Badlands [DVD]

`In 1959 a lot of people were killing time. Kit and Holly were killing people.' That's the tagline for Badlands (1973), a film loosely based on the true life events surrounding the 1958 killing spree by Nebraska couple Charlie Starkweather and his jailbait girlfriend Caril Fugate. The film, written and directed by Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line), stars Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, The Dead Zone) and Sissy Spacek (Carrie, Coal Miner's Daughter) in her first, prominent silver screen role. Also appearing is Warren `Quaker' Oates (The Brink's Job).As the film, set in South Dakota, begins, we meet Kit Carruthers (Sheen), a directionless 25-year-old man working the crummy odd job or two, looking very much like James Dean in his blue jeans, white t-shirt, and cowboy boots. After a chance meeting with naïve, 15-year-old Holly Sargis (Spacek), the two hit it off and begin dating, but soon Holly's father (Oates) finds out, and puts the kibosh on the May-December romance, instructing Kit to hit the bricks, never to darken their doorstep again, or some such thing...Kit seems amicable about the situation, that is until he shows up later at the Sargis house, collecting Holly, and shooting her father (in her presence, mind you). He makes apparent efforts to cover the crime in burning the house to the ground, but purposely leaves behind an admission of what happened...Kit and Holly take to the road, making residence in some nearby woods (in a treehouse, no less), but are soon confronted by the law which sets off a murderous trek across the badlands of South Dakota and Montana. Along the way they meet some new and interesting people, and kill them (well, Kit does, as he's got the guns), continuously on the move, with the ever present spectre of law enforcement looming somewhere on the horizon. Capture seems imminent, but the question becomes will it be a peaceful or violent one (actually, the film raises much more in-depth questions regarding the alienation of disaffected youth, and a society that condemns, but also celebrates, the criminal element, rather than this quite obvious one)?In the mid to late 50's, youthful rebellion was in the air, marked with the emergence of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, and James Dean. Films like The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause served to stir up not only the young people, who identified with the restlessness and discontentment often portrayed within these films, but also resonated with the older generation, basically scaring the pants off them, as they saw these elements infringing on their precious status quo. I think it's important to keep this in mind watching the film, as it served to magnify Kit and Holly's actions (much more, I think, in the real life case of Starkweather and Fugate), as now this perceived, growing threat to the establishment had gotten its' poster children. While watching Badlands, I couldn't help notice how much it had in common to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), also how much it didn't. Both share the same, core elements of youth gone wild, but where Natural Born Killers thrived on spectacularly gaudy and garish visuals, wallowing in its' own, pretentious crapulence (my opinion), Badlands is completely opposite, presenting the material in a modest, unassuming, and very natural way, choosing not to glorify the visceral, but embracing the ambiguous relationship of society and its' fascination with those who conform to their own, often indefinable, social mores. I thought Sheen did a superior job with his character of Kit, infusing him with charm and the general feeling that you want to like him, even despite his crimes and seemingly cool disinterest towards life in general (well, at least towards those who would stand in the way of what he wanted at that specific moment). It was kinda strange to find myself identifying with a character on some level, and then he goes off and shoots someone, reminding me of his unpredictable nature. I also thought Spacek was wonderful, and I found her character of Holly to be just a bit more scary than that of Kit. She's along for the ride, witnessing these horrific events (the violence is extremely toned down throughout the film, the focus being on the characters themselves), and yet, seems to show little, if any, real concern or emotion, but then I felt like maybe she was in a continual state of shock since her father's death. She provides narration through much of the film, giving an odd, detached, sometimes disconcerting, perspective on the events that transpire, generally focusing more on the trivial rather than the gruesomely obvious. Two other elements worth mentioning is the photography and the music. Many of the scenes feature beautiful vistas, sometimes shot during the most dramatic parts of the day, either at dawn or dusk, creating a odd sort of sensation of creatures floating in the ether between realms...I know that sounds weird, but I am at a lack to describe it any other way. As far as the music, I could swear some of it was later used in Quentin Tarantino's 1993 film True Romance...regardless, the music is perfectly suited for the film, not overshadowing the events on the screen, but perfectly accompanying them, as if it was an natural extension of the film, rather than something added after the fact.The picture on this Warner Brothers DVD release (it has both the widescreen 1.85:1 and pan & scan formats) looks reasonably well, but does show some very minor signs of age. The soundtrack claims to be `remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1' and does sound alright, but I did have to utilize the English subtitles on occasion to understand some of the dialog. There are no special features, not even a trailer, but I didn't mind too much as I found the film in and of itself to be worth the price I paid.Cookieman108

