Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. Massad Ayoob “SLow DAnce on The KiLLing grounD”: The DeAThS oF Bonnie AnD cLyDe Situation: Made celebrity criminals by the Depression-era public, and despised by cops, two dangerous fugitives are gunned down by the police in a well-orchestrated ambush. Lessons: Over the years, many versions of this incident — and many personae of the slain — have emerged. History was different from the movie … and some unanswered questions remain three-quarters of a century later. rpt fro m “The of Bonn Ballad Bonnie ie and Clyde ” by Parker “Some d go downay they’ll togethe r And th e y ’l l b them si u de by s ry ide To few i t ’ll b to the law a re grief, elief But it’s d eath Bonnie and Cl for yde.” Exce Many reading this saw Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde, and felt the ending sear itself into the collective memory of a generation of movie-goers. Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker and Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow, pull over at the roadside to help Malcolm, the father of their friend C. W. Moss. Clyde steps out of the car to help Malcolm change a tire. Suddenly, he and Bonnie realize something is wrong. They exchange a look of mutual horror, and then, everything erupts into a sustained roar of automatic gunfire. The movie stars writhe in helpless agony, with no weapons visibly available to either of them, as bullets tear into them and their motionless Ford. It is a scene that will become one of the most famous in the history of cinema, “The slow dance on the killing ground.” At last, the shooting stops and they lie still. Three men emerge from the bushes across the road, all carrying Thompson submachine guns. They are led by Captain Frank Hamer, who has been captured and humiliated by Bonnie and Clyde earlier in the film. Then the movie closes and segues to the credits, in which the character Dunaway called “Malcolm” is now named Ivan Moss. Dynamic as it was, that scene was a profound deviation from documented history. The Fictionalization The trailer for the movie Bonnie and Clyde blared, “They’re young … they’re in love … and they kill people.” That much, at least, was true. But there were six men behind the police guns, not three, and there wasn’t a Thompson within miles. Frank Hamer, already a living legend among the Texas Rangers, was indeed there and probably acted as the de facto leader of the mixed, if not well blended, law enforcement team. However, though he had memorized their many photographs, he had never seen Bonnie Parker or Clyde Barrow in the flesh until seconds before the shooting. After the movie came out, Hamer’s widow sued the producers for defamation of her husband’s character, and the Hollywood folks settled out of court for a sum that allowed her to live out the rest of her life in comfort. There was no one present named Malcolm, or Ivan Moss, or for that matter C.W. Moss. The latter character was, for movie purposes, a fictionalized blend of long-time Barrow Gang members, such as W.D. Jones from their early days, and Henry Methvin, who accompanied them in the last part of their long and violent run. The latter’s father, Ivy Methvin, had indeed set up Barrow and Parker for the ambush, as correctly depicted in the movie. The young couple died heavily armed. Bonnie Parker (according to the Hamer family) Continued on page 104 30 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009