1973 Directed by Terrence Malick
Dramatization of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950s, in which a teenage girl and her twenty-something boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands.
Badlands is, without doubt, one of the finest directorial debuts of all time. It is a lyrical and disturbing road movie produced by a filmmaker who, despite his inexperience, managed to craft one of the great films of the decade in this warped romantic adventure about two young lovers and their senseless killing spree across the Dakota badlands.
Over the course of five decades Terrence Malick has become recognised as one of the greatest filmmakers of his, or any other, generation yet his considerable talent is already present in every frame of his haunting debut as if his skill as a visual storyteller emerged effortlessly and fully-formed with this first attempt. There really are few first films as confident and…
Facts.
Holly is a naive, young girl. She has (/had) a dog. She is scared of being with Kit; she is scared of being without him. Kit is a lonely young man. He found a toaster. He is impulsive and charismatic and utterly insane. Badlands is all about the facts.
If I could ask Mr. Malick one question, it would be when facts ceased being sufficient to convey his vision. Badlands is an exceptional example of how fine a movie can be when it is straightforward, compelling, and 'easy' (which is a dirty word in some circles, apparently). This is not a dig against his emerging style as a purveyor of visualized emotion, but an appreciation of his skill at…
The nicest and quietest movie about a serial killer I've ever seen.
It may not have the same dream like qualities of his later works and not as much lot to take away once it's over (or maybe there is and I'm just stupid like I was with his other two films), but Malick's debut it's just as solidly constructed and confident, not to mention just as pretty.
If you're looking to check out this guy's work but you're afraid of what you'll think, I'd say this is a good starting point, since it's pretty easy going and not nearly as alienating as his later stuff.
So yeah, check it out.
Noir-November Challenge! Movie #28
Terrence Malick directorial debut was pure cinema magic! Gorgeous absolutely breathtaking cinematography which also serves to make all that takes place in the film that much more disturbing!
Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek's performances were truly a chilling and unsettling experience! The film will haunt me for quite a long while for I can't comprehend how anyone could be as cold and callous about taking a life! I still can't decide whose worse the trigger happy psychopath or the young girl who thought of his homicidal ways as nothing more than a pet peeve!
While this is a fictional story it was inspired by an incredibly similar real-life murder spree which happened back in 1958 involving Charles Starkweather and his teenage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate!
A film that just begs to be seen repeatedly to be truly savored!
In his debut, Terrence Malick is an uncanny creator of pearlescent forms, a very stark balladeer, Mark Twain’s coolly ferocious heir. Small-town life in the 1950s makes for a void quickly filled with outlaw vanity and magazine-stand enchantment, garbage-man punk (Martin Sheen) and teenage baton-twirler (Sissy Spacek) meet and harmonize apathetic psyches in "the big marble hall" of Nature. He's a James Dean wannabe or Billy the Kid perhaps, acting mostly with his shoulders and pockets, a scarecrow with a rifle in the fields and suddenly a cracker-barrel philosopher when facing a recorder. She reads gravelly from Hollywood gossip digests and is told to enjoy the scenery, a freckle-dotted blank sheet of paper crouching by her murdered father (Warren Oates)…
Director Terrence Malick's feature film debut is a beautifully shot, elegantly crafted & fluidly narrated crime drama that wonderfully exhibits his cinematic eye for detail & breathtaking imagery and also happens to be his most accessible film to date.
Having gained a significant cult following over the years, this classic has a lot in store for both fans & detractors of this filmmaker, as the former will find an early glimpse of Malick's blossoming talent while latter will be pleased with the absence of those rambling philosophical voice-overs.
Loosely based on the real-life murder spree of Charles Starkweather & his adolescent girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in 1958, Badlands tells the story of Holly Sargis; a young teen who falls for an older rugged guy…
The directorial debute of Terrance Malik is surprisingly very cut-and-dried. The free and reckless nature of Mit, the main character, isn't really complimented too well by the conventions the film follows. Despite these technical overlooks, the messages are genuinely compelling. The more I think about how the intense situation of the two leads is treated by not just them, but all characters, becomes increasingly eerie upon reflection. This is a film everyone should see in my opinion, but it won't really matter if you don't.
C
EDIT: So, like, maybe 20 seconds after publishing this review, some of the other abstract filmmaking techniques came to mind. This blend of convention and nonconvention might actually reflect the carelessness of surrounding the situation, and better explains the lack of reflection on the amazing character that is Mit. So in spite of this, I'm gonna bump my score up a bit.
B
Malick's debut feature is one of the most poignant, deeply layered character studies ever put to film. The way he juxtaposes Sissy Spacek's naive innocence with the death and chaos embodied by Martin Sheen is nothing short of masterful. While it may not be quite as breathtaking here as it is in his other films, Malick's signature voiceover character narration and gorgeous, poetic imagery are still incredibly effective and speak volumes to his approach in later works. What separates this and Days of Heaven from his later work is the beautiful 90 minute runtimes. The editing here is tight enough to pack a sprawling countryside story into a concise, potent package. The score is also worth noting, which feels a…
probably the most stylistically and narratively assured debut film i've ever seen, absolutely oozes confidence and charisma. there's not much i love more than quintessentially American films and literature and this is truly one of the greats.
"Nobody's coming out of this thing happy, especially not us. I can't deny we've had fun, though. I mean, that's more than I can say for some... That's the end of the message. I run out of things to say."
As uniquely beguiling, hauntingly detached, and strangely tender as ever. It's hard to believe how sorely I underrated this when I first saw it.
Terrence Malick's sweeping and deeply evocative debut feels something like the exhausted aftermath of Bonnie and Clyde, where the boundaries of both morality and innocence are pushed, but the sense of self-deluded joy is replaced with desolation. Where the Barrow gang committed their crimes to bring excitement to their own lives and the people's around them, Kit and Holly are on the run in hopes of escaping their own isolation, only to distance themselves from society and each other even further with every gunshot.
They live empty lives, and with every attempt to fill them with adventure, murder, and dumb love, they only dig the hole deeper. What's worse: they sometimes can't tell the three apart.
Stray observations regarding Terrence Malick's 'Badlands':
Kitt is driven by the pursuit of recognition. He comes alive when he is in custody. He is the prisoner of those who know him, those he schmoozes and woos, like a celebrity is to the public that elevates and rewards them. Kitt becomes a true character in the end, trading autonomy for amusement.
The happiest Martin Sheen (in his electric portrayal of a delusional, malaise-headed youth hell bent on being iconified to the point where he is willing to trade the lives of others for adoration) ever looks in this film is when one of the sheriffs who has apprehended him remarks that he resembles James Dean. He instantly becomes less awkward, introspective,…
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