Customer Reviews

Badlands (25th Anniversary Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This review refers to the Warner Bros DVD edition of "Badlands"...

Thirty years ago, young filmakers Terrance Malick(director) and Tak Fujimoto(cinematographer)gave us an advanced preview of their extraordinary talents. And not only that, but the young stars of this film, Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek prove their acting expertise as well.

Holly(Spacek), is a naive young girl who becomes enamored by the charismatic but brooding Kit(Sheen). After she is stunned by the brutal murder of her father by the man she loves, she goes on the run with him, and gets caught up in his dark world as he continues on his murder spree.

This chilling story was inspired by actual events that occurred in 1958 and Spacek(who also captivatingly narrates), and Sheen capture these troubled youths with perfection and will draw you into every word. Warren Oates turns in a terrific performance as usual, as Holly's father, and of course is not in it nearly long enough. Malick and Fujimoto subtly and artfully create a film, that puts the viewer right there in those "Badlands" of Montana, and that 30 years later will still have you fascinated.

The transfer onto DVD is good. There are times when the film shows it's age, but for the most part the clarity and color is fine. The sound remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, although distinct could still be improved on.The music was outstanding but occassionaly the background noises made the dialouge hard to hear. Neither of these things were enough to take away from the enjoyment or flow of the film, and overall it looks great for a 30 year old film. I would recommend this DVD to anyone who appreciates fine film making.

Thanx and enjoy....Laurie

Kit and Holly are presented in this story by Terrence Malick as total innocents, living in a prelapsarian state, completely unaware of right and wrong, good and evil, and ignorant of guilt or sin. They have minimal conception of the consequences of their actions; in effect, they appear almost totally to lack imagination or foresight, and can barely empathise with each other, let alone other people. Things just happen, as Holly sees it. Kit doesn't feel hostility to the people he kills: they are merely in his way. There is no remorse. He is only marginally conscious that the structured world outside his own will eventually catch up with him. These kids are like Adam and Eve, with a limited knowledge of what is forbidden, but no real knowledge of the meaning of life and death. Holly throws out her sick catfish, showing no feeling. Her dog is shot as a punishment by her father, indicating he, too, is careless of death or pain. Kit stands on a dead cow, as though puzzled by its absence of life. Neither of the two seems to cry or laugh much. In one way these characters might also be thought of as throwbacks to a prehistoric, animalistic past, where the younger man simply eliminates the older, in order to secure a mate for himself. Just the way of nature, and beyond criticism. Apparently, so I've read somewhere, this is the mindset of the criminal, who cannot see what he is doing wrong. He has to get by, somehow, and takes the easiest path. Why work, when you can steal? If obstacles arise, eliminate them. People are OK, otherwise. Live now, die later. This is an extraordinary film, superbly acted.

This is an amazing directorial debut, as the film works on so many fronts. It is both a love story and a crime drama, with sneak peaks at what makes the two main protagonists tick. It remains for the audience to decide who is the more chilling and disturbed of the two characters, twenty five year old Kit (Martin Sheen) or fifteen year old Holly (Sissy Spacek).

This is a film in which two unlikely characters become lovers. Kit, a James Dean-like loser espies the fresh-faced Holly twirling her baton one day and is smitten. He approaches her and, despite her initial reluctance, she begins to see him against her protective father's wishes. Kit is ten years older than Holly, a high school drop out from the wrong side of the tracks, who is unable to maintain a job and appears to have a limited future. He falls in love with Holly and wants her to be his exclusively. Eventually, they become lovers.

Holly, a loner who has been raised by her father since her mother died many years ago, lives a middle class, materially comfortable existence. Her father, while he no doubt loves and cares for her, lacks a certain sensitivity. His idea of punishing Holly for disobeying him is to shoot her dog in cold blood. When her fish is dying, his solution is to toss it into the yard while it is still gasping for breath, replacing it with a new fish. Holly's naive, fresh-faced, freckled countenance belies a soul that has atrophied. It is as if Holly were disconnected from her feelings.

When Kit tries to talk to the father about his feelings for Holly, he is told in no uncertain terms to hit the road. Kit then decides to leave and take Holly with him. Kit enters Holly's house one day, packing a suitcase of her things in anticipation of their departure, when Holly and her father unexpectedly arrive home. Kit and Holly's father have a confrontation, that ends badly for dear old dad. It is here that the film first signals Holly's detachment as being something other than naivete. Her reaction is mind boggling. It is even more horrific than Kit's reaction. Or is it just shock? You be the judge.

They initially live an almost Thoreauesque existence in the woods, living off the land, reading, and spending lots of quality time together, until this, too, begins to pall. Discovery of their idyll by law enforcement officers drives them out, and they begin a chilling killing spree across the Badlands of South Dakota and a life on the lam.

While it is Kit who does all the actual killing, it is, to my mind, Holly who is the more complex and frightening character. Her prosaic and banal conversation, as well as a lack of empathy in the most heinous and disturbing of circumstances, is most unsettling. This is reinforced in the film through a voiced-over, almost toneless, detached narration by Holly of the events that took place. It is a masterpiece of point and counterpoint, chilling in its very telling and understated irony. When they are eventually caught, Holly remains impassive, while Kit relishes his celebrity and oozes charm, winning over his captors. Martin Sheen's performance is nothing short of brilliant, while Sissy Spacek is mesmerizing with her ability to chill the viewer.

