Overview
A tale of love and deception unfolds on the Texas plains, where ambition meets heartbreak.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- dreamy
- wistful
- reflective evening
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a visually extraordinary and deeply atmospheric New Hollywood masterpiece, even when its sparse storytelling feels emotionally distant.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Texas wheat fields, sunset light, fire, insects, and changing seasons externalize the characters' desire, isolation, and impending catastrophe.
Bill and Abby's poverty drives their marriage arrangement with the wealthy farmer, turning intimacy into an economic strategy.
Linda narrates the story in plain, intuitive language, interpreting the adults' deception, longing, and violence from a child's perspective.
The film compresses time and minimizes exposition while allowing glances, silences, and natural imagery to carry the love triangle's emotional weight.
Films like Days of Heaven, and why
The New World
shared poetic visual storytelling, doomed romance, class tension, and contemplative historical atmosphere
Badlands
shared New Hollywood naturalism, moral ambiguity, intimate voice-over, and tragic romantic conflict
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
shared lyrical period drama, emotional restraint, pastoral landscapes, and tensions between desire and social class
Atonement
shared love triangle, economic desperation, and visually sumptuous rural setting
Movie Details
- Director
- Terrence Malick
- Release Date
- 1978-09-13
- Runtime
- 94 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (1215)
Cast
- Richard Gere
- Brooke Adams
- Sam Shepard
- Linda Manz
- Robert J. Wilke
- Jackie Shultis
- Stuart Margolin
- Timothy Scott
- Gene Bell
- Doug Kershaw
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- MGM Plus
- Rent
- JustWatch TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Days of Heaven about?
- A luminous early-century love triangle turns poverty, deception, and pastoral beauty into an austere meditation on desire and fate.
- What is Days of Heaven like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Days of Heaven as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Days of Heaven violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Days of Heaven as mild.
- What did critics think of Days of Heaven?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a visually extraordinary and deeply atmospheric New Hollywood masterpiece, even when its sparse storytelling feels emotionally distant.
- Which films are like Days of Heaven?
- Films with a similar feel include The New World, Badlands, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Atonement.
- How long is Days of Heaven?
- Days of Heaven runs 94 minutes.
- Where can I watch Days of Heaven?
- In United States, Days of Heaven streams on MGM Plus.
