Movie Review: Days Of Heaven (1978)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Terrence Malick  

Starring: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz  

Running Time: 94 minutes  

Synopsis: Hot-headed drifter Bill (Richard Gere) accidently kills a factory foreman in Chicago. He flees in the company of his young sister Linda (Linda Manz) and his lover Abby (Brooke Adams), although Bill and Abby pretend to be siblings to avoid gossip. In rural Texas, Bill secures a seasonal job working the grain fields of a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard), who is soon entranced by Abby. When Bill learns the farmer may not have long to live, he conspires to inherit his riches.

What Works Well: Writer and director Terrence Malick combines an astounding eye for eloquent scenery with the artistry of epic storytelling revealed in economic, almost apologetic, short strokes. The evil-within-beauty canvass is as grand as the romantic subterfuge born out of economic desperation is intimate. Néstor Almendros' cinematography captures a slice of desolate Americana where rich and poor intermingle across invisible barriers, and opportunities for advancement by fair means or foul are limited only by the imagination. Ennio Morricone's evocative score positions human acts under nature's sometimes vengeful watch, and Linda Manz's precocious narration fills in the blanks with soulful resignation.

What Does Not Work As Well: The balance occasionally tilts towards cute animal shots to the detriment of dramatic cohesion.

Key Quote: 

Linda, narrating: Nobody's perfect. There was never a perfect person around. You just have half-angel and half-devil in you.



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