This is an expertly crafted film with an ingenious use of music. The director even manages to utilize the music of Erik Satie (Gymnopedies 3) most effectively, however unlikely it may seem. Like the music of Erik Satie, the film is multi-textured and deceptively complex. Bravo!

One star for the format.
Be advised that the 2010 release, despite being labeled Wide Screen, is nothing of the kind. It's 1.33:1 ("formatted to fit your tv") and appears to have been cropped on either side.
This is the second time I've been screwed by WB DVDs. I recently bought The American President in a snap case that claimed to be "enhanced for widescreen tv's" thinking that at last I'd get a picture I could live with unitl the Blu-ray issue (and no, that is not scheduled). But it was the same non-anamorphic disc that I bought years ago in one of those awful keep cases.
So: Caveat emptor. Go with the 1999 edition of Badlands, if you can find it, and you'll get both formats Then you can cheerfully ignore the stupidity of a P&S image in this day of Home Theater.
Shame on WB for mislabeling, and shame on Amazon for not differentiating.

It's extremely rare for a company to outright lie on a DVD case, but here they most certainly did. This is not anamorphic ("enhanced for widescreen TVs") widescreen, as it says on both the DVD case and the label on the DVD itself. It's not even widescreen- it's 1.33:1, full screen. Disgusting, Warner Brothers. Amazon should NOT be selling this.

This is one of the best criminal/lovers on the run films to date. As in all of director Malick's films, the music, acting, and photography are all first rate. Malick does not stylize or glorify the violence like too many other films of the same plotting. The violence makes its impact on the viewer without resorting to any exaggerations or excessiveness. What is most striking about the film are its many contrasts with the characters. For example, the characters' alienation is depicted in the shots of lonely desolate landscapes. Many of their spoken thoughts, points of view, and statements are absolutely senseless....just like their killings. Martin Sheen is very chilling as the remorseless and trigger-happy Kit. What also makes Badlands different is that the film does not blame society for the behavior of Kit and Holly (played wonderfully by Sissy Spacek). Powerful, chilling, extremely well done and highly recommended.

I think this movie goes right to the heart of the philosophical question of what art and artists are supposed to be and do: are they merely to present facts/ideas/personalities/images with no comment, no moralizing, no personal ulterior motives (leaving all those things to the viewer), or do they need to state clearly a moral purpose and certain direction (which the viewer can then accept or reject)?

Martin Sheen is Kit, a garbageman working in South Dakota; he becomes friends with 15-year-old Holly (Sissy Spacek). When her father tells Sheen he doesn't want him near his daughter again, Sheen kills him. The two run off together, living for a while in the woods like two "innocents" of some primitive society. But then they're discovered by three men and Sheen kills them, too.

They now head for Montana, Sheen committing more murders along the way. He is empty inside, nothing fazes him; he imagines he's like James Dean - misunderstood, alienated. But he doesn't have a clue what he should be alienated against, and as far as being misunderstood, he never once gives the least hint there is anything there TO understand. We finish watching the movie feeling as empty as Sheen. I also felt a little angry at Malick's attempt to con me into thinking there is more to Sheen's vapid character than there really is: he truly is just a non-entity who kills half a score of innocent people.

So back to my first paragraph. Malick obviously works from the perspective of the first half of my question posed (a view that became an obsession, I think, with artists, writers, film-makers, etc. beginning in the late 1960s); I tend toward believing the second half. Suum cuique.

There are buttered-up popcorn movies that entertain you, score a ticket to "Jurassic Park" and Spielberg for that, and there are films with gravitas, that move you, disturb you, drag you to the altar kicking and screaming, to consider circumstances you might not brave yourself.."Badlands," Terrence Malick's 1973 directorial debut, an overlooked jewel of a film, forcibly moves you, and takes an unsavory subject, the Charles Starkweather serial killings' crime spree, up in the vacated Badlands of South Dakota, and refines it til you posit, "How did we get here as a country? What went wrong?"..And then you appraise the challenges a film-maker overcomes to project the psychopathic wrath of two teenagers (Martin Sheen as Kit Carruthers, Sissy Spacek as Holly Sargis) on a thrill-killing "honeymoon", onto the silver screen and make it empathetic, palatable..Why would anyone care in the first place about two low-life, lost highway delinquents, who shoot a parent, assume they can get away consequence-free, and move on with their careless lives like nothing more infractious than cutting an afternoon civics class has occurred?..However, "Badlands" is rooted in unfortunate fact, these inexplicable events happened to a pedestrian populace in North America, and Malick lets you tag along in this teenage angst riddled odyssey, deeper and deadlier into an American wasteland..The film is palpable evil genuis, arguably a top ten American film classic, irrespective it was shot by a first time director, with an unknown cast.."Badlands" resonates with gritty authenticity, cinematic style, fierce inhumanity, and the most haunting musical score (Erik Satie's Gymnopedies 3) that underwrites a Sissy Spacek voice over narration, spoken in a lazy monotone like a detached schoolgirl explaining away her unexcused absence in the principal's office, when in fact Holly (Sissy Spacek) is the fractured other half of the Kit Carruthers' killing machine, a bossom buddy in crime..Some films are purposefully pure entertainment, escapist faire.."Badlands" on the other hand is rare art, belongs in a museum.

