Badlands
Also known as: Balade sauvage (la)
Genre: crime
drama
With: Martin
Sheen (Kit Carruthers), Sissy Spacek (Holly Sargis). Warren Oates (Daddy Sargis), Ramon Bieri (Cato, Kit’s co-worker), Alan Vint (Tom the Deputy), Gary
Littlejohn (Sheriff), John Carter (Scarborough the Rich Man), Bryan Montgomery
(Boy), Gail Threlkeld (Girl), Charles Fitzpatrick (Clerk), Howard Ragsdale
(Boss), John Womack Jr. (Trooper)
Director: Terrence
Malick
Screenplay: Terrence
Malick
Release: 1973
Studio: Warner
Bros., Pressman-Williams, Jill Jakes Production
Rating: 14A
MBiS score: 8.4/10
And if you
can't be with the one you love, honey
Love the one you're with*
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Story-line: we
find ourselves in 1959 and the setting is Fort Dupree, South Dakota. At 15,
Holly Sargis is still somewhat of a child but she knows that life can be cruel,
having lost her mother at a very early age and left Texas with her father to
start anew up north. One day, a 25-year-old garbageman named Kit sees her
twirling a baton in front of her house. They talk, something clicks and her life
suddenly seems more promising… but her instincts tell her to keep this a
secret. She’s quite sure Daddy Sargis wouldn’t approve of a guy like Kit
Carruthers…
Pluses: vivid
performances by Sissy Spacek (a lovestruck, trustful Holly) and Martin Sheen (as
a foolhardy fellow obsessed with James Dean), good support from Warren Oates
and cast, no-frills direction, a strong screenplay built on enigmatic
characters, insightful voice-overs and precise dialogues, faultless production
values, a diverse musical score and a stunning ending.
Minuses: the
screenplay illustrates – but fortunately does not condone – Kit’s glamorous
conception of crime.
Comments: the patently dark BADLANDS follows Holly and Kit on the road to adventure as they develop an ambivalent, aimless relationship based on personal needs (which don’t include housework) and a romanticized view of life on the lam. Filmed as a more modest, subdued version of BONNIE AND CLYDE, Terrence Malick’s seminal film remains stunning in its disenchantment and recklessness bordering on nihilism. As I write this review, one question from the dialogues echoes in my mind: ‟Then why'd you do it?” Your answer, movie buffs, will be as good as mine…
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*Love the One You’re With, music and
lyrics by Stephen Stills (inspired by Billy Preston).