Cinema: Gun Crazy

BADLANDS

Directed and Written by TERRENCE MALICK

This is a deadeyed, deadpan existential amorality play that has found a metaphor to make the 1950s come alive. At least it spins a superbly ironic fairy tale out of the emotional hibernation of those years in America, the simmering, collective detachment that could muffle hysteria and dull death.

The source material, unacknowledged, would appear to be the history of Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, who went on a murder binge in 1958 that resulted in the deaths of ten people in Nebraska and Wyoming. Their motives were...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!