Badlands (1973)

My previous exposure to Terrence Malick consisted of his co-writing of Dirty Harry, which I liked; and his solo writing and direction of Days of Heaven, which I found dull and forgettable. With his 20-year career hiatus, he doesn't have an extensive filmography, and the few other titles I recognized seemed pretty unpromising. So why'd I see this, his debut as a director and as a producer? Partly for its reception and partly for my first Meetup in a while.

Only afterward did I learn that the story is inspired by true events, albeit under different names and with a lot of details changed. Kit (Martin Sheen, younger than I'd ever seen before), a 25-year-old newly fired garbageman, takes a shine to 15-year-old Holly (Sissy Spacek, also younger than I'd ever seen before). Her father (Warren Oates) disapproves, of course, but Kit is undeterred. Things escalate quickly, and Kit shoots the old man dead. Kit and Holly take to living in the wilderness, but they can't stay put for long, and Kit perceives little choice but to kill again....

Wondering what goes through both their heads? Well, Holly's the narrator, so we get a fair idea for her. I can see why she'd shed no tears for a father whose idea of a just punishment for her dating Kit was to kill her dog. She didn't have much confidence in her attractiveness, so she found it hard to turn down Kit. I get the impression she wasn't particularly popular at school or high on life. It doesn't hurt that Kit looks like James Dean. Even so, she doesn't exactly like breaking the law or running from it.

I couldn't help thinking of Coal Miner's Daughter, another Sissy Spacek vehicle in which she, at 15 and against her father's wishes, takes up with a 20-something man who calls her stupid. OK, Kit does that only once and in an offhand, context-specific way. At other times, he claims to respect Holly's intelligence and admire her maturity. He's not physically abusive like CMD's Doo, and Holly usually has little trouble loving him. He might not even be emotionally abusive, tho you'd think that his interest in a girl that young would have to do with her being easy to manipulate. I'm sure he's not driven primarily by lust; they're implied to have had sex once and found it lackluster. I'd almost call him a gentleman half the time, never getting as evil as he could.

As for why Kit does as he does with people other than Holly, she never fully figures him out, but I don't consider him an enigma. From the start, he has few job-worthy skills and a low regard for all sorts of authority. I think if it weren't for Holly, he'd still find a cause to rebel, tho maybe not to a Clyde Barrows level. He does say he hadn't meant to go that far.

The writing and main characters are interesting enough, if a bit basic. Unfortunately, the production values drive home Malick's beginner status. I find the gunshot wounds too uniform to be convincing. When Kit tries to shoot two people through a door, he fires but two shots without shifting his aim. Not a very good aim, either; I didn't immediately realize what he meant to do. I'm afraid the acting leaves something to be desired too, especially when Spacek's expression looks inappropriate for the moment. Others in my Meetup group praised the editing, which probably didn't include these details in their minds.

My other concern is that sometimes, in deference to the reality that inspired the story (but was reportedly grimmer), we get details that don't advance anything. For example, Kit and Holly meet a deaf woman, which makes no discernible difference to the story, nor do we see a new side to either of them because of her. She could easily have been omitted.

Nevertheless, Badlands was consistently adequate entertainment for the ticket price. I wouldn't be surprised if this were Malick's best work overall. I might watch The Thin Red Line and decide whether that's better.