In February 2026, sixty years will have passed since the release of the riveting crime drama Arthur Penn directed before gaining fame with Bonnie and Clyde and Little Big Man. The film exposes the dark undercurrents of American small-town life in a way that still sends shivers down the spine. News sweeps through the Texas town that escaped convict Bubber Reeves (Robert Redford) is trying to make his way home—where his morally conflicted wife Anna (Jane Fonda) is not exactly waiting with open arms. Meanwhile, oil baron and banker Val Rogers (E. G. Marshall) and the seemingly indifferent Sheriff Calder (Marlon Brando) each try, by very different means, to maintain control over the town. Arthur Penn grounded his blend of psychological realism and sharp social commentary on the brilliant screenplay by Horton Foote and Lilliam Hellman.
Arthur Penn (1922 - 2010) belongs to the generation of directors that contributed to the revitalisation of American film in the latter half of the 1960s. After a series of television films, Penn debuted with the Western "The Left-Handed Gun" (1958), which starred Paul Newman in the role of Billy the Kid. Penn’s thriller "The Chase" resonates with the topical problems of growing racism and violence in the mid-1960s. 1967 saw the release of the cult gangster film "Bonnie and Clyde", which marked the birth of New Hollywood. After taking a melancholic backwards glance at America of the 1960s in "Alice’s Restaurant", Penn created a number of original variations throughout the 1970s on classic American genres such as the western ("Little Big Man", "The Missouri Breaks") or film noir ("Night Moves").
