HomeNixon FoundationNixon Center

Bonnie and Nixon

September 30, 2008 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Nixonland Nitpicks 


Ed Driscoll sent me his superbly produced and informative video that builds upon Rick Perlstein’s enthusiasm for the emergence of the new left and “rejection of the traditional culture for trash cinema.” Perlstein’s praise of the film Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is no different:

“It made an argument about vitality and virtue vs. staidness and morality that was completely new, that resonated with young people in a way that made no sense to old people. Just the idea that the outlaws were the good guys and the bourgeois householders were the bad guys–you cannot underestimate how strange and fresh that was.”

Driscoll’s video also includes a rarely scene footage of Bobby Kennedy’s leftist radicalism that symbolizes the fusion between New Deal liberalism and new left politics.



Comments

3 Responses to “Bonnie and Nixon”

  1. Rick Perlstein on September 30th, 2008 12:15 pm

    Jon, I don’t praise the film, which I consider morally childish, and I’m not enthusiastic about the emergence of the new left, for the exact same reason. I’d be glad to send you a copy of NIXONLAND so you can see for yourself; just shoot me your address.

  2. John H. Taylor on September 30th, 2008 12:40 pm

    Rick: Authors shouldn’t give away their books! Since I read you on Kindle, I’ll share my old-paradigm print copy with Jonathan if he’s interested.

  1. Ed Driscoll » New Silicon Graffiti Video: “Bonnie & Nixon”

Got something to say?