I am an amateur historian who is fascinated with the prohibition/depression era. The criminals and their opposite lawmen are the stuff of legend and this miniseries focuses highly on the legend and less on the facts. In defense of the writers, the facts of this era are often nebulous, contradicting, and confusing, so a little bit of a mythology mindset won't hurt anyone. This miniseries is not completely off base in depicting the most famous criminal couple in US history, especially when compared to the 1967 version. This modern reboot of the famous duo's crime spree was not that bad and was entertaining to anyone who was not highly familiar with the details of the couple's exploits. If you do not care how historically accurate the series is, stop reading here because the spoilers start below:
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
If I were to re-title the series with a more descriptive name I would call it "The Mythmaking of Bonnie and Clyde. The writers of this series focused heavily on the mythology behind the gangster era with an emphasis on fate. The flashes Clyde had all throughout the series such as seeing his brother's head blown open and the bullet holes in the bathtub scene are ominous signs of a violent death. Clyde seems to want to abandon his violent lifestyle, but as 'fate' would have it he is pulled back into it by Bonnie or through circumstances. This mythical quality added to the series is reminiscent to the Greek description of a vision from the oracle at Delphi (minus the fortune cookie like answers from the priests on stones...that part of the oracle always makes me laugh). Clyde meets Bonnie in the series at her wedding when he catches her...garment and Clyde falls under Bonnie's trance. He will later take her to a speak easy where he tells her that the two of them are meant to be. Again, more fate related themes that engulf the series, sadly at the expense of historical authenticity. There is little consensus as to how Bonnie and Clyde met, but the most likely story is that Clyde was helping out an injured friend and Bonnie was also there serving food. Less mythological and dramatic than at Bonnie's wedding, but far more likely. Bonnie's husband, Roy Thornton, was a professional criminal and was constantly in jail. He was believed to have remarked after hearing of the pair's deaths, "I'm glad they died like they did. It's much better than being in jail" or something to that affect. It is clear that Bonnie was hardly a virtuous girl who was caught up by Clyde's smooth talking, but that she was naturally attracted to men of criminal activity. Bonnie was believed to have carried a gun, but was only observed shooting a weapon once by a credible source, a Joplin Police officer who was pinned down by fire from Bonnie using a BAR during the apartment escape. However, the series combines two incidences, the Joplin and the Kansas City getaways into one. The getaway depicted in the series was set in Joplin, but actually depicted the Kansas City getaway since that was the one where Buck, Clyde, and Blanche were all wounded. Also, Bonnie would be burned on the leg in Texas, not in Missouri, before the Kansas City getaway where Buck would be mortally wounded. The series fails to cast Barrow gang trigger man William Jones even though he was highly important to the gang's successful escape. The farmer's account of the Easter Sunday murder of two officers as depicted in the series was found to be highly inaccurate about a month after the incident since all bullets extracted from the officer's bodies matched the same gun, a .45 Colt Automatic that would be found on Clyde at the time of his death. Bonnie never was known to carry a .45, but sometimes carried a .38. It was also determined that the farmer was too far away to accurately hear what Bonnie might have said when she ran over to the dying officer, so it is highly unlikely that Bonnie executed the officer with the remark, "his head bounced just like a rubber ball". However, the press at the time did carry this story and it seriously turned the public against the couple, particularly Bonnie who then had her first murder charge placed on her after this incident. The series also failed to show Clyde's modified "Whip-it guns." He sawed off the butt stock and shortened the barrel of a BAR, which he also fitted with a sling, so he could 'whip it out,' which gave his gang an edge over lawmen. The series did vividly depict Clyde's term in prison at Eastham and historically his time at Eastham is what drove Clyde to kill. Clyde would commit his first murder in prison when he killed a prisoner who sexually assaulted him regularly. Clyde was acquitted of the murder, but harbored a violent hatred for the Texas prison system. If anything other than Clyde's natural propensity for crime is to blame for his targeting of lawmen, it was his hatred for the dysfunctional Texas prison system. The series shows Clyde breaking Buck out of prison, when in actuality he busted out at least five inmates in 1934, after Buck's death in Iowa. During the breakout, one of the escapees (not Clyde) killed a guard. Frank Hamer was hired to hunt the gang down after the Eastham breakout of 1934. Hamer understood that the police had been out-gunned in most fights and that the gang was highly proficient in combat. The machine gun restrictions enacted after the St. Valantines Day massacre were in place and this had not stopped the Barrow gang from breaking into national guard armories to furnish themselves with military grade weapons. Hamer was forced to apply to the federal government for permits to obtain the proper weapons to confront the gang. Hamer was not involved with the Barrow case until 1934.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
