Days of Heaven [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, the long-awaited follow-up to his 1973 debut Badlands, confirmed his reputation as a visual poet and narrative iconoclast with a story of love and murder told through the jaded voice of a child and expressive images of nature. In 1916, Chicago steelworker Bill (Richard Gere, stepping in for John Travolta) flees to Texas with his little sister Linda (Linda Manz) and girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) after fatally erupting at his boss. Along with other itinerant laborers, they work the harvest at a wealthy, ailing farmer's ranch, but the farmer (playwright Sam Shepard) falls in love with Abby, and, believing her to be Bill's sister, asks the three to stay on at his elysian spread. Seeing it as his one real chance to escape perpetual poverty, Bill urges Abby to marry the sick man. Marriage, however, has more restorative powers, and the farmer has more magnetism, than Bill had planned. "Nobody's perfect," Linda impassively observes in one of her many voiceovers, after their brief paradise is erased by plagues of locusts, fire, and lethal jealousy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • New, restored high-definition digital trasfer, supervised and approved by director Terrence Malick, editor Billy Weber, and camera operator John Bailey
  • New dolby digital 5.1 soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring Weber, art director Jack Fisk, costume designer Patricia Norris, and casting director Dianne Crittenden
  • New audio interview with Richard Gere
  • New video interviews with cinematographers Haskell Wexler and Bailey, and a video interview with Sam Shepard from 2002
  • Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by critic Adrian Martin and a chapter from director of photography Nestor Almendro's autobiography

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Cinematography - 1978 (Néstor Almendros)
•     Nominated Best Costume Design - 1978 (Pat Norris)
•     Nominated Best Original Score - 1978 (Ennio Morricone)
•     Nominated Best Sound - 1978 (Barry K. Thomas, Robert W. Glass, Jr., John K. Wilkinson, John Reitz)

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Won Anthony Asquith Award - 1979 (Ennio Morricone)

• Cannes Film Festival

•     Won Best Director - 1979 (Terrence Malick)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Director - 1978 (Terrence Malick)
•     Nominated Best Picture - Drama - 1978

• Los Angeles Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Cinematography - 1978 (Néstor Almendros)

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Picture - 1978

• National Society of Film Critics

•     Won Best Director - 1978 (Terrence Malick)

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Director - 1978 (Terrence Malick)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Richard Gere - Bill
       Brooke Adams - Abby
       Sam Shepard - The Farmer
       Linda Manz - Linda
       Robert J. Wilke - Farm Foreman
       Stuart Margolin - Mill Foreman
       Jackie Shultis - Linda's friend
       Gene Bell - Dancer
       Doug Kershaw - Fiddler
       Bob Wilson - Accountant

• Director:

  Terrence Malick

• Producer:

  Bert Schneider, Harold Schneider

• Screenwriter:

  Terrence Malick

• Cinematographer:

  Néstor Almendros, Haskell Wexler

• Composer (Music Score):

  Leo Kottke, Ennio Morricone

• Editor:

  Billy Weber

• Art Director:

  Jack Fisk

• Executive Producer:

  Jacob Brackman

• Set Decorator:

  Robert Gould

• Costume Designer:

  Pat Norris

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  John Reitz, Robert W. Glass, Jr., Robert Thirlwell, John K. Wilkinson, Peter Gregory

• Makeup:

  Jamie Brown

• Special Effects:

  Mel Merrells, John Thomas

• First Assistant Director:

  Skip Cosper

• Camera Operator:

  John Bailey

• Casting:

  Dianne Crittenden

• Production Manager:

  Les Kimber

• Sound Mixer:

  Barry Thomas, George Ronconi

• Second Unit Director:

  Jacob Brackman

• Assistant Sound Editor:

  Alan Splet

• Second Unit Director Of Photogra:

  Paul Ryan

REVIEW:

• Terrence Malick's follow-up to his acclaimed 1973 debut Badlands confirmed his reputation as a visual poet and narrative iconoclast. Inspired by silent master F.W. Murnau's City Girl (1930), and shot by Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler in natural light primarily during the "magic hour" before sunset, Malick's spectacular imagery took the place of conventional exposition and excessive dialogue. The tragic love triangle between a migrant worker couple and a wealthy landowner must be pieced together through brief, cryptic incidents and child observer Linda's jaded, distant voice-over; the expressive sequences of nature's radiance and brutality allude to the emotions brewing beneath the adults' cool surfaces. Ennio Morricone's delicate, dreamy score further complemented the narrative restraint and sensory beauty. Hailed as a lushly visual masterpiece, even by viewers less taken with Malick's elliptical story-telling, Days of Heaven won a Cannes Film Festival prize and an Oscar for its cinematography, and received Oscar nominations for Score, Costumes, and Sound. Malick himself won Best Director awards from Cannes and the New York Film Critics' Circle. Despite its critical success, Days of Heaven failed to find an audience in 1978; Malick took a 20-year sabbatical from directing before making The Thin Red Line (1998). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi