The Bonnie Parker Story **** (1958, Dorothy Provine, Jack Hogan, Richard Bakalyan, Joe Turkel) – Classic Movie Review 11,022

Director William Witney’s zesty 1958 black and white and Superama widescreen cult gangster thriller The Bonnie Parker Story is a low-budget predecessor of Bonnie and Clyde, with Dorothy Provine well cast and on great form as the notorious blonde gun-toting gangster Bonnie Parker.

[Spoiler alert] After her husband Duke Jefferson (Richard Bakalyan) is jailed, Bonnie starts as a waitress, but then joins up with a two-bit bank robber, Guy Darrow (Jack Hogan). They start off robbing gas stations and bars, then graduate to bank hold-ups with Darrow’s brother Chuck Darrow (Joe Turkel) and also her husband, having sprung him from jail, and Bonnie infamously ends her days in a hail of bullets.

The admirable Provine provides the flavour of the Roaring Thirties, leading some entertaining performances, and Witney orchestrates the action scenes with vim and vigour, helped by expressive sets and film noir camerawork. It is no threat to the reputation of Arthur Penn’s film but as a black and white crime B-movie it is a little winner.

Also in the cast are Joe Turkel [Joseph Turkel] as Chuck Darrow, William Stevens, Ken Lynch, Douglas Kennedy, Patricia Huston [Patt Houston], Joël Colin [Joel Colin], Jeff Morris, James Beck [Jim Beck], Jack Halloran, Stanley Livingston, Carolyn Hughes, Madeline Foy, and Sydney Lassick [Sid Lassick].

The Bonnie Parker Story is directed by William Witney, runs 82 minutes, is made by Albany Productions, is released by American International Pictures (1958) (US) and Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1958) (UK), is written by Stanley Shpetner, is shot in black and white and Superama by Jack A Marta, is produced by James H Nicholson, Samuel Z Arkoff and Stanley Shpetner, and is scored by Ronald Stein.

It was released in a double bill with Machine Gun Kelly.

Legend has it that the 23-year-old South Dakota-born, San Francisco-raised Dorothy Provine landed the role of Bonnie Parker just three days after arriving in Hollywood.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,022

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