Talk:Bonnie and Clyde

Barrow mugshot date

The caption under the Clyde Barrow mugshot says it is from 1926. However, the data that the image upload has states that it is from 1932. Any ideas on this? Echoedmyron (talk) 17:51, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

It is from 1926 — the uploader just erred when writing it up. In books, the date is always 1926. Most tellingly, though, is that Clyde started 1932 in prison, was paroled on February 2, 1932, and was never arrested again — so there were no 1932 mugshots (or '33 or '34!). — HarringtonSmith (talk) 19:22, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Ford letter

"...It was never used in any form in Ford advertising...". I disagree. I'm sure I remember first hearing about the letter in a Ford TV commercial from the late 80s/ early 90s?. Enough time passed, perhaps? 71.201.40.29 (talk) 22:37, 23 May 2011 (UTC)Gimelgort 5/23/11

Cigar smoking gun moll

This article would be far more credible if it stopped harping on the injustice of tagging a murderer and thief a "cigar smoking gun moll." This is especially true since the article actually includes a picture of the poor woman who was accused of smoking cigars. (I readilly admit of course, that all serious historians know that the gun moll in question never even once smoked a cigar.) Enough already. Some editor is riding a hobby horse, obviously. Rwflammang (talk) 00:16, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure how your contention affects the credibility of the article, but you might want to check out contemporary magazines, newspapers, editorial cartoons and newsreels. They invariably feature Bonnie's cigar most prominently of all. As recently as 1958, the poster for The Bonnie Parker Story feature film portrays her with an enormous cigar clamped in her teeth while she fires a machine gun. You might not be aware of it, but the cigar was the defining feature of her image up until 1967 — and as such, it's important to a discussion of her history. BTW, I gave my hobby horse away. :-) — HarringtonSmith (talk) 01:18, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

silly

Most of this article is very unprofessionaly written. I laughed out loud at the 'set legal balls rolling' caption, simply ridiculous. Very biased and I agree with the hobby horse statement above. Seems like it should be rewritten without all the needless poetic language. 'Saucy'? Seriously? Thought this was supposed to be an objective piece. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.139.45.42 (User ) 16:12, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree. This sounds like it was ripped off from somewhere else. "His good looks caught her schoolgirl's eye"?! Brted (talk) 20:19, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

I more than agree with this... I felt like I was reading a story book, not an academic article: "Thereafter, the Public Enemies would no longer operate on thin ribbons of gray macadam across America, but only on silver screens throughout the world." What? That made me laugh out loud. Celynn (talk) 04:41, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Photo captions

Why are the first two to five words in each caption bolded, even if they do not appear before a colon? This is not part of WP:MOSBOLD and is not discussed in WP:IMAGES. Sottolacqua (talk) 10:37, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

The bolding of the first few words of a caption is called a kicker—when the caption's been written for it. Caption kickers have been demonstrated to increase readership of the caption, which in turn increases readership of the text. When you're not under the yoke of free-use (as we here at Wikipedia are), the captions on a page can serve as stepping-stones throughout the course of the article, allowing a viewer to scan along a string of captions and then "dive in" to the text at a spot in the story that looks most interesting. The kickers help this process. :) — HarringtonSmith (talk) 20:30, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

They're simply distracting and unnecessary. ---RepublicanJacobite_TheFortyFive 02:33, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree. This is not part of any WP:MOS and not found in any article I've ever come across. Sottolacqua (talk) 02:36, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Agreed. ---RepublicanJacobite_TheFortyFive 02:44, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

BARs Monitors and Model 8's

This line here: "Hamer obtained a quantity of civilian Browning Automatic Rifles (manufactured by Colt as the "Monitor") and 20 round magazines with armor piercing rounds.[107]" is disproved by its own source [107]. That source claims that Bonnie and Clyde had 3 BARs, the posse had "Remington Model 8 semi-automatic rifle(s)" and Frank Hamer had a specially engraved and extended magazine version of the same. The source does not claim that any Monitor rifles were in play. Buck Starchaser (talk) 19:48, 13 January 2012 (UTC)