If I were to re-title the series with a more descriptive name I would call it "The Mythmaking of Bonnie and Clyde. The writers of this series focused heavily on the mythology behind the gangster era with an emphasis on fate. The flashes Clyde had all throughout the series such as seeing his brother's head blown open and the bullet holes in the bathtub scene are ominous signs of a violent death. Clyde seems to want to abandon his violent lifestyle, but as 'fate' would have it he is pulled back into it by Bonnie or through circumstances. This mythical quality added to the series is reminiscent to the Greek description of a vision from the oracle at Delphi (minus the fortune cookie like answers from the priests on stones...that part of the oracle always makes me laugh). Clyde meets Bonnie in the series at her wedding when he catches her...garment and Clyde falls under Bonnie's trance. He will later take her to a speak easy where he tells her that the two of them are meant to be. Again, more fate related themes that engulf the series, sadly at the expense of historical authenticity. There is little consensus as to how Bonnie and Clyde met, but the most likely story is that Clyde was helping out an injured friend and Bonnie was also there serving food. Less mythological and dramatic than at Bonnie's wedding, but far more likely. Bonnie's husband, Roy Thornton, was a professional criminal and was constantly in jail. He was believed to have remarked after hearing of the pair's deaths, "I'm glad they died like they did. It's much better than being in jail" or something to that affect. It is clear that Bonnie was hardly a virtuous girl who was caught up by Clyde's smooth talking, but that she was naturally attracted to men of criminal activity. Bonnie was believed to have carried a gun, but was only observed shooting a weapon once by a credible source, a Joplin Police officer who was pinned down by fire from Bonnie using a BAR during the apartment escape. However, the series combines two incidences, the Joplin and the Kansas City getaways into one. The getaway depicted in the series was set in Joplin, but actually depicted the Kansas City getaway since that was the one where Buck, Clyde, and Blanche were all wounded. Also, Bonnie would be burned on the leg in Texas, not in Missouri, before the Kansas City getaway where Buck would be mortally wounded. The series fails to cast Barrow gang trigger man William Jones even though he was highly important to the gang's successful escape. The farmer's account of the Easter Sunday murder of two officers as depicted in the series was found to be highly inaccurate about a month after the incident since all bullets extracted from the officer's bodies matched the same gun, a .45 Colt Automatic that would be found on Clyde at the time of his death. Bonnie never was known to carry a .45, but sometimes carried a .38. It was also determined that the farmer was too far away to accurately hear what Bonnie might have said when she ran over to the dying officer, so it is highly unlikely that Bonnie executed the officer with the remark, "his head bounced just like a rubber ball". However, the press at the time did carry this story and it seriously turned the public against the couple, particularly Bonnie who then had her first murder charge placed on her after this incident. The series also failed to show Clyde's modified "Whip-it guns." He sawed off the butt stock and shortened the barrel of a BAR, which he also fitted with a sling, so he could 'whip it out,' which gave his gang an edge over lawmen. The series did vividly depict Clyde's term in prison at Eastham and historically his time at Eastham is what drove Clyde to kill. Clyde would commit his first murder in prison when he killed a prisoner who sexually assaulted him regularly. Clyde was acquitted of the murder, but harbored a violent hatred for the Texas prison system. If anything other than Clyde's natural propensity for crime is to blame for his targeting of lawmen, it was his hatred for the dysfunctional Texas prison system. The series shows Clyde breaking Buck out of prison, when in actuality he busted out at least five inmates in 1934, after Buck's death in Iowa. During the breakout, one of the escapees (not Clyde) killed a guard. Frank Hamer was hired to hunt the gang down after the Eastham breakout of 1934. Hamer understood that the police had been out-gunned in most fights and that the gang was highly proficient in combat. The machine gun restrictions enacted after the St. Valantines Day massacre were in place and this had not stopped the Barrow gang from breaking into national guard armories to furnish themselves with military grade weapons. Hamer was forced to apply to the federal government for permits to obtain the proper weapons to confront the gang. Hamer was not involved with the Barrow case until 1934.