They Kill People

Kirk Ellis is the multiple Emmy-winning screenwriter of HBO’s John Adams, the Apple TV limited series Franklin, and other works of historical drama, including Anne Frank: The Whole Story and Into the West. He is the author, most recently, of Ride Lonesome, one of the inaugural volumes in UNM Press’s Reel West series.

"It’s a meaty yet accessible book that captures the lightning-in-a-bottle nature of the generation’s ur-text, capturing the unlikely nature of its creation and the somewhat dodgy nature of its legacy." - Mark Athitakis Los Angeles Times"Well written and researched, this is a captivating read that will appeal to fans of the film as well as cultural historians." - Phillip Oliver Library Journal"This is a thoughtful and frequently surprising look at a film that quite literally changed the way movies were made." - Booklist“Kirk Ellis, a true connoisseur of cinema, deftly uses an iconic movie as a jumping-off point for a much larger study of America’s disturbing obsession with guns and our propensity not only for violence but for celebrating and romanticizing it. Ellis’s argument—that gun culture is central to our national identity—is hard to dismiss. They Kill People is a supple and far-ranging narrative that examines our country’s long, sordid trigger-happiness through the lens of film. You can’t read it without wondering, on multiple levels, What the hell’s wrong with us?” - Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and The Wide, Wide Sea “Kirk Ellis has written a vibrant, astute, and vastly entertaining account of the making of one of the greatest American movies of the modern era. But They Kill People is not just an excellent movie book. It's also the story of a country struggling to escape the death grip of the Great Depression, its myths, its mortal wounds, and its obsession with fast cars, lethal weapons, and murderous celebrity outlaws. Ellis understands that while history doesn’t repeat itself, it often rhymes, and he deftly connects the dots between the roaring ’30s, the rebellious ’60s, and our own troubled decade.” - Glenn Frankel, Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and author of Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic “Kirk Ellis examines the disturbing roots of this country's obsession with guns and outlaws in a book that's as rollicking as it is alarming. A brilliant exploration of how a fascination with violence reveals the darkest reaches of our American identity.” - Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America“Released amid the social turmoil of 1967, Bonnie and Clyde’s counterculture depiction of two bank robbers during the Great Depression began a New Wave of Hollywood filmmaking and changed the industry’s rating system. Almost a half century later, Kirk Ellis’s compelling, dramatic reassessment of this unusually influential film demonstrates that Bonnie and Clyde is as relevant as ever. Packed with fascinating behind-the-camera stories—such as how star/producer Warren Beatty fought for the film’s re-release after Warner Bros. sensed the threat it posed and dumped it—this major study entertains as much as it enlightens.” - David Morrell, New Yok Times bestselling author of First Blood “Ellis brings his award-winning writing and sharp eye for history to a brilliant and thought-provoking exposÉ of America’s obsession with guns and violence. Through the spectacle of real-life criminals Bonnie and Clyde and the Hollywood myth makers who made them legendary, Ellis serves up a haunting, irresistible, and riveting tale. I could not put it down!” - Kate Clifford Larson, author of Walk with Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer “With They Kill People, Kirk Ellis has delivered an important work for fans of Arthur Penn’s classic and seminal movie Bonnie and Clyde, plus a compelling account of the real-life Texas criminals who inspired it. This exquisitely written book captivated me. I read it two sittings. It’s that good.” - W. K. Stratton, Western Heritage Award-winning poet and author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film“In They Kill People, Kirk Ellis leads the reader through our history of gun-fueled outlawry with entertaining enlightenment.” - Bryan Cranston, producer/star of Breaking Bad