The Beatty/Funaway movie is supposed to start out comically, but then midway through it turns dark and violent. I believe the trailer even states, "They roared off on what might easily have been a wild, romantic lark... but almost before they knew it, with the giggles still in their ears, they had blooded up four states!" This is what shocked people at the time. The movie starts out like a Keystone Kops comedy -- robbing an empty bank that had just closed, their dumb getaway driver parking the car during a heist, their first shootout with Blanche screaming like a maniac wearing an apron and holding a spatula, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" playing during an early car chase scene, kidnapping an undertaker (played by Gene Wilder in a funny cameo) and his girlfriend -- but then the movie quickly turns on a dime (the undertaker scene is the turning point because Bonnie saw it as a bad omen) and you start seeing blood, mayhem, and despair. Since audiences had never seen bloody violence like this, it was indeed shocking, especially since it started out lightheartedly. They probably felt their senses bludgeoned after the shift. Since we've become desensitized by on-screen violence, I think it's hard for contemporary audiences to relate.
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