moonspinner55 Review of Badlands

Badlands (1973)

Not just a dramatization of real events, but a romanticized portrait of crime...

[7/10 · 28 April 2006]

In the 1950s, a quiet but quick-thinking young man who postures like James Dean stirs up trouble for a simple teenage girl living with her father; he eventually takes her on a journey across several states by car, leaving dead bodies in their wake. Dreamy, intentionally vacuous (one presumes) debut film from director Terrence Malick, who also wrote the screenplay and served as producer. Although inspired by the Charles Starkweather murder spree, "Badlands" probably bears little resemblance to that actual case. The two main characters played by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek aren't shaped in the writing: they're blobby malcontents without a plan. There's a surge of excitement in their initial escape, but there isn't even much romance between them. Obviously, this was exactly what Malick intended, but the viewer can't really get a firm grip on this story; it's shapeless and blobby, too. The low-keyed action and (amusingly) droning narration by Spacek (reading the dialogue as if it were from a fortune cookie) makes the whole thing seem like a non-event, and yet the performances are controlled and interesting. We're probably not meant to be moved by either of these two, but Sheen's joshing confrontation with some officers is incredibly bracing, and his acting in general is raw without ever seeming showy or amateurish. The background score (with a theme that sounds like jewelry box music that keeps getting louder and stronger) is evocative and spooky, and the film's ambiance is intriguing. But the loose narrative slips in and out and around what we're seeing, as if there wasn't a proper script, giving the impression the filmmaker was relying strictly on externals. *** from ****