Badlands (1973)
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
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 4/5 |
The superb performances from Sheen and Spacek are as memorable as Malick’s vision of something akin to hell. Full Review |
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5/5 |
The unique, lilting music would subsequently crop up in True Romance, though Tarantino’s generation has yet to dethrone Badlands as the most haunting of all couple-on-the-run movies. Full Review |
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An unmissable reissue for Terrence Malick's gorgeous and troubling debut. Full Review |
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5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Terrence Malick's first masterpiece. Essential viewing. Full Review |
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5/6 |
This first, magnificent, outpouring of the sporadic genius of cinema’s equivalent to JD Salinger, Terrence Malick, still seems terrifically modern. Full Review |
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5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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Makes for classic, troubling yet fascinating cinema. Full Review |
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Written, produced and directed by Terrence Malick, pic is his first feature and it's an impressive debut. Full Review |
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5/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
Terrence Malick introduced his odd yet highly compelling filmmaking style in this 1973 feature. Full Review |
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Bonnie and Clyde without the Freud, but with a darker, more incomprehensible underbelly. Full Review |
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This first, magnificent, outpouring of the sporadic genius of cinema’s equivalent to JD Salinger, Terrence Malick, still seems terrifically modern. Full Review |
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5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Stunning.
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B+ |
A groundbreaking seminal folk tale about aimless youths. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Terrific, chilling debut by Sheen.
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4/5 |
No review available.
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5/5 |
Malick's dreamlike murder story is still haunting.
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4/4 |
Click to read the article Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Badlands
August 29, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: The Wackness aint Wack, but Babylon Blows
So the big movies out this week are Vin Diesel-powered Babylon A.D, yet another Judd Apatow-produced comedy about immature losers - Step Brothers with Will Ferrell and John C... More...
January 19, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Spear," "New World" Are OK, Not Great
This week at the movies brings us three culture clashes: Native Americans and Europeans ("The New World"), the Waodani people of Ecuador and a group of missionaries... More...
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