Letters: Dec. 15, 1967

Hats Off

Sir: You are to be respected for having the courage to ignore initial poor reviews (including your own) and recognize the cinematic gem that is Bonnie and Clyde [Dec. 8|. Today's movie audience, exposed to such a larger number of movies than ever before, is more sophisticated than Critic Emeritus Bosley Crowther thinks. No longer do bad guys all wear black hats and act mean—life is not that simple.

XAVIER KOHAN Manhattan

Sir: To call Bonnie and Clyde "ordinary people" because they laughed and occasionally cried is a heinous insult to the meaning of "common man." To applaud the sadists, voyeurs and media manipulators masquerading as directors, actors and writers is as misguided as were the lives of that flagitious couple. Bonnie and Clyde is a victory if the battle was to rape senses, offend dignity, and threaten the thin threads of humanity some of vis are still tenaciously holding on to in spite of the Mr. Beattys of this age.

NORMA LEE MAHDAVI ERIC CAMPBELL REPLOGLE Bronxville, N.Y.

Sir: The vicarious violence that I participated in while watching Bonnie and Clyde left me so drained that I still have neither the energy nor the desire to pull a trigger—anywhere. Fantastic!

FRED KLINE San Francisco

Sir: Maybe I am just an old fuddy-duddy but they all spell risqué to me. At 38 years of age, my favorite recent movie was Mary Poppins. I can always stay home, watch TV and hope that another Walt Disney will some day be resurrected.

(MRS.) MAURICE L. CORBIN Owings Mills, Md.

On to the Waistland

Sir: Miniskirts may be cute on the campus and boisterous at the beach, but your cover article [Dec. 1] omits that spot where they are truly most appealing: the garment industry's pocketbook. What could be sweeter than taking an ordinary skirt, cutting it into three pieces, and then selling each piece for twice as much as the original?

(MRS.) MARIQUITA H. BODINE Arlington, Va.

Sir: At last girls are dressing for guys instead of other girls.

JOHN T. WALSH Chicago

Sir: It bears out a theory long held: that certain fashion designers are dedicated to trying to make men hale women.

FREDERICK ANDERSON Pipersville, Pa.

Sir: What next year? Waistland—when hemline and neckline meet?

ERICA PAAP The Hague, Netherlands

Sir: Ladies,

Do as you please With your knees. But let your thighs Be a surprise.

JOSEPH Di PALERMO Mineola, N.Y.

Power & Pride

Sir: The executive committee of the Black Family Conference in Westchester County thanks you for listing its commitment to a new black consciousness and black pride as a positive endeavor rather than an act of subversion [Dec. 1]. All too often, the Black man's image has been distorted and grotesquely presented to the predominant white world as little more than that of 20th century, nuclear-type heathens.

BOB MAYHAWK Co-Chairman

Westchester Black Family Conference White Plains, N.Y.