Badlands

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Badlands (1973), directed by Terrence Malick, has an appropriate title, not only because of where the movie takes place, but because of the criminal action that it depicts. It is based on the story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate and the deaths of ten people during a nine-day period. The movie focuses on how someone gains attention through infamy if the chance at legitimate fame is out of reach. The film explores the same area that Truman Capote addresses in his novel In Cold Blood, that is, the underbelly of the United States. As Michael Almereyda says in his essay “Misfits,” the two main characters symbolize “some lethal short circuit in the American psyche.” Badlands also touches on the American fascination and celebration of outlaws, revealing its citizens’ anti-authoritarian feelings.

Almereyda notes that Malick left out some of the more gruesome acts of Starkweather to construct an almost bloodless fairy tale, as Malick once described the film. Most of the story is told from the perspective of an innocent, the fifteen-year-old Holly (Sissy Spacek), which allows the audience to gradually perceive what is happening in her association with Kit (Martin Sheen). She moves from a place of teenage romance to shell-shocked detachment.

Her story, though, is not one of youthful protection from the effects of reality. She says that her mother died young and her relations with her father (Warren Oates), became strained after the death. He moved her to Fort Dupree, South Dakota, which added to the feeling of disconnection from the outside world and increased her feeling of being an outsider. Malick provides still shots (the emphasis on “still”) of an alley of trash cans and peopleless streets, which promote the feeling of isolation.

Kit arrives in the story working on a trash truck, which suggests that he not only works with garbage, he is also part of the refuse of the land. He basically collects stuff and discards them during the course of the film, which implies he is stuck in this job. (Almereyda says that Kit’s accumulating and discarding objects may reference “Malick’s skepticism about the ephemeral nature of human identity, possessions, and the encompassing material world”). He also is good at talking trash in an almost charismatic way. His weirdness is immediately illustrated when he offers his coworker a dollar if he’ll eat a dead dog on the road. But, his fellow trashman says he will not do it for a dollar. That suggests that things are so destitute here, that he might consider it for more cash.

Kit tries to make money selling some of the trash and analyzes the people from the refuse he finds, which shows he has a bit of insight into what makes people tick. He meets Holly as she practices baton twirling. It is a wholesome image which Mallick possibly wants to contrast with what happens to her, and which may be the reason for Kit’s initial interest, if opposites attract. One of the first things he says to her is that he’ll try anything once. Which shows that prohibitions are not what he cares about. That attitude can be exciting to a young, lonely girl like Holly.

To add to his alienation from society, Kit gets fired. When asked at the unemployment office, he says he can’t think of anything he’s qualified to do. His line stresses how detached from the mainstream he is. Holly narrates that she found Kit handsome and that he reminded her of James Dean. That is a telling remark. Dean epitomized the renegade, and his good looks made that lifestyle attractive. Kit holds that same fascination for Holly, but he is a sort of Hollywood knock-off.

Kit goes to Holly’s place again and says he quit (a lie) and that he’s going to be a cowboy (not true – he will be working at a cattle feedlot). He tries to make it seem that he is more independent and important than he is. He may feel that way about himself, since he earlier told her that he has things to say, and most people don’t. She ran away from him the first time, saying her dad wouldn’t approve of Kit. Now she says she has homework to do when he wants her to join him. She acts like she is clinging to her routine life, but she is only giving lip service to it, and this time she goes for a ride with him. He notes that someone threw a bag on the ground and observes how filthy everything would be if everyone did that. His work as a trash collector probably elicits this comment, but it also shows that he feels all people are transgressors, so why should he be judged?

Holly says the two fell in love, adding that she wasn’t popular at school because she “didn’t have a lot of personality.” The interest of a handsome young man raises her self-esteem, as she notes that he could have had any other girl. She keeps their relationship secret from her dad, since Kit is ten years older than she. She says that secrecy kept them “away from all the cares of the world.” She saw her bond with Kit as an emotional oasis in an empty personal desert.

She says he wanted to “die” with her, which is a kind of dark way of expressing feelings for another. She is now smoking, which shows the rule-breaking effect he has on her. Mallick gives us a shot of a catfish in a bowl. Is that an image of a bottom feeder who tries to get by on the leftovers of society? She admits to throwing her pet fish out before it died when it was sick. She felt guilty about this act but can confess it to Kit, who has no moral judgment.

