Criterion Collection: Days of Heaven [Blu-ray] [1978] [US Import]

I was disappointed that there were no subtitles available on Amazon (or for that matter if you rent it on Sky) and that meant that these mumbling characters who often speak in local slang were difficult or impossible to understand. Still, with Wikipedia it doesn't take long to read up on the very modest plot and to realise that the girl marries the farmer hoping that he will die soon and she will then inherit all his money and property - a tale of ordinary country folk, obviously. Slightly similar in style to the brilliant "Badlands" but that was a movie which seemed to have something important to say, in contrast to this one which seems to be a vehicle to display the talents of the cinematographer. Days of Heaven? Blimey, it seemed like weeks. Not a movie I'd watch again.

Some great things linked with this movie, wild life, machinery for farming, a different angle set for this story,. The description about the film from Amazon isnt strictly correct. Bill, the character isnt pitted against the texas owner, its Bill that talk her into soliciting a relationship with the texan when Bill thinks he will die soon, he gets her to sell her self to marry him, not the other way round. Obviously when the texan realises they are in fact NOT brother and sister, well you can understand his upset. All but the texan got what they deserved.

As many others have said.... this is a beautiful film to watch. A feast for the eyes at every turn. This is cinematography at its very best. One of the few films I shall watch again and again. ..... and to top it all it’s got music from Leo Kottke - it cant get better than that! ( he even puts in a cameo appearance - waving from the back of the train at the end of the film ) jus’ sayin’

Malick best film maybe. The second he made and the one that made him a legend, taking twenty years since then to appear again with another film (the thin red line). Days of Heaven make blu ray technology worth existing, since it is a sensorial experience, wonderfully shot, with a fantastic sound and a unique storytelling. It is a magical, dreamy approach to talk about individual stories within History, that of an extincted world that was still based on nature cycles but was goingto be torn away by modern age and capitalism. It is a chant for what we imagine of the new world before it became just a tv entertainment. Criterion did a wonderful job and this blu ray is a must have. This is a work of art proving that Malick used to have a sincere yet complex style, without just showing off or being too cryptic spand self-referred, as it happened from The Tree of Life on

Beautiful cinematography but poor sound quality for the actors' dialogue on this DVD. I wonder how good it was on the celluloid? We had to set the sound level 9db higher than usual to hear the actors, and the machinery background noise was then deafening. It sounded as you'd expect if the centre speaker was not connected, but it was and most of the sound was coming from it. That plus the drawl accents made it hard to follow the plot.

This is a beautiful film. The photography is stunning and the soundtrack together with the surreal quality of the filming is really special. It's been a favourite of mine for years and a film I can watch many times. Richard Gere is convincing as the edgy and slightly nervous drifter and the narrator - his young sister - suits the mood of the film perfectly.

Technically brilliant but is a bit long

Terence Malick makes few films, but the ones he makes are often beautifully realised. This is one such.If you only buy one Terence Malick film, then it should be Badlands, but if you buy two, this should be the second.Crap cover on this DVD, though. I bet TM would wince if he saw it,