Tough Gal Faye Dunaway Keeps Going with Arizona Dream

by Kathleen McInnis | Published November 1, 1994

Exploding onto the American screen with her high impact performance as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (with Warren Beatty, 1967), Faye Dunaway began her career by raising eyebrows for her unconventional roles and startling characterizations.

Bonnie and Clyde romanticized the concept of an outlaw as hero, and for the first time empowered the “bad” female lead with courage and fortitude—all-American virtues. Previously considered best kept as gun molls, leading “tough-gal” actresses had fallen on hard times since the ‘40s and ‘50s with actresses like Barbara Stanwyck performing with calculating coldness in films like Double Indemnity (1945). Here at last, however, was a character custom-made for the sixties: Dunaway’s Bonnie Parker was sexy, smart, capable and totally committed to her man.

The role was also Dunaway’s first nomination for an Oscar. Another followed in 1974 for her remarkable performance in Roman Polanski’s classic, Chinatown. She was garnering a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leads, and her work in Chinatown firmly established her star status. Her “tough-gal” persona however, was pushing itself into her personal reputation as well, and crew members began to talk of her exacting methods and perfectionism. Yet two years later her efforts culminated with a Best Actress Oscar for Network, co-starring Peter Finch.

A decade of work exhausted itself with her acclaimed, although somewhat wasted portrayal of Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981), and wire hangers were never to be spoken of in quite the same way again. It wasn’t until 1987 that Dunaway found another role she could do as much with. She was a study in Wanda Wilcox, the drunk alongside Mickey Rourke in Barfly.

It’s her huge, luminous eyes which seem to have ensnared audiences for over 25 years, and they still stand out as windows to some secret, hidden place. At the Telluride Film Festival last month to promote her recently released film, Arizona Dream, Dunaway’s darkly knowing eyes conveyed greed, sex and emotion in one quick blink; making them the hardest thing to look at as they demanded explanation, rationalization, justification. While she talked, her hands moved with the grace of one who has enjoyed the odd passage of time.

What she hasn’t enjoyed is the treatment some of her films have received by American distributors and studios. A 1991 film entitled Scorchers, starring Emily Lloyd and James Earl Jones, was a perfect example of the kind of ensemble work Dunaway likes to do, as well as being the quirky kind of independent feature distributors are loath to know where to place. Arizona Dream has been a tremendous success in Europe where it started its theatrical run in March of 1993; yet Warner Bros. struggled over its potential audience in America. Apparently, some of Dunaway’s work is so finely crafted but low-profile that no one knows what to do with it. Considering her status as a film legend, it’s a situation which begs the obvious question: “Why are studios so hesitant to release Faye Dunaway films?”

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