Badlands (DVD)

RELEASED: 1973, Cert.18 RUNNING TIME: Approx. 95 mins DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: Terrence Malick PRODUCERS: Terrence Malick & Edward R Pressman MUSIC: James Taylor & George Tipton MAIN CAST:- Martin Sheen as Kit Cissy Spacek as Holly ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FILM ONLY REVIEW Apparently based on a real event, Badlands is a film about two young people on the run. A fair part of the dialogue of the film is spoken in narrative form by Cissy Spacek, as the story is presented largely from her character Holly’s perspective. Time-wise, Badlands is probably set in the late 1950s or early 1960s ... more

As far as killers on the loose films go, I have to admit I sort of expected more from Badlands. In a way, it's another of those films that isn't necessarily considered great for its content but more for how other films have tried to emulate it and not come close. However, in this case, I felt it was rather tame in delivery and impact, whereas those I can see have taken its ideas and moved them around have seemed a bit more memorable. If anything, I was almost bored! Maybe it's unfair to look at it like this, and perhaps it's more about my expectations of a dark and broody film, with Martin ... more

Atmospheric. Eerie. Chilling. Scary. True. "Badlands" is based upon the real-life episode of terror that reigned in mid-fifties America. The real people were Caril Fugate, a young and impressionable teenager, and her boyfriend, an angry young man of the first order, Charles Starkweather. Together they embarked on a killing spree, that also claimed the life of Caril's father, and made themselves part of American folklore. A more recent version of Bonnie & Clyde, if you like. The film does a wonderful job in recreating the surreal atmosphere that must exist in the lives of serial killers, and ... more

Terrence Malick's BADLANDS was released at the New York Film Festival in 1973, alongside such honoured company as Scorsese's first great film MEAN STREETS, but it's Malick's hypnotic directing debut, complete with stark visuals and a disquieting narrative, that set new standards for character studies (like Scorsese's later TAXI DRIVER) all around the world. Kit is a troubled but careless and free young man who feels he doesn't belong in society when one hazy afternoon he meets a bored teenage girl, Holly, twirling a baton in her front yard. Thunderstruck with the Americana of it all, and her ... more