{2jtab: Movie Review}

Badlands and its harrowing killing spree is pretty much still, for lack of a better word, badass.  Based on the true story of one Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, writer/director Terence Malick’s debut is a poignant bloodbath; a film that doesn’t necessarily have something to say about its on-screen brutality, instead it makes only observations.  Call it sundown poetry.  Call it true-crime hootenanny.  Whatever it is to you, it remains – above all else – a true American film classic and, certainly, Malick’s best cinematic effort.  Rarely does crime get this good of an on-screen treatment from Hollywood.

Filmed thirty years ago, Badlands – now presented by the Criterion Collection on a new digital transfer approved by Malick himself - has not aged one bit.  The dissatisfied alienation and the loneliness on display from actors Martin Sheen as a 25-year-old garbage man named Kit and Sissy Spacek as a 15-year-old scrawny schoolgirl named Holly radiates across the landscapes in a ferocious almost freewheeling light.  It’s simply impossible to look away as these two restless lovebirds – after gunning down Holly’s father (the solid Warren Oates) – dust off the woodlands of South Dakota and head to the mountains of Montana in search of their own quiet place under big sky.

The lyrical film perfectly melds together the grotesque and god-fearing world of author Flannery O’Connor and Makick’s own unique vision of Kit and Holly’s reality.  Bathed in the warming hues of a natural light, Malick reportedly filmed much of the movie in the hour before sundown – with the sun hanging just above the horizon – to get the look of the film to match the tone of the intense tale.  Everything about this movie is well-constructed and intentional.  Yet, much must be given to Malick, because the whole setting – fairy tale-like narration from Spacek included – just feels so cool and effortless.

The smoldering cast is perfection.  Sheen, in the role of the killer, crackles with confidence in spite of the fact that he had never before been in a starring role.  The same goes for Spacek; her dream-like trance is spellbinding especially in her final close-up of abandonment.  There’s an easy naturalness to what these two “newbies” achieve together as their psychotic romance flowers.  One is caught up in a dream fever.  The other hung up by sociopathic tendencies (even if Malick leaves out Starkweather’s more brutal crimes) that are quite disturbing.  Innocence gets tested and these two – complete with Holly’s purple prose – are the perfect duo to gun down and then preserve humanity with their own trinkets of death and destruction.

With beats of ironic comedy, Badlands presents a world of longing and of rage.  These two ideas are incompatible, of course, but certainly not without their own justifications – especially in light of the delusional states the characters drive toward.   Violence, it seems, is never an end in of itself and these Badlands are eternity itself.  If you’ve never seen this masterpiece, prepare to be blown away.

{2jtab: Film Details}

MPAA Rating: PG.
Runtime: 94 mins.
Director: Terrence Malick
Writer: Terrence Malick
Cast: Martin Sheen; Sissy Spacek; Warren Oates; Ramon Bieri
Genre: Crime | Drama
Tagline: In 1959 a lot of people were killing time. Kit and Holly were killing people.
Memorable Movie Quote: "I'll give you a dollar if you eat this collie."
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Official Site:
Release Date: October 15, 1973
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: March 19, 2013

Synopsis: Based on the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1958, in which a fifteen-year-old girl and her twenty-five-year-old boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Component Grades Movie Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - March 19, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Badlands, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, has a brand new coat of paint and polished sheen from its 4K digital restoration overseen by Terrence Malick himself.  Thousands of instances of dirt and debris have been removed from the print.  Scratches, slices, warps, and other inconsistencies have been manually removed.  The result is wonderfully rich.  Colors go deep.  Depth, clarity and fluidity throughout the film are truly exceptional.  Everything is organic and bold, bold, bold.  The original monaural soundtrack has been remastered at 24-bit from the original 35mm magnetic tracks and all clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum noises have been removed.  The resulting English LPCM 1.0. track is impressive.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

Terrence Malick's Badlands arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; new documentary featuring interviews with actors Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek and production designer Jack Fisk; new video interview with producer Edward Pressman; new video interview with associate editor Billy Weber; and a 1993 episode of the television series American Justice. The release also arrives with an illustrated 20-page booklet featuring an essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda. It’s presented in English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

• Making Badlands (42 min)
• Producer Edward Pressman (13 min)
• Editor Billy Weber (22 min)
• Charles Starkweather (23 min)
• Trailer (3 min)

{2jtab: Trailer}

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