Overview
A young couple's love spirals into chaos as they flee from a crime they committed together.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- eerie
- deadpan
- late night cinephile viewing
- classic film weekend
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Terrence Malick's debut as a beautifully composed, influential, and unusually poetic crime drama with haunting performances from Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Terrence Malick writes and directs a highly personal crime story that treats genre conventions through lyrical observation and moral ambiguity.
Kit and Holly's flight moves through woods, plains, and rural spaces where idyllic imagery contrasts with murder and pursuit.
Holly follows Kit after he kills her father, but their life on the run gradually exposes the instability of their shared fantasy.
Holly's reflective perspective and subdued responses frame Kit's killing spree with naivety, understatement, and limited comprehension.
Films like Badlands, and why
Bonnie and Clyde
Shared new hollywood crime drama atmosphere, doomed fugitive lovers, and morally detached road narrative.
Thelma & Louise
Shared melancholic road movie structure, charismatic criminal protagonists, and romanticized violence undercut by fatalism.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Shared poetic crime storytelling, alienated young protagonists, and an unsettling blend of beauty and brutality.
True Romance
Shared american crime mythology, drifting outsiders, and contemplative treatment of violence and doomed ambition.
Movie Details
- Director
- Terrence Malick
- Release Date
- 1973-10-13
- Runtime
- 94 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (1394)
Cast
- Martin Sheen
- Sissy Spacek
- Warren Oates
- Ramon Bieri
- Alan Vint
- Gary Littlejohn
- John Carter
- Bryan Montgomery
- Gail Threlkeld
- Charles Fitzpatrick
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- 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 Badlands about?
- A restless young killer and his teenage girlfriend flee across 1950s America, transforming a doomed romance into a lyrical crime odyssey.
- What is Badlands like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Badlands as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Badlands violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Badlands as moderate.
- What did critics think of Badlands?
- Critics broadly regard Terrence Malick's debut as a beautifully composed, influential, and unusually poetic crime drama with haunting performances from Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.
- Which films are like Badlands?
- Films with a similar feel include Bonnie and Clyde, Thelma & Louise, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and True Romance.
- How long is Badlands?
- Badlands runs 94 minutes.
- Where can I watch Badlands?
- In United States, Badlands is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand.