After the first time they have sex, Holly questions why is it supposed to be such a big deal? It was not noteworthy for either, which may show a feeling of letdown of their hopeful dreams by reality. Kit says they should smash their hands to remember the day, noting pain will remind them of their consummation. What stands out for him is not something pleasant but hurtful, an indication of his dark outlook on life and how they can’t be remembered by anything positive in their lives. He puts a note about standing by her and other mementos in a balloon that flies away. Holly points out that he did this act because he must have known they would never be happy in the future. The balloon could indicate how Kit’s hopes were not felt to come true and just drift away like the way a dream disappears after waking to reality.

When Holly’s father discovers the relationship, he shoots Holly’s dog as a punishment. What a disturbing way of disciplining her. He recreates a loss of something she loved, like the death of her mother. It shows how disturbed he became due to the loss of his wife which led to the end of his dreams of happiness.

Her father rejects Kit’s desire to keep seeing Holly. So, Kit breaks into her house and packs Holly’s clothes so she can leave with him. When father and daughter return, Kit shoots and kills the father. His remorseless pathology is obvious now, showing no emotion about his act of violence. His action shows he will no longer let others stand in his way. She smacks his face at first but she quicky switches to coverup mode as she wonders if neighbors heard the shot. He leaves her fate up to her though, saying she can call the police.

Kit leaves a recording saying that he and Holly decided to kill themselves. He does this act to gain time, hoping the authorities would think they were dead. He ends the recording by perversely saying, “I can’t deny we’ve had fun, though,” summing up their relationship as pleasant, despite his committing murder. That statement alone shows his sociopathic mentality. He sets fire to Holly’s house, in essence destroying her attachment to the past. He says they will change their names and hide out up north. She goes along with him because she says, “it was better to live a week with someone who loved me for what I was, then years of loneliness.” Her statement shows how empty her life felt to her.

The music that plays in the background is a playful, almost childlike tune that is in counterpoint to their illegal actions. Kit sees their life like a childhood adventure, tinged with practicality. They build a treehouse and tunnels in the wilderness. They stole food, and Kit taught Holly survivalist techniques, including how to shoot. They dance at one point to “Love is Strange,” a fitting tune for this odd couple. She admitted they had their spats, and that she wished sometimes he would fall into the river and drown. Her admission reminds us of the fish she let die, but it also sounds like a remark a child may say about a young companion.

Kit insisted that she take her schoolbooks with her. It almost seems like he is in some way nurturing her growth as a child. It is interesting that she reads from Kon Tiki, a book that details a voyage on a raft, since its survivalist story away from society is something Kit and Holly would be interested in. She says she grew to love the forest because she felt like all the rest of humanity were dead. Again, we have this anti-grownup, outsider feeling.

She ruminates about her life, the actions of parents and meeting Kit that led to this very moment in her life. She then lived “in dread” about how short life is and how destiny comes down to a domino effect set in motion out of one’s control.

Somebody sees Kit trying to catch fish, using a gun. Kit views men approaching from up in a tree and he shoots and kills three men. Kit justifies his actions to Holly saying the men were willing to kill them for a bounty. But he is cold as ice about his actions, feeling no emotion about harming others. It’s almost like he views death like some kind of game.

Kit has a friend named Cato (Ramon Bieri), and they visit his remote home. Kit and Holly go out into the field and Kit sees Cato running back to his house and looking back at them. He doesn’t let on, but he probably felt that Cato was going to turn them in. Kit shoots Cato, and then perversely opens the door for him to get to his bed. When Holly asks, “Is he upset?” Kit says dispassionately, “He didn’t say nothing to me about it.” He even shoots two young people looking for Cato. Sheen’s tone of voice and lazy swagger paints a pitiless picture of Kit.

Kit’s violence seems to have put Holly into a state of numbness. She calls it feeling “blah,” but her description of feeling like all the water being drained out of a bathtub reflects her emotional emptiness. Now the police are on alert in several states, and citizens are armed and vigilant, not knowing where Kit might strike next. To avoid public places, Kit and Holly go to an upscale house and he tells the owner that he is sorry to disturb him as he reveals his handgun. His politeness is disarming, as he hides his violent nature under a calm surface.

(At one point an architect visits the upscale house. He says he talked to the owner the night before, but Kit, answering the door, says the man is sick. The visitor is Malick, and his role as an architect is appropriate for a man constructing the film we are watching).

