The Bonnie & Clyde Caper

That mythical magic of Bonnie and Clyde just will not fade. Now television is using them in a smartly satirical way.

TWA has a funny commercial that shows Bonnie, Clyde, C. W. Moss and the in-laws chugging along toward an airport in a 1931 Buick while frantic banjo music gives pace to the scene. Nobody likes to hang around an airport, says an urbane narrator--and so the bandits, every one the spit and image of the movie cast, scurry out of their car and make their way onto a TWA jet, leaving the cops behind.

Flying A gasoline sponsors another Bonnie and Clyde crew. This time they roll up to a Flying A station. They're in a hurry; they've got a "withdrawal" to make. But the overfriendly attendant insists on delivering a pitch for the sponsor's latest premium offer. Finally, a gum-snapping Bonnie says: "Let's gedoutta heah awreddy!" And off they lurch.

The latest addition to the literature, and perhaps the best, is three one-minute Pontiac commercials. One shows Bonnie and Clyde in the hands of an effervescent dealer. The gang has just pulled a bank job and needs "something that moves." The rest of the commercial is a hilarious takeoff on the scene from the movie in which the bandits kidnap a young couple. In this case, the unsuspecting Pontiac salesman merrily delivers his pitch--again to a banjo score--while Clyde & Co. barrel down the road with him. At length, they boot him out. Says the salesman, unperturbed: "How are you going to finance it?" Bonnie mutters sullenly: "Finance it, Clyde." Clyde tosses out a satchel of money and drives off, while the salesman, ever the honest fellow, chases them into the fadeout, protesting valiantly that he has been overpaid. The possibilities are enormous. How about a scene that depicts Clyde brandishing a .46-caliber tommy gun. It's only a silly millimeter wider.

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