Bonnie Parker is bored with life and wants a change. She gets her chance when she meets a charming young drifter by the name of Clyde Barrow.  Clyde has dreams of a life of crime that will free him from the hardships of the Depression. The two fall in love and begin a crime spree that extends from Oklahoma to Texas. They rob small banks with skill and panache, soon becoming minor celebrities known across the country. People are proud to have been held up by Bonnie and Clyde; to their victims, the duo is doing what nobody else has the guts to do. To the law, the two are evil bank robbers who deserve to be gunned down where they stand.

When released, the film was controversial for supposedly glorifying murderers, and for its unprecedented violence. Bonnie and Clyde was the first film to feature extensive use of squibs — small explosive charges, often mounted with bags of red liquid and fired from inside an actor's clothes to simulate bullet hits.

Estelle Parsons won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrail of Blanche Barrow, Clyde's sister-in-law, and Burnett Guffey won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Bonnie and Clyde is also a landmark film in cinema history as it is regarded as the first film of the New Hollywood era, an era often regarded as Hollywood's second golden age. The film broke taboos, a common characteristic of the era and its success opened doors for other films.