124: Substantive Cinema | Badlands (1973) feat. Brett McCracken
Episode description
Happy Easter, everyone! We hope you have had a refreshing Lenten season and that your Easter celebrations today were encouraging and soul-stirring.
On this episode we welcome back longtime friend of the show, Brett McCracken (who was our first guest), back for his fifth appearance on The Substance. Brett is a writer, a film critic of 15+ years, and he's currently a Senior Editor at The Gospel Coalition where he covers culture and the arts. Previously, we've looked at three other Malick films (links below) and one that was very much Malick adjacent (Minari, also below).
This time, we're going back to the beginning. 50 years ago, Terrence Malick's Badlands debuted at the New York Film Festival where it was the star of the show, even overshadowing Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets in the eyes of many. Badlands is an impressionistic reimagining of the Charles Starkweather story. It's one forgotten to many now, or mainly known because of this film, but to the generation of filmgoers in the early 70s, this was a chilling and familiar story that was deeply tied into American culture.
Badlands is not currently on any of the subscription streaming services but it's available to rent or purchase on several platforms. It is also available to purchase from The Criterion Collection and is likely at many of your local libraries! :)
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Links
Shoutouts:
Trevor: Death Below (August Burns Red)
Philip: Columbus (Streaming free on Kanopy if your library supports the service) https://www.kanopy.com
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