Badlands on DVD (1973)

Mint400 from London , 26/07/2004

Watching this film, you wonder what the protagonists would make of it all if they could watch themselves through our eyes. Holly and Kit are, after all, resolutely self-obsessed, and obsessed by the Hollywood stars that perhaps they imagine themselves to be (and as Sissey Spacek and Martin Sheen, would of course become). They are bored by small-town life, social rules, and pretty much everything except killing, driving and their reflection in each others eyes. Sex would just get in the way, and they make sure it never does.

Would they notice Terence Malick’s ability to craft unexpected, wholly original, image after image, like some holiday scrapbook from a country that no-one had ever visited? Would these pictures chime with Holly’s adolescent diary as she read it aloud to us, a fumbling attempt at articulacy that she and Kit never try to reproduce with each other? How would Kit regard himself choosing the right hat for his showdown with the Law? Would they wonder what made them go on such an unmotivated killing spree, would they wonder at just how fascinating the two of them could be?

I guess no matter what they saw, they wouldn’t say a word. It takes a rare talent to know how to be quiet, loudly.

  15 out of 18 people found this review helpful

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Pour1Malt from Dumfries , 08/06/2005

The Time Out review above fails to mention that this film is not wholly fiction. This is the telling of REAL events that happened in 1958 in Nebraska and Wyoming.

Charles Starkweather (19 years old) and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, (14 year old) shot Caril Ann's mother and stepfather, and strangled Caril Ann's two-year-old sister.

Starkweather hid the bodies at various places outside the house. The two stayed in the house for two more days, turning people away under the pretense that everyone had the flu.

In the week that followed, Starkweather shot or stabbed 7 people to death. Over 1,200 police officers and members of the National Guard searched for the couple, and they were finally arrested in Douglas, Wyoming. Starkweather first claimed he had held Caril Ann captive, but dropped the story when she called him a murderer. He was electrocuted in the Nebraska State Prison on June 25th, 1959. Caril Ann was sentenced to life in prison but was paroled in 1977.

Starkweather aqnd Fugate are the inspiration for this outstanding and very well acted film. They are also the inspiration for the song "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen (which was originally entitled "Starkweather.")

Their killing spree also served as part of the basis for the movie Natural Born Killers, was dramatized in the 1993 TV miniseries Murder in the Heartland, as well as the boo

  14 out of 15 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Llanbedr Pont Steffan, Cymru , 08/02/2004

A clever and poignant portrayal of a young girl who runs off with a serial killer. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek play the roles to perfection. The dialogue is sparse and laconic, overwrought by Holly's internal narrative. Both characters appear completely dispassionate;one kills without emotion and the other shows no signs of reaction.

Despite the emotive subject matter there are no displays of emotion, even by the police officers who appear well disposed towards the affable murderer.

There is no attempt at insight into the characters motives, personalities or underlying forces. Events unfold without much deliberation or reflection. This reinforces the esoteric effect of the film.

All in all a beautiful understated tale which simply is.

  10 out of 10 people found this review helpful

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shoddy from Jersey , 30/09/2004

Some of the best films don't attempt to moralise or explain, they just let events speak for themselves. This modern fairy tale does just that and does it beautifully. The ethereal soundtrack, stunning visuals and monotone voiceover slowly hypnotise the viewer, until you forget you're watching a film about a vicious murder spree and concentrate instead on simply indulging your senses.

  4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

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