2. Badlands (1973)
Charles Starkweather was a teenage American killer who murdered 11 people during a two month period with his 14 year old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in Wyoming and Nebraska. The couple were caught on January 1958. Fugate served 17 years and Starkweather was executed. Badlands! You gotta live it every day! Okay, enough of that. I am not a Terrence Malik devotee, but he did, with his debut film, create a masterpiece of 1970s cinema in a decade overflowing with terrific films. His direction is superb and the photography is wonderful. Each shot is positively sumptuous and captures the time period incredibly well. A film is only as good as its actors. Martin Sheen is Kit and Sissy Spacek is Holly - the two killers respectively. Holly's internal monologue fills up much of the film and is fascinating. We can see how a girl whose background includes her father shooting a dog in front of her, gets caught up with a Kit type character. The choice of music is wonderful and Malik is non-judgemental about his characters. Everything is presented in a matter of fact fashion and we are allowed to make our own minds up about the pair. Fair play to Malik on his first film - a bonafide masterpiece.