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Badlands ()

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An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.
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Stars:
Awards:
  • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins.
  • See more »
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Photos and Videos

94 photos | 4 videos

Cast verified as complete

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Kit
...
Holly
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Father
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Cato
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Deputy
Gary Littlejohn ...
Sheriff
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Rich Man
Bryan Montgomery ...
Boy
Gail Threlkeld ...
Girl
Charles Fitzpatrick ...
Clerk
Howard Ragsdale ...
Boss
John Womack Jr. ...
Trooper
Dona Baldwin ...
Maid
Ben Bravo ...
Gas Attendant
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
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Boy Under Lamppost (uncredited)
Li Po Lung ...
Chinese Kid (uncredited)
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Caller at Rich Man's House (uncredited)
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Boy Under Lamppost (uncredited)

Directed by

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Terrence Malick

Written by

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Terrence Malick ... (written by)

Produced by

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Jill Jakes ... co-producer (uncredited)
Terrence Malick ... producer
Edward R. Pressman ... executive producer
Louis A. Stroller ... associate producer (as Lou Stroller)

Music by

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George Aliceson Tipton ... (as George Tipton)

Cinematography by

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Tak Fujimoto ... (photography)
Stevan Larner ... (photography)
Brian Probyn ... (photography)

Editing by

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Robert Estrin
Billy Weber ... (uncredited)

Editorial Department

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Marion Segal ... assistant editor
Billy Weber ... associate editor (as William Weber)

Casting By

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Dianne Crittenden ... (casting) (as Diane Derfner)

Art Direction by

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Jack Fisk

Costume Design by

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Rosanna Norton ... (uncredited)

Makeup Department

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Dona Baldwin ... hair

Production Management

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Bill Scott ... production manager (as William Scott)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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John Broderick ... assistant director
Carl Olsen ... assistant director

Art Department

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Ken Hilton ... set dresser
Joan Mocine ... art work
Edward Richardson ... associate art director (as Ed Richardson)
Erik L. Nelson ... property master (uncredited)

Sound Department

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Doug Crichton ... boom man
Maury Harris ... production mixer
Sam F. Shaw ... sound effects (as Sam Shaw)
John Wilkinson ... re-recording mixer (as John Wilkenson)
Kitty Malone ... foley artist (uncredited)
Sharron Miller ... sound editor (uncredited)
James Nelson ... supervising sound editor (uncredited)

Stunts

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George Fisher ... stunts

Camera and Electrical Department

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Jack English ... gaffer
Douglas Knapp ... best boy (as Doug Knapp)
Anthony R. Palmieri ... assistant camera (as Tony Palmieri)
Ed Hershberger ... camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department

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Dona Baldwin ... wardrobe

Music Department

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Erma E. Levin ... music editor (as Erma Levin)
George Aliceson Tipton ... conductor (as George Tipton)

Additional Crew

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Rich Cook ... production assistant
Gary Littlejohn ... autos
Paul Marcus ... production assistant
Penny Richardson ... production secretary
Connie Lee Stone ... production assistant
Ira Resnick ... production assistant (uncredited)

Thanks

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Charlotte Jakes ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
Melvin James ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
Irvin Kershner ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
James Nelson ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
Arthur Penn ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
Bert Schneider ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
Wallace Wolf ... the producer wishes to thank: for their help and cooperation
Crew verified as complete

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

It's the late 1950s. Mid-twenty-something Kit is a restless and unfocused young man with a James Dean vibe and swagger which he has heard mentioned about him more than once. Fifteen year old Holly has a somewhat cold relationship with her sign painter father, if only because she is the primary reminder of his wife, who died of pneumonia when Holly was a child. The two meet when Holly and her father move from Texas to the small town where Kit lives, Fort Dupree, South Dakota. They slowly fall in love, something about which she cannot tell her father because of their age difference and Kit coming from the wrong side of the tracks. When he tries to take Holly away with him, Kit, on an impulse, shoots her father dead. After letting the initial emotions of the situation settle down, Holly decides voluntarily to go with Kit, they trying to make it look like they committed suicide in a house fire. But they soon learn that their plan did not work, there being a bounty on their heads. As such, Kit continues his murderous ways in order to protect the life he wants to eke out with Holly. She, on the other hand, wants to support Kit, especially as he begins to feel more and more trapped, but she may only be able to endure what looks increasingly to be a battle they cannot win as a couple. Through it all, they openly and privately muse about their philosophies on their life considering their current circumstance. Written by Huggo

Plot Keywords
Taglines He was 25 years old. He combed his hair like James Dean. She was 15. She took music lessons and could twirl a baton. For a while they lived together in a tree house. In 1959, she watched while he killed a lot of people. See more »
Genres
Parents Guide View content advisory »
Certification

Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • La balade sauvage (France)
  • Badlands - Zerschossene Träume (Germany)
  • Malas tierras (Spain)
  • Det grymma landet (Sweden)
  • Άγρια νιότη (Greece)
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Runtime
  • 94 min
Country
Language
Color
Aspect Ratio
Sound Mix
Filming Locations

Box Office

Budget $450,000 (estimated)

Did You Know?

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Trivia The actor originally cast as the architect who rings at the rich man's door did not show up, so Terrence Malick played the part himself. Malick later wanted to re-shoot the scene with another actor, but Martin Sheen refused to re-do the sequence with anyone else. See more »
Goofs The passenger train that passes Kit and Holly on the trestle is pulling Amtrak cars. Amtrak was not established until 1971, and this film takes place in 1959. See more »
Movie Connections Edited into Gone with the Wind: The Remarkable Rise and Tragic Fall of Lynyrd Skynyrd (2015). See more »
Soundtracks Musica Poetica See more »
Quotes Holly Sargis: One day, while taking a look at some vistas in Dad's stereopticon, it hit me that I was just this little girl, born in Texas, whose father was a sign painter, who only had just so many years to live. It sent a chill down my spine and I thought where would I be this very moment, if Kit had never met me? Or killed anybody... this very moment... if my mom had never met my dad... if she had never died. And what's the man I'll marry gonna look like? What's he doing right this minute? Is he thinking about me now, by some coincidence, even though he doesn't know me? Does it show on his face? For days afterwards I lived in dread. Sometimes I wished I could fall asleep and be taken off to some magical land, and this never happened.
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