Badlands (1973; 1 hour, 34 minutes) announced the arrival of a major talent: Terrence Malick. His impressionistic take on the Charles Starkweather killing spree of the late 1950s uses a serial-killer narrative as a springboard for an oblique teenage romance, lovingly and idiosyncratically enacted by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The film introduced many of the elements that would earn Malick his passionate following: the enigmatic approach to narrative and character, the unusual use of voice-over, the juxtaposition of human violence with natural beauty, and the poetic investigation of American dreams and nightmares. The film's debut spawned countless imitations, but none have equaled its strange sublimity.

This film series is presented in celebration of the 1973 opening year of the Manton Research Center building.

Free.

Image: Badlands, Terrence Malick, 1973