So much average

Great Film overall

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Larry Buchanan, the Ed Wood of his day, made many bad movies in the '60s for American International. Apparently with this film he tried to elevate his game, took too long, got behind schedule, and got fired. Perhaps he also had artistic differences with Fabian. ;-) Anyway, yeah, the movie is wonderfully bad with many lovely bad touches - the bank robbery scenes occur in derelict buildings on the outskirts of downtown that apparently haven't been used in 35 years, Fabian's hairstyle is pure 1970, Fabian shows no apparent familiarity with the act of reading a newspaper, all the shades on the train are pulled down even though it's daytime, you can see the shadow of the camera against the train (because, um, it's broad daylight), the soulful song, not bad at first, gets used to death, etc. etc. etc. A useful text for stuff to avoid when you're making your first picture.

This one follows the exploits of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Fabian) and his gang as they rob banks through out Midwestern states (although it was entirely shot in Texas). It is pretty obvious that director Larry Buchanan is cashing in on the success of BONNIE & CLYDE (1967); for the second time actually as he made a B&C ripoff in 1968. For a low budget picture, they capture the small town feel pretty well. But reading any quick online bio for Floyd will show you the filmmakers are playing fast and loose with the truth. Floyd here - perhaps thanks to Woody Guthrie's song - is a romanticized, modern day Robin Hood-type with plenty of love for the ladies. Fabian acquits himself well in the lead role and the gorgeous Jocelyn Lane plays his love interest Betty. Adam Roarke has a small role as the character Preacher. An amazing amount of the supporting cast (Annabelle Weenick, Camilla Carr, Hugh Feagin, Gene Ross) later showed up in the horror works of S.F. Brownrigg.

Sorry, I mean Bonnie and Clyde get a re run at American International Pictures. I saw this in first release at our wonderful Sydney Capitol Theatre, home of the changed-weekly drive in double feature except this was a glorious 2500 seat plaster picture palace. A BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY + ERIK THE CONQUEROR was the 70c double feature in 1971 and I was there, with lollies and still had change from $2. Handsome pop dude Fabian made a passable Floyd mainly because he was pretty in his Matt Lattanzi way. The only reason this film was made was because of BONNIE AND CLYDE and AIP was always keen to cash in on a fad. Also they probably had access to the props and cars from BOXCAR BERTHA and BLOODY MAMA made the previous year. I miss the days of AIP, they always made trash and treasure and always entertaining. BULLET FOR PRETTY BOY was exactly like a B grade version of BONNIE AND CLYDE, banjo music and all.

This COMPLETELY, low budget, exploitation flick of the early 70's manages to capture nothing except the loss of innocence in those creepy gangster 30's movies (although some of the cars are from the 40's; nobody noticed). Fabian, a pop singer from the late 50's, early 60's stars as Pretty Boy Floyd, an actual rural "good" bank robber in the mid-west during the depression, acting a misunderstood youth who conveniently finds the pretty "good" girl and the pretty "bad girl" in a TOTALLY FICTIONAL rendtion of this "folk hero" in an exploitation film (WHAT A GREAT POSTER, THOUGH)! SPOILERS** (COMING UP)Jocelyn Lane (from one or two Elvis films; before this) was intriguely gorgeous, while wearing the sheerest of black slips, giving Fabian BAD ADVICE about how to deal with the COPPERS (farm boys) while the innocent blonde girlfriend (sweet, honest, church-going, dullard) tries to sway him to stay a poor dirt farmer and live on love and go frog-gigging. I can't remember this actress' name, and she was fine (Astrid something; I could look it up, but what's the point?). Pretty Boy Floyd's destiny was already mapped out (even in the Oklahoma Hills where he was Robin Hood) because this flick isn't interested in the subtleties of Art in this time period. Not as good as Killers Three (starring Robert Walker, Jr., Diane Varsi, and Dick Clark OR The Grissom Gang starring Scott Wilson, Kim Darby, and Tony Musante - similary exploitive rural gangster flicks trying to make some change post-Bonne and Clyde), but worth checking out if you want to see consistnet bad acting, no directing or script, music from other films, but at least Fabian used his last name. There is hope! I like this movie, even though it's drive-in junk.I think I forgot to mention the Jocelyn Lane factor (babe-ism) in a very negligee way (with the wrong hairstyle for the time, but...). It's there; probably not on DVD EVER or possibly video, but you can find it.