Terrence Malick’s thriller Badlands (1973), is rightly revered as one of the most astonishing debuts in cinema. Its reissue is a wonderful chance to discover why.
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08/29/08
Badlands (1973)
97
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:38
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.7/10
Consensus: Gorgeous and troubling, with outstanding performances from Sheen and Spacek. Terrence Malicks masterful debut.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Terrence Malick's startlingly accomplished debut feature was inspired by the Charles Starkweather and Caril-Ann Fugate murders of the late-1950s. Martin Sheen plays Kit, a 25-year-old garbageman... [More]
Starring: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri
Director: Terrence Malick
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Reviews for Badlands
Badlands (1973) is the remarkable and impressive directorial debut from twenty-nine year old director Terrence Malick
03/19/01
Achingly evocative of a time when Hollywood had the courage to invest in complex and morally ambiguous films and an indisputable masterpiece of American cinema.
08/29/08
This first, magnificent, outpouring of the sporadic genius of cinema’s equivalent to JD Salinger, Terrence Malick, still seems terrifically modern.
08/29/08
This first, magnificent, outpouring of the sporadic genius of cinema’s equivalent to JD Salinger, Terrence Malick, still seems terrifically modern.
01/26/06
Bonnie and Clyde without the Freud, but with a darker, more incomprehensible underbelly.
03/04/06
It's hard to generate any particular feelings one way or the other, and when the movie ends, you're left as dry and lifeless as the badlands themselves.
02/27/01
Terrence Malick is truly a one of a kind filmmaker.
09/26/02
Like Bonnie and Clyde, Badlands could be seen as a poetic ballad or folktale, but unlike that film, it doesn't romanticize its protags, instead using distancing devices such as Sissy Spacek's affectless narration.
11/29/05
The superb performances from Sheen and Spacek are as memorable as Malick’s vision of something akin to hell.
08/29/08
Sheen works an abundance of meaning into a very small space, so we at least recognize this doomed, erstwhile child as all too human, and appropriately dangerous.
09/26/02
Terrence Malick introduced his odd yet highly compelling filmmaking style in this 1973 feature.
05/06/06
I can't pin down the exact moment I realized that I was watching something special.
02/28/02
An unmissable reissue for Terrence Malick's gorgeous and troubling debut.
08/29/08
A groundbreaking seminal folk tale about aimless youths.
01/30/05
Unfortunately, movies about banal people are often banal themselves.
01/01/00
Terrence Malick's first masterpiece. Essential viewing.
08/29/08
Among the great American crime movies, 1973's Badlands stands alone.
01/01/00
Top CriticWritten, produced and directed by Terrence Malick, pic is his first feature and it's an impressive debut.
05/16/08
Top CriticBadlands is an arena for apathy, both in regard to the characters’ depictions and their subjective emotions.
06/17/03
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