a souvenir. Another tried to cut off Clyde’s ear. The coroner had to end the “circus atmosphere”, as he complained, with a word of power.
Poverty and rebellion
According to researchers, what made the two idols far beyond their generation is partly due to the timing of their actions during the Great Depression. Many could identify with Bonnie and Clyde as rebels against the system and rampant poverty. To some, they seemed a bit like Robin Hood – avenging the failures of the state.
The fact that love was also involved certainly made things even more attractive and the media further fed the narrative that generated a longing for freedom and self-determination. In the end, the narrative sold well, including in films and music – mainly because the young and uncompromising couple sold well on camera, for example, when they posed with cars and weapons.
In the end, Bonnie and Clyde gave millions of Americans a story to dream about – even as they ended lives and destroyed families. Their last wish was to be buried together: “One day they will come down together and be buried side by side,” says a poem Bonnie gave her mother during their last visit. But the family doesn’t do him that favor – Bonnie and Clyde are buried in two different cemeteries in Dallas. His tombstone reads: “Gone, but not forgotten.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240517-99-65789/4 (dpa)