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Days of Heaven

United States

1978

94 Min
Color
1.77:1
English
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
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DIR Terrence Malick

PROD Bert Schneider, Harold Schneider

DP Néstor Almendros

CAST Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz, Robert J. Wilke, Jackie Shultis, Stuart Margolin, Timothy Scott

ED Bill Weber

MUSIC Ennio Morricone

Cannes (In Competition): Best Director, Berlinale, Karlovy Vary (Treasures from the Archives)

Synopsis

One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting movies of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steel worker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and little sister (Linda Manz) to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating at once a timeless American idyll and a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor.—The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick is one of the great enigmas of contemporary filmmaking, a shadowy figure whose towering reputation rests almost entirely on a pair of near-perfect features released a generation ago. A visual stylist beyond compare, Malick emerged during the golden era of 1970s American movie-making, bringing to the screen a dreamlike, ethereal beauty countered by elliptical, ironic storytelling; resonant and mythic, his films illuminated themes of love and death with rare mastery, their indelible images distinguished by economy and precision. Born in Waco, TX, on November 30, 1943, Malick spent many of his formative summers working as a farmhand, an experience upon which he would draw extensively in his films. Upon graduating from Harvard with a degree in philosophy, he entered Magdalen College in Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, but exited prior to completing his final thesis. On returning to the U.S., he became a freelance journalist, with his byline appearing in such publications as Life… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 109 wall posts.

Chris Jones

14May12

The very ending needed to be either a couple of minutes longer or a couple of minutes shorter. Other than that though, good God damn.

IndyLIVE

2Apr12

A perfect film. It's not as ambitious as Tree of Life and it doesn't have the same emotional impact many scenes in The Thin Red Line had on me, but I think this may be Terrence Malick's best film. This is certainly his greatest achievement in visual storytelling. I love Linda Manz and her narration, I love Morricone's score, I love everything in this movie. It is so haunting, so beautiful, so original.

Picture of longstreth

longstreth

30Mar12

Starts slow but really takes off. A little slice of both heaven and hell on Earth. The title is particularly apt.

Picture of martin fennell

martin fennell

25Mar12

I am a fan of Malicks. The last one i saw was The thin red line, which I thought was brilliant. But I could never see what was so great about days. It's been a long time since I saw it, so i might give it a chance again. I do love Linda Manz's narration though.

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Fans

Displaying 5 of 3373 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Bert Schneider, 1933 - 2011

By David Hudson on December 14, 2011

With his partner Bob Rafelson, Schneider played a major role in launching the “New Hollywood” in the 70s.

read article
W184

Terrence Malick in NYC and LA

By David Hudson on May 12, 2011

Updated through 5/24. "Each Terrence Malick film concerns a lost or squandered Eden," writes Michael Joshua Rowin in the LA Weekly: "the

read article
W184

Karlovy Vary 2010: A Bohemian Rhapsody

By Veronika Ferdman on August 7, 2010

For 351 days of the year the average age of Karlovy Vary’s tourists could be conservatively estimated at 60. The tiny resort town (a two hour

read article
W184

CineVegas 2009: The Promised Land ("Redland," Norton)

By on June 24, 2009

Cheap to fund, digitally shot portraits of everyday life compose the heart and soul of contemporary American independent film. But when a director

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Lists

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Reviews

Displaying 4 of 9

Total Preference to the Emotion of Imagery

By Joshua Dysart on January 3, 2012

This has, many, many times been called the most beautiful color film ever made. It’s hard to disagree. A poetic biblical parable played out in the Texas Panhandle at the turn of the century, it gives…  read review

“But if you've been bad, God don't even hear you. He don't even hear ya talkin'.”

By jaredmo​barak on August 28, 2010

Overwhelmed. The tagline got it right—every sense, by the end of Days of Heaven, will be overwhelmed. Terrence Malick’s second feature film is as breathtaking as you’ve heard, mesmerizing you with…  read review

Movie Heaven?

By Cremild​o on May 26, 2010

Fantasmagórica desde sua notável abertura ao som de Carnival of the Animals (de Camille Saint-Saens), esta obra inclassificável enfeitiça quem nela embarca, servindo-se de recursos ao alcance somente…  read review

American Fable

By Mugino on December 31, 2009

Too many gushing accolades can destroy a film by setting unrealistic expectations. As much as I share the passion, Criterion is sometimes guilty of this offense. Days of Heaven is…  read review

Forum

Displaying 6 discussion topics.

days of heaven is a terrible film

6 posts by 6 people over 1 year ago

Days of Heaven

28 posts by 20 people over 1 year ago

Days of Heaven on Blu-Ray

11 posts by 8 people about 2 years ago

Days of Heaven Theme Song

11 posts by 6 people over 2 years ago

Fun trivial little fact about the DVD

2 posts by 2 people over 2 years ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.