Badlands (1973)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Terrence Malick

Writer:

Terrence Malick (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 1975 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

He was 25 years old. He combed his hair like James Dean. She was 15. She took music lessons and could twirl a baton. For a while they lived together in a tree house. In 1959, she watched while he killed a lot of people.

Plot:

Dramatization of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950's, in which a teenage girl and her twenty-something boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands.

Plot Keywords:

Killing Spree | Murder | Badlands | Montana | 1950s

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins

Cast

Martin Sheen	...	Kit
Sissy Spacek	...	Holly
Warren Oates	...	Father
Ramon Bieri	...	Cato
Alan Vint	...	Deputy
Gary Littlejohn	...	Sheriff
John Carter	...	Rich Man
Bryan Montgomery	...	Boy
Gail Threlkeld	...	Girl
Charles Fitzpatrick	...	Clerk
Howard Ragsdale	...	Boss
John Womack Jr.	...	Trooper
Dona Baldwin	...	Maid
Ben Bravo	...	Gas attendant

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | UK:15 (re-rating) (2008) | UK:18 (video rating) | Australia:M (DVD rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-15 (re-rating) (2003) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (1987) | Ireland:15 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-18 (1980) | Portugal:M/16 (DVD rating) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Colorado, USA

Company:

Badlands Company

Trivia:

Badlands (1973) received a place in the film reference book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Even though this film takes place in 1959 the soldiers at the end of the movie can be seen with M14 rifles, which replaced the M1, and M16 rifles which replace the M14. First deliveries of the M14 were made to the US Army in July of 1959 and were not in wide circulation until 1961. It is unlikely that National Guard units in Montana would have been among the first recipients. The M16 wasn't put into service until 1964, five whole years after this movie took place. Also, the rifles carried lack any magazines - meaning the troops are carrying unloaded weapons.

Quotes:

Holly Sargis: [Last lines of the film]
[Voiceover]
Holly Sargis: Kit and I were taken back to South Dakota. They kept him in solitary, so he didn't have a chance to get acquainted with the other inmates, though he was sure they'd like him, especially the murderers. Myself, I got off with probation and a lot of nasty looks...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Trois Morceaux en forme de Poire

Meditative view of life, love, and death by Terrence Malick

Badlands, based on the relationship between Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate (and later an inspiration for Tarantino's True Romance and NBK), never has a moment where something un-realistic curries. Writer/producer/director Terence Malick leads his film along with a true emphasis on both the psychological nature of Kit (Martin Sheen) and Holly (Sissy Spacek), and with the un-canny knack for a relaxing style in his camera. At best, Badlands is one of the successful homages to European cinema of the 1970's, something that will last a long time due to its pairing of absorbing art-house and (perhaps) mainstream sensibilities. At worst, a viewer could feel bored with Malick's intent on running with his poetic ideas as a director. If there was any pretentiousness at all, it went over my head; this is a film that draws you into its tragic nature.

Sheen and Spacek are totally believable as a couple on the run, as Kit continually has a trigger-happy attitude to people after he shoots Holly's father. While Spacek holds the heart of the picture steady, I'd have to say that Sheen's Kit is one of his best performances. He comes off in the perfect sense- you wouldn't think for a second that Kit could be a killer, that is until he pulls out his pistol. It works just as well that Holly is the narrator, so that the viewer can understand where Kit's coming from, and where he's going. If there is any distance between his character and the audience, there's still a strong, emotional connection through Spacek, and their bond as a loving, if dangerous, couple.

Overall, Badlands is extraordinary in a way that doesn't cram its atmospheric from start to finish on the audience, and it looks at young people in love, however in such twisted circumstances, in an honest way in how escalatory events create a disillusioned feeling in youth. That it's made on such a low budget gives it more merit. Kudos should go to the musical score by James Taylor, Gunild Keetman and George Tipton, too; it's one of the best debuts of the 70's. A+