Days of Heaven
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| Days of Heaven | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Terrence Malick |
| Produced by | Bert Schneider Harold Schneider |
| Written by | Terrence Malick |
| Starring | Richard Gere Brooke Adams Sam Shepard Linda Manz |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Néstor Almendros Haskell Wexler |
| Editing by | Billy Weber |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 13, 1978 |
| Running time | 95 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Days of Heaven is a 1978 film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard and Linda Manz. Set in the early twentieth century, it tells a story about transient laborers who travel to the Texas Panhandle to harvest crops on a farm, and who conspire to exploit a dying farmer.
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[edit] Synopsis
According to the theatrical trailer, the story is set in 1916 (the film shows a 1916 newspaper). Bill (Gere), a Chicago laborer, flees to the Texas Panhandle with his girlfriend Abby (Adams) and younger sister Linda (Manz) to escape a murder charge. Bill and Abby pretend to be siblings to prevent gossip. The three hire on as seasonal workers with a rich farmer (Shepard) who Bill learns is dying of an unspecified disease. When the farmer falls in love with Abby, Bill encourages her to marry him so that they can inherit his money when he dies. The marriage takes place and Bill stays at the farm, though the farmer's foreman Robert Wilke suspects their scheme. Eventually, the farmer discovers Bill's true relationship with Abby, though ironically she has begun to fall in love with him. The farmer attacks Bill, but Bill kills him. Bill and the women escape, but Bill is killed by the police. Abby leaves Linda at a boarding school and goes off on her own.
[edit] Production
Exteriors for the film were shot in Whiskey Gap, Alberta, Canada. Jack Fisk constructed the outdoor sets from plywood including the farmer's house.[1]
Terrence Malick has an uncredited cameo towards the beginning of the film as a fellow laborer.[citation needed]
According to Peter Biskind's article in the December 1998 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, making the film was quite difficult with Malick reportedly clashing with both Richard Gere and the film's producers, Bert and Harvey Schneider. In post-production, Malick then spent two years editing the film.
During editing, Malick altered the film dramatically. According to editor Billy Weber, Malick jettisoned much of the film's dialogue in the cutting room, replacing it with Linda Manz's voiceover, which serves as an oblique commentary on the story.[citation needed] After a year, he had to call the actors to Los Angeles to shoot inserts of shots that were necessary but had not been filmed in Alberta. The finished film thus includes close-ups of Shephard that were actually shot under a freeway overpass, while the underwater shot of Gere falling face down into the river was actually shot in a large aquarium in Sissy Spacek's living room.[2]
According to Biskind, Malick was so exhausted from working on the project that he subsequently moved to Paris with his girlfriend. He did not make another film for twenty years.
[edit] Awards
Malick won the Prix de la mise en scène (Best Director award) at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. The film also won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Per Academy custom the award was given in the name of principal photographer Nestor Almendros. This was somewhat controversial as renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler also received credit on the film. Wexler has complained about not receiving an Oscar statue for his contributions to the work. Malick was also named the best director by the National Society of Film Critics.
The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Costume Design, Original Score, and Sound.
In 2007, Days of Heaven was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
[edit] Criterion release
In October 2007, the Criterion Collection released the film in a remastered edition.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "After The Rehearsal: Flirting with Disaster: Discussing Days of Heaven and Dylan classics with Sam Shepard", by Michael Almereyda, The Village Voice, April 20, 2004, retrieved April 17, 2006
- ^ "After The Rehearsal: Flirting with Disaster: Discussing Days of Heaven and Dylan classics with Sam Shepard", by Michael Almereyda, The Village Voice, April 20, 2004, retrieved April 17, 2006
- ^ http://criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=409
[edit] Further reading
- Charlotte Crofts (2001), 'From the "Hegemony of the Eye" to the "Hierarchy of Perception": The Reconfiguration of Sound and Image in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven', Journal of Media Practice, 2:1, 19-29.
- Terry Curtis Fox (1978), 'The Last Ray of Light', Film Comment, 14:5, Sept/Oct, 27-28.
- Martin Donougho (1985), 'West of Eden: Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven', Postscript: Essays in Film and the Humanities, 5:1, Fall, 17-30.
- Roger Ebert, Review of Days of Heaven, Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
- Terrence Malick (1976), Days of Heaven, Script registered with the Writers Guild of America, 14 Apr; revised 2 Jun.
- Brooks Riley (1978), 'Interview with Nestor Almendros', Film Comment, 14:5, Sept/Oct, 28-31.
- Janet Wondra (1994), 'A Gaze Unbecoming: Schooling the Child for Femininity in Days of Heaven', Wide Angle, 16:4, Oct, 5-22.
[edit] External links
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