When I was in college, I asked and received a one-term sabbatical to apply for a software patent. Unfortunately for me, I didn't win that patent; I was about three-to-six months late applying. What you quickly find out during a process like that: there may be many patents pending, and since it takes two years or more for an application to move through its necessary transitions, there may be patents that are similar to yours that, without working at the patent office and performing some late-night covert op, you'll never know about. At least until yours is rejected much later as it "infringes" on another that was in the pipeline at the same time. So applying for a patent is a crap shoot, and best left up to lawyers and large companies with large bank accounts.While I know a fair amount about the patent process now, I don't know much about the legal end of the film business. I did read an article once from a screenwriter who discussed these issues, and from what I remember, he wrote that, if you create a film that is based upon a true story, and you want to use real names of living people, you need to get sign off from those people to use their real names with their real stories. Supposedly, that's why some of the characters in the film "Frozen Ground" were amalgams of real-life people but with fictional names. I believe that there was at least one Anchorage detective who hunted for Robert Hansen, where that detective wouldn't sign off on his name for the film. (After watching that film, I would agree with his position. I didn't like the end product for a variety of reasons.)And I think that this is why filmmakers sometimes just throw up their hands, and make movies such as "Badlands" that are "based upon actual events," or other such nonsense. "Why even bother trying to tell the real story? We'll just get sued," is most likely the position that most filmmakers take. I did watch the film "Starkweather" a while back, and that was a film that I actually really liked, even though I believe that the acting is somewhat wooden like what you would see in a David Lynch film. But that film used the real names, and it used real events, and I appreciated the "realness" of it all. I was able to be entertained and learn mostly the real story at the same time.But I believe that "Starkweather" could go beyond the "based upon actual events" verbiage because most of the real-life characters were deceased by the time that it was filmed in the early 2000s. Caril Anne Fugate was still alive at the time -- she almost died last year in a bad car accident though, and it is unclear about her current state -- but the filmmakers most likely believed that enough time had passed so that they could use the true story.And while the events in "Badlands" may not be the "true story," it is a very good film. Before renting, I had no idea that it was directed by Terrance Malick, who obviously has some serious credentials. In particular, I really liked "Tree of Life" (TOL) even though I borderline hated the ending. But once again, in "Badlands," just like TOL, the cinematography is excellent. But I really thought that the digital transfer to HD in this film is really, really sharp. I watched this using my new Blu-ray player with a built-in Amazon Prime app on a Sharp 1080P set, and it looks fantastic.The acting is very nice as well. Note a very young Sissy Spacek -- I guess she was in her early 20s when this was filmed, but she looked like she was a young teenager with nearly-must-have-been-illegal-short shorts -- and a young Martin Sheen as well. I've been hit-and-miss over the years with Mr. Sheen; I believe that, in his family, the order of skill from best to worst goes: Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, and then bringing up the rear: Charlie Sheen. But Martin was a fine choice in this film, as I believe that he channels a young Charley Starkweather.And check out the old "Voice-o-graph" machine! I've never seen one before, but way before iPads, way before iPhones, way before iPods, way before CDs, way before cassettes, way before 8-track tapes, there was a machine where you could speak into it for 50 cents (probably a lot of money in the 50s) and record your voice on a record. Yeah, one of those round, black things that play on a turntable! Perhaps you've never seen one?Well, I think that it is too bad that legal issues get in the way of filmmaking sometimes. But here, no matter. Mr. Malick somehow worked around them anyways and still managed to make a really good film.

After searching for many years for a blu ray version of this film, I was delighted to find Cult Movies offering this package.The included DVD version was no better than the old one I had from long ago, but the BD was just as I remember the cinema screenings I have seen, sharp definition, strong colour and contrast and crisp sound....a real transformation.

Highly atmospheric; wonderful music. Compelling in its way, with a naive female narrator and her amoral lover on a strange spree of anarchic violence! Uncomfortable to watch but memorable too.

Great film. Good postage packaging.

Huge influence on classic film cultureWonderful actingViscount Murphy

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