Movie · 1974 · Crime, Drama, Romance · 1h 34m · PG · English
Curator score: 8.9/10 (256.6K ratings)
In 1959 a lot of people were killing time. Kit and Holly were killing people.
Overview
An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.9/10
IMDb: 7.7/10
Letterboxd: 4.01/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 94
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director
Terrence Malick
Production
Pressman-Williams, Jill Jakes Production
Cast
Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri, Alan Vint, Gary Littlejohn, John Carter, Bryan Montgomery, Gail Threlkeld, Charles Fitzpatrick, John Womack Jr., Howard Ragsdale, Dona Baldwin, Ben Bravo, Terrence Malick, Li Baolong, Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez
Where to watch
TCM
Curator Review
Verdict
A haunting, strangely lyrical crime film that turns a teenage killing spree into an American fable about loneliness, delusion, and the seduction of outlaw myth. Its calm narration, sunlit landscapes, and eerie emotional distance make the violence feel even more unsettling.
Best for
Viewers who like crime stories with an art-house, reflective style
Fans of road movies and outlaw romances with a dark edge
People interested in Terrence Malick’s early, more accessible work
Anyone drawn to beautiful cinematography that clashes with brutal subject matter
Skip if
You want fast-paced plotting or constant suspense
You prefer morally straightforward characters and clear psychology
Graphic violence against a romanticized backdrop is a turnoff
You dislike detached narration or elliptical emotional storytelling
Overview
Badlands is one of the great American crime films because it refuses to behave like one. Terrence Malick frames a spree of murder and flight with such serenity that the landscape seems to absorb the characters’ emptiness, turning their romance into something both seductive and deeply tragic.
Worth noting
The film’s power comes from contrast: Sissy Spacek’s soft, almost childlike narration against the coldness of the acts, and the wide-open beauty of the plains against the claustrophobia of bad choices. It is dreamy, funny in flashes, and quietly horrifying.
Bottom line
What lingers is not the body count but the mood: a sense of innocence curdling in real time. It’s an essential watch for anyone interested in how style can complicate sympathy and make violence feel mythic without ever making it feel harmless.
Top Letterboxd reviews
issy 🥝 · 4782 likes
honestly the lands seemed quite nice I think it was the murder that was bad
mia lee vicino (4.5★) · 3098 likes
“The film's tag line ("In 1959 a lot of people were killing time. Kit and Holly were killing people") inspired the Zodiac Killer, who had been lying low for years, to write a letter to a newspaper denouncing their flippant attitude to violence in society by running such an ad.”
this man and his many hats made the zodiac killer come out of retirement and we should all be terrified
Patrick Willems (4.5★) · 2375 likes
It's gorgeous and serene and wistful plus Martin Sheen murders a ton of people
˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ (3★) · 2253 likes
anyone that isn’t holly:
kit: 🔫💥🤠💥‼️🔫🔫🤠💥‼️🔫💥
Nakul (4.5★) · 2032 likes
Sheen’s James Dean imitation is really great but the thing i love about Badlands the most is Spacek’s voiceover. Her voice lends the movie a dreamlike feel, there’s such a contrast between her tone and the violence we’re witnessing on screen.
2007 · Crime, Thriller, Western · 2h 2m · R · Curator 9.6/10 (3.1M ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
For its bleak fatalism, sparse violence, and unforgiving sense of fate closing in.