Badlands is a 1973 American crime film written and directed by Terrence Malick, starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Warren Oates and Ramon Bieri are also featured. Malick has a small speaking part, although he does not receive an acting credit. The story, though fictional, is loosely based on the real-life murder spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, in 1958, though such a basis was not acknowledged when the film was released. It was the feature film debut of Martin Sheen. In 1993, five years after the United States National Film Registry was established, Badlands was selected for preservation by theLibrary of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The film has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and an average score of 8.9/10 based on the reviews of 47 critics, with the general consensus being Terrence Malicks debut is a masterful slice of American cinema, rife with the visual poetry and measured performances that would characterize his work. He wanted to die with me and I dreamed of being lost forever in his arms. A young couple goes on a Midwest crime spree in Terrence Malicks hypnotically assured debut feature, based on the 1950s Starkweather-Fugate murders. Fancying himself a rebel like James Dean, twentysomething Kit (Martin Sheen) takes off with teen baton-twirler Holly (Sissy Spacek) after shooting her father (Warren Oates) when he tries to split the pair up. Once bounty hunters discover their riverside hiding place, Kit and Holly head toward Saskatchewan, leaving dead bodies in their wake. As the law closes in, however, Holly gives herself up -- but Kit doesnt hold it against her, as he basks in his new status as a momentary folk hero. Inaugurating the use of voice-over narration that he would continue in Days of Heaven (1978) and The Thin Red Line (1998), Malick juxtaposes Hollys flat readings of her flowery romance-novel diary prose with the banal and surreal details of their journey. Singularly inarticulate with each other, Kit and Holly are more intrigued by mythic celebrity gestures, as Holly peruses her fan magazines and Kit commemorates key moments before orchestrating a properly dramatic capture for himself (complete with the right hat). The sublime visuals lend a dreamlike beauty to the couples trip even as their actions are treated casually; Malick neither glamorizes Kit and Holly nor consigns them to the bloody end of their fame-fixated predecessors in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). With the couples opaque dialogue and Hollys fanzine dream narration, Malick further denies an easy explanation for their crimes. Made for under 500,000 dollars, Although Badlands did not make an impression at the box office, its pictorial splendor and cool yet disquieting narrative established Malick as one of the most compelling artists to come out of early-70s Hollywood. Badlands is narrated by Holly (Spacek), a teenage girl living in a dead-end South Dakota town. One day she meets Kit (Sheen), a young greaser, who charms and runs away with her. Hollys narration, describing her adventures with Kit in romantic clichés, is juxtaposed as Kits increasingly antisocial and violent behavior is slowly revealed. The two are eventually arrested; Kit is executed for his crimes, while Holly receives probation.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 04:35:01 +0000
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