Pros: Terrence Malick's beautiful direction and the performances from the Sheen and Spacek make Badlands a classic Cons: none worth noting.
Badlands: Warner Bros. Rating: USA: PG/ UK: 18
Author’s Note: This review is part of a write-off covering Terrence Malick’s Badlands—a film that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention here at Epinions. Wokelstein organized this...
Pros: great performances, cinematography and amazing direction from a young Terence Malick Cons: slow, ponderous, not for the impatient
In 1957, a high-school drop-out named Charles Starkweather went on a killing spree. Starting in Lincoln, Nebraska - where he was dating 13-year-old Caril Ann Fugate, Starkweather robbed a gas station, took the attendant to a secluded spot and shot him ...
1970s American cinema had their share of heroes in the directors. Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Peter Bogonovich, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, and many more. Then there was one director whose visual style filled with poetry of doom, love, and ...
Pros: Sheen and Spacek, Malick's visual and verbal poetry Cons: It didn't lead to a whole slew of Malick films
Two weeks ago I wrote a review of Tony Scott's "True Romance", a high-octane film about young lovers on the run. "The film… alludes to the granddaddy of these kinds of characters," I noted, "by pinching the bouncy musical theme from Terrence...
Pros: One of the most lyrical and intelligent movies about murder you'll ever see Cons: Flighty and introspective near the end
In the last 27 years, Terrence Malick has directed only three films. That’s like saying Hershey’s built its reputation by only making Mr. Goodbar, Krackle and Mounds.
Based on Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red...
Every time I hear the title Badlands, I can't help but think of the Bruce Springsteen song (from 1978) with the same title. This is what happens when you spend too much time listening to AOR stations during the late 1970s.
Pros: topic, acting & Mallick's direction Cons: ultimately a bit confusing about the "point"
"Badlands" is Terrence Malick's first major studio film. Starring Martin Sheen (Kit) and Sissy Spacek (Holly), it documents the young couple's adventures of running from the law, and in the process, murdering several people.
Terence Malick is not a prolific director, he's directed 3 films in his career. This is his first and simplest film. Based on the Nebraska Starkweather killing spree, Badlands stars Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen as young mass murderers in love....
Pros: Cinematography, sweeping poetic vision. Cons: Not the suspense/crime movie it appears to be on the surface.
I feel very sorry for the reviewers and the people that have commented negatively on this film. They must be locked out of some essential part of their own human heart, for this is a beautiful, romantic and soaring film that typifies the best moviemaking of the 1970s in all its detached and realistic splendor.
I'll bet the folks that don't like this don't like any of the "pure" art forms in general, (painting, poetry, sculpture, etc.), because it's on that level where Badlands works. The plot and entertainment factor are purely latticework for the stunning cinematography and creative, poetic voice overs, as well as fine performances by the starring actors. And the musical score is interwoven deeply into the imagination of the the movie as well.
I've seen Badlands about 4 times over the past 20 years, along with about 2000 other movies, and it continues to remain one of my absolute favorites.
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