Holly’s detachment increases as she says that the world now feels like a “faraway planet” that she could not return to. She wanders around the rich man’s estate, whose lavish beauty stresses how out of place she is. She may wish to escape into a fantasy world, a pleasant dream distant from the horrors of reality.

Kit uses a Dictaphone to record a message which is ironically funny given his actions. He sounds like an upright citizen when he says that one should listen to parents and teachers, consider the viewpoints of others, and accept the majority opinion once it prevails. He acts like he is just temporarily taking the car of the rich man (John Carter) and gives him a list of the things he has “borrowed.” His friendly attitude makes him seem like a nice fellow until he turns violent. The Cadillac he steals is the only way he can show what it would be like to be prosperous.

They leave South Dakota and go to Montana. Almereyda says at this point “the landscape drains like that tub, and we may glean that Badlands is a story of lost children at large in a moral vacuum.” There is a shot of Kit from the back as he holds a rifle over his shoulders with his raised hands. The view from that angle makes him look like a scarecrow. That figure is supposed to scare but not harm, but Kit is very scary in reality. She talks about traveling like Marco Polo, which points to her wish to be on a great adventure, when in fact they are living like fugitives where no place provides them with solace. Kit buries some of their things, saying they will revisit them to remind them of how they were. He acts as if they will overcome the miserable fate that awaits them due to his actions. He says the buried objects will be like a time capsule for future people to consider, which shows a grandiose idea of a legacy.

Holly narrates that although Kit needed her given his desperate situation, she says, “something had come between us. I’d stopped even paying attention to him.” She says she, “spelled out entire sentences with my tongue on the roof of my mouth where nobody could read them.” Her loneliness is palpable now as she seems to be in a no man’s land, disconnected from everyone, and only communicating with herself.

She privately vows never to run around with someone as wild as Kit again. She seems to lack any insight into what kind of trouble she is in, having attached herself to someone like Kit in the first place. Finally, she voices her concerns to Kit about how even if they somehow escaped to Canada, he couldn’t provide them with any income. He is so lacking in insight when he says, “I can get a job with the Mounties.” He stops the car to dance to a Nat King Cole song and talks about how he wished he could sing like that. He can be romantic as he realizes what a different life he would have if he had other talents. He can appreciate the beautiful look of the sun rising over the mountains. Instead of gaining notoriety through artistic talents he thinks about being remembered for his infamy.

As a helicopter chases them, Holly is no longer willing to go on with Kit’s crazy adventure. As Kit escapes he adds another policeman to his body count and drives away. After stopping at a gas station, he throws away all their stuff, as if freeing himself from the objects of the world that he is tethered to. He does hold onto Holly’s journal, the source of the narration we hear. Possibly he feels that it can be something that will let his story live on. After a high-speed chase Kit stops and builds a pile of rocks that marks where he was caught. It is a sort of monument to his notoriety. (At one point Malick shows a photograph of a native holding a rifle in front of the Great Sphinx. Could Kit be similarly, in a mock-epic manner, attempting to erect his personal object for prosperity?). And he has gained a renegade’s fame as one of the officers says, “We did it,” as if they will now receive recognition for capturing such a well-known criminal, who actually gave himself up. One of the policemen, after looking at Kit, says, “Hell, he ain’t no bigger than I am.” His remark shows how publicity exaggerates the aspects of an individual.

Kit continues to act so much like an average person that it shows how odd he is. He is conversational, talking about guns to the cops, and how he’ll attach his well-known status to them, calling them “heroes” for taking down such a famous outlaw. One of the policemen knocks the hat he stole from the rich man off Kit’s head, as if removing any perception on Kit’s part that he belonged to the upper class. Even the patrolman says Kit looks like James Dean, another left-handed association with fame. The cops feed his desire to be a well-known by talking about how they admire his clothes, receiving his lighter as a souvenir like it belonged to a celebrity, and asking who his favorite movie star is.

He seems considerate as he reunites with Holly while being taken into custody. He says he’ll make sure she’ll get off and find a good man to be with. But then he says that the rich man was lucky he didn’t kill him, too. She does get off on probation and marries the son of the lawyer who defended her. Kit is sentenced to die in the electric chair, but donates his body to science, which shows that Dr. Jekyll side which was offset by his Mr. Hyde killer. The last shot is of the air transport taking the captured duo away, and the camera shows the sun-laced sky, as if ironically showing that Kit felt he rose above the masses to achieve fame in the only way he knew how.