Arthur Penn's Movies Are Quite Pretty Goo

The following example essay on “Arthur Penn’s Movies Are Quite Pretty Goo” is an analysis of the work of the American director, actor, producer, screenwriter Arthur Penn.

One of the directors I picked from this final paper is Arthur Penn because he is one of the best directors all the time and he managed to create a lot of films during the early days. For example, he creates eleven films or more in his career which for me that’s a huge advantage for the whole film industry.

Like he manages to create different versions of genres which it’s crime, drama, history, action, and comedy.

I was shocked when I saw this because I thought he can only create crimes movies, but I was wrong. After that, I will be talking four different movies in the same director which are Bonnie and Clyde, Alice’s Restaurant, The Chase and Little Big Man. In these four films, there are completely different genres or backgrounds because I can talk about how these movies are related to Arthur Penn.

I mean the way how “Penn’s use of lighting and sound are stylistically and intellectually sophisticated, but it his themes, rather than his style, which empowers his oeuvre.”

Also, the way of using camera techniques for each scene was incredible and each of the films has meaning to it. The movie Bonnie and Clyde originated a unique kind of film called road movies. It’s a film including a lot of traveling by using stolen cars.

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For example, “The road movie is a unique yet essential genre of American cinema, dramatizing a fascination with mobility.” This quote fits on the whole movie because this is the first time, I see that the vehicles are the main center point and it’s their important role throughout the film. For instance, at 7:40 we can see Clyde is showing off to Bonnie that he’s a thief because Clyde has a pistol gun and he managed to steal the money from the guy at the grocery store which they escaped by using the car.

Then Bonnie starts kissing Clyde when they are successful got the money and Bonnie’s reaction was pretty joyful. I found out it’s weird that both of them just met and they are already having fun at the beginning of the film. Then the camera angles for this scene is close up and long shot because I can see their faces expression as they look like happy and shocked in every frame. Also, it’s strange that the long shots are just being shown the whole background of the scene which tells me it’s empty there and only has two cars in an enormous street. The other viewpoint I desired to discuss in Bonnie and Clyde is the violence about this film because “These films ignored taboos and appealed to the youth, addressing sex and violence with now iconic moments in motion picture history. ”

I do see a lot of violence and bloody scenes throughout the film, but this specific scene stands all of them which is the end of the movie. At 1:44:00, we can see that Bonnie and Clyde were shot multiple times in a random place. I believe the people from the forest hiding were waiting for Bonnie to come, so both of them will die at the same time. I still find it fascinating that they both died in the car and the people who shooted them didn’t even talk it’s like a silence theme.

After that, Arthur Penn did a wonderful job by making this film because he wasn’t afraid to do a different theme in the movie industry and it shows how it influences today. It’s like an action movie it has a thrill, sex, and violence mixed together in the movie because It’s inspiring to watch it and the audience will enjoy it more than using the Hays Code. It reveals how the objects are being exposed in the scene and the inappropriate things unlike in Hays code, they can’t.

For example, when the person got shot then we can see the gun and the blood which the Hays code will cut that scene if they follow the rules. This is why the film becomes successful and changing the perspective in the film industry. In Alice’s Restaurant film, it’s about Arlo Guthrie who performed in the movie and song by him.

The genre is a comedy and when he got booted out in university, he went to his friend Alice for Thanksgiving dinner which it’s odd to me. Then he freely takes the garbage out to the junkyard because he volunteered it and he found out that it’s closed for Thanksgiving, so he just put it on the side of the road which leads him getting busted by the police. After that, this film is simply that “You can feel Penn trying to portray a lifestyle rather than a plot with characters in it.” This is true because there are no enemies in this film and the one that stands out to me is Arlo’s narration. He uses it when he’s describing what’s his doing in a specific scene.

For example, at 1:02:21 I can hear his voice while the people in the screen just throwing the trash in the minibus. It makes the audiences learned more about Arlo’s Thanksgiving and his friends’ experiences which it helps to understand and his sentiments.

Then minutes goes by at 1:03:43, we can see that they were dumping the trash into the side of the road and I believe this is one of the main problems of this film because the police officer taking every evidence just to prison Arlo’s and his friend. After that, I wanted to observe at 1:20:10 because he was placed into a room with a bunch of people who has criminal records and all of them just wanted to join the military, but it’s complicated for them.

In this scene, they actually have no clothes on just their underwear which gives me a hilarious vibe. Then when he comes in the room, he judges every people in there calling them as ugly, mean, and nasty. When he said those things to the people on the room the camera angles were pointed out to them. Like a closer look to their faces and they were looking in the camera each of them. It’s his narration telling them those words, but he means it and the song were playing while he judges them.

Then Arthur Penn is giving us a view that he can make a film that it’s just a typical person who loves music, but it has the deeper meaning of that person’s life. He put a lot of effort making the film because Guthrie helped him in most of the scenes especially his tunes. After that, Penn earned a third Oscar nomination for the best director all time which I give him that and I can’t believe he can create different genres.

He is a true inspiration director in the film industry because most of the directors I have seen just stick in their one genre. In The Chase movie, it’s about Bubber Reeves escaped from the jail with his friend. When he comes to his hometown, he finds out that his best friend Jake Rogers were having a relationship with Bubber’s wife which it’s messed up if you ask me. Then The genre of this movie is a crime because they managed to escape from the beginning of the film and they haven’t got caught by the police throughout the film.

I think that Arthur Penn spent almost an hour just to let the audience know about the characters and morality of that town. When I was watching this at the middle of the movie, I can’t seem to understand at first because the film hasn’t told me why he was in the jail in the first place, but he seems just a robber/thief to me. At 2:31 I can see that Bubber Reeves played dead in the scene, so if the driver in the road sees it, they might help the person. It works because his friend managed to put his hands to the person’s head to make him sleep, but his friend betrays him by taking the car.

This will affect the story because he’s still free from prison and he can walk to the town. It didn’t show it in the film how he got to the town because he’s been hiding. Also, I noticed in that scene is that the camera is tilting and it doesn’t stay focus all the time. Then when he’s running to chase the car, the camera moves backward. Another thing that interests me is that in 2:04:20 when Sheriff Calder and Bubber walking in the sheriff buildings.

Then this guy appeared and shot Bubber multiples times because to see that his actually dead and I noticed that there’s no blood when the guy shooted him. Also, when Sheriff Calder was beating the guy, the video goes fast forward a little bit and I can see the enhancement. After that, “Although Penn virtually disowned the picture after producer Sam Spiegel had it re-edited, it remains a genuinely disturbing evocation of that traumatic era.”

I agree with this quote because there are a lot of killings in this film including the main character and it’s sad to see that Anna was left with nothing because her husband and her boyfriend were both dead. Overall, Arthur Penn’s movies are quite pretty good because most of his films are based on audiences that can feel the violence and pain which it helps them to see the value meaning of that particular film. Then I noticed that his most films are included drama genres which I understand because each of his films has the purpose of getting in love and getting a dark path at the end of the film.

Like the one, I watch Bonnie and Clyde and The Chase were the main characters are dead because people in the film didn’t like them and sometimes, they deserve it. Also, Penn helps the directors in the 60s and today to make sexually scenes and fights because without him making the Bonnie and Clyde movie, it won’t be the same today and the Hays Code will be continuing if the movie were failed.