MovieChat Forums > Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Discussion > Love this movie - but it breaks my heart...

Love this movie - but it breaks my heart too

posted 9 years ago by childers-3
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My dad, a hopeless alcoholic, passed away in 1973. He was 43 years old. Very young. He was estranged from us 10 years before he died. When I first saw Bonnie and Clyde on tv around this time, I thought my dad looked like Gene Hackman. The scene where he gets shot just about put me in hysterics. I still love the movie, but it's really hard to watch when Gene Hackman turns up. I miss my dad still, even though he wasn't around that much. He had a very weird sense of humor. I remember my dad, brother and I watching a horror movie one night. It was about a monster living in the ocean (we lived near a 10-acre lake) and, to us kids, it was pretty scary stuff. After it was over, my dad clapped his hands together and said "Ok - time to go swimming.......come on - let's go down to the lake.....what's the matter, nobody wants to go swimming?" It was not funny at the time (my mom slapped him on the arm and scolded him), but when I brought this incident up to my brother years later, we had a good laugh.

"Well, make something up!" (RG)

[–] Katiedidd 9 years ago

Hehe, that is a funny story. I'm glad you have good memories with your father, but I'm sorry you lost him, especially after years of estrangement and him having his troubles.

I still have both parents, thankfully, but I can relate to you having difficulty watching a film where your father reminds you of an actor (Hackman). I lost a former boyfriend to cancer (11 years ago May 13 this year; it will be Friday the 13th this year, and ot was when he died in 2005). When Matt Damon first became a huge star with "Goodwill Hunting," the two really resembled each other. For years, I had trouble or just could not watch movies with Damon, like the first two Bourne films. I wasn't even trying to compare the two, but it'd jump out at me when an older Damon film was on. It's been better in the last few years, but I still tend to avoid older Damon films.

I'm glad you have fond memories with your dad. I know that even after decades passing, the loss never goes away.