The film opens up and ends in diary fashion - the voice of Sissy Spacek narrates here and there, telling the tale her bleak existence in 50s rural midwest America. Holly (Spacek) lives alone with her father, dog and pet catfish. Her catfish gets sick, so she tosses him in the yard as he flounders for a gasp of air before he suffocates to death... and this is just the appetizer. She disobeys her father, so he shoots and kills her dog - and then you start to see a set of characters full of rules, but no true love... just self-imposed morality as it fits their need for control of every situation.

One lazy day Holly meets Kit (Martin Sheen), a handsome James Dean-esque character who is cocky, handsome, intelligent and shows interest in Holly. Kit is far from a father's dream of a catch for his daughter - kit is at least 10 years older and works as a garbage collector. While that profession pays better today, in the 1950s, it was hardly something worth writing home to mother about.

Holly's father forbids her to see Kit, but Kit is persistent and finally decides to kill the man who is in the way of their romance. The killing is less passionate or spontaneous than it is cold, emotionless and calculating. Similar to the way one swats a fly without remorse, killing it simply because it became too annoying, and life goes on. Holly just watches in a daze, not truly horrified at her wounded, dying father, and not surprised or mad at her beau.

Kit feels compelled to burn down the family home to cover up his crime, but then takes a record player outside so it won't burn - then goes to a self-recording record-making booth to make a confession record that plays outside the burning house as his morbid confession.

They live out in the wilderness, like animals, building primitive forts and look-out posts. When sheriff's deputies close in on them, the true killing spree begins. While a fairly unassuming garbage collector with no former criminal record, Kit has the skills of Rambo - he sets up camoflauged hiding areas and manages to kill all 3 deputies single-handed. They continue on a cross-country escape from justice, killing those who get in their way and sparing a few on a whim.

While Holly never truly pulls a trigger herself, she is the hapless participant and enabler - not threatened, but just tagging along like a faithful German Shepherd.

The movie is truly bizarre - but in a way, true to life in a chilling way. The young couple achieves a dark celebrity-like status - everyone knows who they are and are scared by them, yet fascinated at the same time.

The film is not overtly bloody and violent like the shoot-em-ups of today, but somehow very violent in an intimate way... there are many scenes without music or much background noise - just the eerie silence of the last breath of a dying gun-shot victim - things get so quiet, you can almost hear Holly's eyelids click when she blinks.

This is not a movie for kids and not a film to watch when you're tired - there are slow, silent scenes, but the film is far from boring. Aspiring actors and directors can learn a lot from this film's cinematography, direction and incredible acting. Despite it's almost flawless quality in filmmaking, it is a dark, depressing tale with no social redeeming values - other than a testimony to the results of raising children in a loveless environment. When children are not loved at home, they will attach themselves to the first person who shows interest in them - and find the near worship of their own pleasure as the pinnacle of existence.

This is a film with a skewed perspective. Both main characters, played brilliantly by Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen are on the run for murder; they are in love, and both dwell in their own fantasy-lands far from any normal idea of reality. Believe it or not, the title phrase that I used here sums up this movie completely. Let me put it into its context. Martin Sheen's character, "Kit," drags his first murder victim down into the cellar of the house and while there he glances around, then grabs the first thing he sees and returns upstairs. Upon his arrival he says, "I found this toaster." He then places it on the counter like he just discovered The Holy Grail. His character's utter detachment from what he's just done is both creepy and morbidly hilarious. I once heard something in a movie that I will relate here: A genius tends to create his own Moral Universe. I believe that, but I also believe the opposite to be equally true. Apparently, the same idea holds true for socio-pathic, psychotic morons. These characters are so lost in their own personal "Wonderlands" that they create their own set of emotions, remorse not being on their very short list. Martin Sheen is the heart of the film, and dominates every scene he is in. However, Sissy Spacek plays the perfect foil to "Kit" and his left-of-center view of life. Her cold and submissive performance is echoed in the objective narration of the film, where she accepts what is happening at all costs because "Love" can't be wrong. What was especially unnerving for me was that I couldn't help but be charmed by these two very disturbed young people. They have an endearing quality that comes, I think, from their child-like perspective of the world. Everything is seen in simple terms, without any complexity of emotion. This film is a strange adventure about two very strange characters. What makes this story all the more compelling is that it is based on actual events. This is the first film from acclaimed director Terrence Malick, and my personal favorite of his from his small, 3-film catalog. His other films are "Days of Heaven" and his remake of the classic film "The Thin Red Line." Another film with the same ambience as "Badlands" is "At Close Range" which was released in 1986, and stars Sean Penn, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Christopher Walken. Both films are worth owning. I hope my review was helpful. Have a great day.