Conference bookie::movies

I too caught this one when it played this weekend, and having seen it
before also, thoroughly enjoyed it yet another time.

It's got to be one of my all time favorite movies.  It does a much
better job of showing people from another planet trying to manage life
on Earth than any flying saucer flick I've seen to date. Basically these
two unbelievably stupid people go around shooting everything, and
practicing the art of non-sequitirs.  The screenplay for this is so wonderful
that you don't care what really happened to Starkweather and Fugate because
it can't be any better than this.

It wouldn't have worked if they hadn't cast Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek
as the leads.  They needed someone totally devoid of personality to be
able to deliver a line like "Kit shot a football yesterday because it was 
excess baggage" in the same tone of voice one might use to remark that the
endtable has gathered dust.

The ultimate "Martin Sheen possessed by the spirit of Jimmy Dean" scene is 
actually NOT is this movie.  That's got to be the first five minutes of
Apocalypse Now where he breaks down in his hotel room.  I saw in Heart of
Darkness that when he punched the mirror he ended up lacerating his hand,
and all that blood was real.  I can't help but think of the scene from
the police station in "Rebel Without a Cause" where James Dean beats on
the desk and ends up breaking two fingers (although they don't tell you 
about that in the movie.)

There's another "Martin does the mentally unstable thing" on the tube
this week.  Some bomb called "Sweet Revenge" where he plays an escaped
psychopath who kidnaps Linda Blair (no way......WAY!).  With the exception
of the father in Wall Street, I can't think of a Martin Sheen role where
he plays someone who's got all his marbles.

Lisa

    One of the two movies directed by Terence Malick - the other one being
    "Days of Heaven".  He's rumored to be a math teacher now, having been
    entirely disgusted/disillusioned by the whole process of making a film
    in Hollywood.
    
    Coincidentally, both films are playing tonight here at the UC Theatre in
    Berkeley, CA.  Hmmmm, I may just go...
    
    - Dave

    BTW, was this on Boston-area TV or some cable station, or playing at
    one of the local rep houses?
    
    Just curious,
    
    - Dave

    Hmmm. I _think_ "Badlands" was on WPIX out of New York, at about 4 in
    the morning, but I may have it mixed up with one of the other fifteen
    movies I timeshifted, channel-surfed, or otherwise breezed through this
    weekend. ;-)
    
    -b

    Both Malick films are masterpieces.  (And he wrote the screenplays, as
    well as making a cute befuddled cameo in "Badlands".)
    
    "Badlands" is a hilarious deconstruction of "troubled teen romance on
    the run" movies as well as an attack on the James Dean cult, and lots
    more -- much of the appeal of outlaw-romance and teen-rebel stories
    lies in their never fully realized suggestion of Big Fuzzy Issues of
    love and fate and culture and justice and so on, and Malick gets to
    savage that Big Fuzzy territory as a side benefit when he savages the
    icons.
    
    The hell with Michael Douglas; _this_ is American mediocrity gone
    dingo, swollen but intact, eternally unshakable in its media-fed
    self-assurance.
    
    Ray

    The Starkweather/Fugate saga is told on a two-part made-for-TV movie
    (tonight and tomorrow) called "Murder in the Heartland".
    
    I may check it out because it stars Tim Roth (recently in "Reservoir
    Dogs").  I guess this Englishman is now making a career of playing
    Americans.  Gotta admit he was pretty convincing in "Reservoir Dogs".
    
    - Dave

    Well, I saw part 1 of Murder in the Heartland and I was shocked at how
    much they've altered what really happened.  I have the book "Caril"
    which was written years ago by Fugate, before she left prison.  It very
    clearly said that she was aware he had murdered her parents and sister;
    she saw the bodies and this is why she cast herself as the kidnap
    victim despite Starkweather's egocentric posturing that she was
    "willing" to go with him.  Also, he told authorities that Caril never
    participated in any of the murders, and then he recanted.  Even on his
    way to the electric chair he wouldn't budge ... kind of makes you
    wonder how a jury, with no facts pointing to Caril's direct involvement
    (no witnesses pointed the finger at her), could take the word of a
    mad-dog killer to put away a 14-year-old who had no history of violence
    or family problems.  Last night's movie depicted her as some kind of
    childish moron; the book makes no excuses or apologies about her
    intelligence or maturity, but it sure doesn't come close to what I saw
    on TV last night.
    
    I think I'll rent "Badlands" which I saw years ago (before I read
    Fugate's book) to see if any facts happen to crop up, other than
    victims' names.
    
    Leslie

    [See also topic 131, for discussion of the "Murder in the Heartland"
    made-for-TV movie.]
    
    -b

    The elusive Terence Malick may be back in the world of film.  
    
    I just read a mention in the newspaper that Malick is working on a 
    screenplay for a remake or adaptation of <Damn! Memory fails me! I'll 
    check when I get home.>
    
    It did not mention whether he was to direct as well.
    
    - Dave

    Terence Malick is re-writing the screen adaptation of Walker Percy's
    novel "The Moviegoer".  It is to star Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts,
    and I believe will be directed by Robbins.
    
    - Dave