DVD/150: BADLANDS (Terrence Malick, 1973)

Terrence Malick's debut film BADLANDS has hypnotised audiences for nearly 50 years with it's dream-like atmosphere and remarkable performances by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.

Malick based his script on the 1958 midwest murder spree of teenager Charles Starkweather with his 14 year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate; in 60 days he killed 11 people, anyone who got in his way.  He was executed while Fugate spent 17 years in prison.

Garbage collector Kit Curruthers is fired the same day he sees teenage Holly Sargis aimlessly twirling her baton on her street in their sleepy South Dakota town.

Seeing Kit despite her strict father's orders, Holly is as much of a daydreaming loner as Kit; they have indifferent sex, but she likes him for his resemblance to James Dean.

When Kit kills Holly's father, they take off into the badlands of Montana...  clueless outlaws, on the run to nowhere...

Shelf or charity shop?  Pure shelf.  Hugely influential, BADLANDS remains elusive and mysterious.  No attempt is made to moralise over Kit and Holly, they are merely observed drifting towards the inevitable conclusion to Kit's actions.  The masterstroke is to have Sissy Spacek as the narrator, Holly telling their story with the banal platitudes of a schoolgirl's diary printed in a women's magazine: "Little did I realise that what began in the alleys and back ways of this quiet town would end in the Badlands of Montana."  Spacek gives a remarkable performance as Holly, in only her second credited film; Martin Sheen was a known actor but Malick was unsure of casting him as he was aleady in his thirties but as soon as he read with Spacek all doubts fell away as their connection was instant.  They are now as iconic as Belmondo and Seberg in A BOUT DE SOUFFLE.  Their performances however are illuminated by Malik's total vision - that the cinematography is so wonderful is amazing when you consider three cinematographers worked on it, similarly there were disgruntled crew members leaving all through the shooting which only bonded Malick, his stars and art director Jack Fisk together - so much so Spacek and Fisk were married the next year!  Adding to the film's hypnotic quality is the soundtrack which uses several phrases from Carl Off's MUSICA POETICA with Erik Satie, Nat King Cole and Mickey & Sylvia.  Despite getting excellent reviews at the NY Film Festival, Warner Brothers threw the film away, pairing it on unsuitable double-bills but BADLANDS remains a film of timeless wonder.