Badlands (film)

• 1. The Dead-End Town

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  In 1959, Holly Sargis narrates the film as a fifteen-year-old living in Fort Dupree. This dead-end South Dakota town serves as the starting point for her journey. Her mother died from pneumonia years earlier, leaving a strained relationship with her father. He is a sign painter who disapproves of her choices. Holly meets Kit Carruthers, a twenty-five-year-old garbage collector and Korean War veteran. He resembles James Dean, an actor whom Holly admires deeply. After Kit charms Holly, they have sex and begin to grow closer. His violent and antisocial tendencies are gradually revealed during their time together.

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• 2. A Debut From The Institute

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  Terrence Malick began work on Badlands after his second year attending the American Film Institute. In 1970, Malick was age twenty-seven when he started working on the screenplay during a road trip. He developed a sales kit with slides and video tape of actors to present to investors. Investors paid attention only to faith rather than the detailed materials. Malick raised about half the money himself while executive producer Edward Pressman provided the other half. Malick paid $25,000 of his own funds to get the project moving. This marked the first feature film that Malick had written for himself to direct.

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• 3. Chemistry Between Stars

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  Sissy Spacek was the first actor cast in the production. She appeared in only her second film at the time. Malick found her small-town Texas roots and accent perfect for the part of the naive impressionable high school girl. Several up-and-coming actors were auditioned for the role of Kit Carruthers. Martin Sheen was suggested by the casting director despite Malick thinking he was too old. Spacek wrote in her autobiography that the chemistry was immediate. She stated that he was Kit and she became Holly with him. Sheen based his characterization of Kit on the actor James Dean.

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• 4. Chaos On The Set

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  Principal photography took place in Colorado starting in July 1972. A non-union crew worked with a low budget of $300,000 excluding some deferments to film labs and actors. Several members of the crew clashed with Malick during the process. Another crew member was severely injured when an explosion occurred while filming the fire scene. Malick's first cinematographer Brian Probyn quit mid-shoot after balking at unorthodox methods. He was replaced by Tak Fujimoto then by Stevan Larner who finished the film. Producer Edward R. Pressman noted the film looked remarkably seamless despite different hands.

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• 5. From Negative To Registry

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  Warner Bros purchased and distributed the film for just under $1 million. Warner Bros initially previewed the film on a double bill with Blazing Saddles resulting in very negative audience response. The production team had to book the film into several other theaters like Little Rock Arkansas to demonstrate it could make money. Badlands received a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from reviews of fifty-nine critics. It holds an average score of 8.9 out of 10 based on those same reviews. In 1993 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

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• 6. Fairy Tales And Classical Music

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  The film makes repeated use of the short composition Gassenhauer from Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman Schulwerk. Other tunes by Erik Satie Nat King Cole Mickey Sylvia and James Taylor also appear throughout. Malick called Kit desensitized enough to regard his gun as a magic wand eliminating small nuisances. He felt this fairy tale tone would take some sharpness out of violence while keeping its dreamy quality. A sequence features ethereal orchestration of Erik Satie Trois Morceaux en forme de Poire during a long-lens shot. Bill Paxton described these moments as having nothing to do with the story yet everything to do with longing or dreams.

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