ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a veteran educator who guides his students in examining Bonnie and Clyde for how it uses people and events from the 1930s to comment on US society in the 1960s. In the hands of accomplished history teachers, Hollywood movies can serve as rich historical sources. It may come as a surprise to some that movies can be used as either primary or secondary historical documents. Some movies are primary historical documents in their own right. Consider the film adaptation of Woodward and Bernstein's Watergate investigation, All the President's Men. Hollywood movies in the classroom can't really stand alone. That is, they are best used in conjunction with other kinds of historical documents, such as textbooks, trade books by historians, or period accounts from newspapers, magazines, letters, diaries, or other kinds of records. Ron Briley's elective course, "US. History through Film, 1945–Present," is offered to high school seniors who have previously completed a general survey course in US history.
