Days of Heaven

A strikingly beautiful film, Terrence Malick’s tale of love, jealousy and duplicity forever defined the cinematic allure of the magic hour. As the First World War rages in Europe, Bill, an itinerant worker, is forced to flee Chicago after killing the foreman of a steel mill. With his girlfriend Abby and younger sister Linda in tow, he heads southwest to the Texas panhandle, where workers are employed on a seasonal basis to harvest the crops. The local landowner falls in love with Abby and when Bill accidentally discovers the farmer is seriously ill, he encourages Abby to reciprocate the man’s advances. There’s a biblical tone to Malick’s follow-up to Badlands, accentuated by the vast, rolling backdrop, stunningly captured by Néstor Almendros’ Oscar-winning cinematography. Shot mostly in the moment when a setting sun casts a golden hue across the landscape, Days of Heaven also accentuates the youthful beauty of Gere, Adams and Shepard. But as impressive as they are, it’s an impish Manz who steals the film. Her Linda also provides the accompanying voiceover, investing it with a sense of yearning for an era long since lost.

Ian Haydn Smith, writer and curator

Restored by The Criterion Collection with the support of Paramount Pictures and Park Circus.

This re-release has been reclassified as certificate 12A.