Badlands (1973)

This review is of the 1970s film Badlands (1973), the first film directed by Terrence Malick.   This film is also the feature film debut of Martin Sheen, and who stars opposite of Sissy Spacek.  

Movie: Badlands (1973)
Rating: PG

Starring: Martin Sheen as Kit, Sissy Spacek as Holly, and Warren Oates as Holly's Father
Score: 9.5 out of 10 stars
Family Friendly: 4/5 (Some folks get shot including police officers, Would be a PG-13 movie today (PG-13 was not created till the 1980s)
Recommended: Anyone who enjoys a visually stunning 1970s movie and enjoys seeing a very young Martin Sheen show why he such a good actor. 

 Plot Summery (No Spoilers)


Holly, a girl in a boring South Dakota town meets the older Kit, who likes to think that he looks like James Dean.   They elope, and Kit shows his real self as they start to shoot themselves across the Dakota Badlands.


Plot Summery (Spoilers)

The movie starts with Holly, who is the semi-innocent narrator of the movie, describing how what starts in little alleys ended up in the badlands of the Dakota's.   Soon we see her, twirling her Baton, as Kit, who recently quit his job as a garbage man, sees her and sweeps her off her feet.   Of course, Holly's dad does not approve, as Kit is 25 and Holly is only 15.   However Kit has a easy way to fix such a disagreement.   He shoots Holly father and they couple run off into the Dakota Badlands, to try to live a idyllic life, building a tree house in the woods and living as young lovers.   However the law is after the couple, and soon we learn that Kit is at least unstable, if not outright sociopath in nature as he begins to shoot his way across the Dakotas with the narrating Holly in tow.  

 

 

Soon the couple is shooting across the Dakotas, you know it cannot end well, and in the end they young lovers are captured, with Holly narrating how she married her lawyers son, and Kit ended up being executed by the state for his crimes. 

My thoughts:

This is a story that has been told a hundred times, thus the short plot synopsis.    It is based off the true story of the Charles Starkweather, who at the young age of 18 ran off with a young 13 year old girlfriend and killed 11 people before being caught in the 1950s.

There are four things that make this movie go from just another story of star crossed lovers to a classic in cinema.  

1)  The stunning landscape and photography.
2) The charisma of a young Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek
3) The great use of Music
4) The formula of Holly's childlike narration of the awful acts committed around her. 

This movie is a visual feast, with the stark landscape being part and parcel of the movie.   Many of the screenshots when outside could be used as postcards if it was still photography.   Even in this early work you see Terrence Malick already using two of his techniques, stunning photography and voice over narration.   I will go over the narration later, but this film at times makes you forget that Kit is truly a horrific person.

Speaking of Kit, Martin Sheen is simply amazing as the young greaser who likes to think he looks like James Dean.   He effortlessly oozes the simple confidence that at no time you doubt that he could talk his way into the heart of a young girl, even while committing murders as they go across the plains.   It is even more notable when you remember that this is his first ever film.

Above is a clip of the movie, showing the music and narration that makes this movie notable.   The music gives the movie a tone of almost childlike innocence, which combined with the narration helps reinforce the concept that Holly is not functioning as a adult in this movie.   Her narration reinforces this, as for example, she calmly informs what happens when her dad find out she still seeing Kit.

"Then sure enough Dad found out I been running around behind his back. He was madder than I ever seen him. His punishment for deceiving him: he went and shot my dog. He made me take extra music lessons every day after school, and wait there ‘till he came to pick me up. He said that if the piano didn’t keep me off the streets, maybe the clarinet would.” 

This is a classic movie from one of the best American directors (later made Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), and Tree of Life (2011)) is a great movie for those who can accept the early 1970s pacing of the film, which is a strong contrast to today's movies where the action never stops.