Just watched this for the first time

A friend of mine is starting a journey through Malick's filmography and I decided to watch this first film with him.

Being that it was Malick's first film, I assumed that the budget was low. Wikipedia says $300,000. If that's correct, then adjusted for inflation that's just a little over $2 million and I have to say that I think Malick did a lot with a little. I enjoyed the film and it held my interest throughout, and while it doesn't look like it cost a ton of money to make, I'm very surprised he was able to do all he did on just the modern equivalent of $2 million.

I will also say that this is the most un-Malick film of all of Malick's films that I've seen. The style here, while somewhat artsy, is relatively conventional.

Even though the two are different in many ways, this film reminded me in some measure of Blood Simple. If nothing else, the two films are kin in that they were both broadly made during the same era, were both relatively low-budget productions, and were both crime films from first-time directors who would later go on to be known as directors with a very distinct style.

The story undoubtedly will bring to mind the story of Bonnie and Clyde. However, as I was watching through the film I began to unrealize how unlike Bonnie and Clyde it really is. The killing spree is ultimately accidental rather than intentional, brought on only because Kit gets caught packing Holly's stuff up, which results in a murder, that leads to law enforcement's interest, which leads to other murders. There was no original intention in Kit's mind to go on a crime spree of any kind, but only to get away with Holly and to live their lives together. The murder of Holly's father was one fateful domino that led to everything else we see in the film.

Furthermore, whereas in Bonnie and Clyde both parties are fully in on what's going on and happy to be doing it, you never get the feeling in this film that Holly is ever completely on board. She is, rather, a victim of fate being blown around by the wind. She's not banging around with Kit because she is truly in love with him, but because she's sleepwalking through life and just going where the road takes her. Early in the film, when she and Kit are camping out in their remote hideaway, she says, "He accused me of just being along for the ride, and I wished he'd fall into the river and drown so I could watch. But mostly we got along fine." Those are not exactly the words of a girl who is desperately in love. Throughout the film she shows little in the way of emotion and seems largely disconnected, but it does seem like she feels that all the killing is at least regrettable, and by the final act it's obvious that she'd rather be back home living her old life. She even says forthrightly, "I wish this had never happened," and refuses to go along with Kit to continue running from the cops. She's had enough. Perhaps that is the moment she stopped sleepwalking and was, for once, fully awake.

What I understand about the character of Kit is that he doesn't innately desire to kill, but he will if he has to, and he doesn't feel particularly bad about it. He has a way of justifying it easily in his mind, telling himself that everyone he kills would be complicit in his arrest if he doesn't do away with them. He has to eliminate the enemies of his freedom to remain free. Does he love Holly? Maybe as much as it's possible for a man like Kit to love at all. But it's clear that he, as a person, has been marked greatly by the war he fought in, and as I was watching the film I began to get the sense that Malick was ultimately telling a tale of a warrior's reintegration into society. There's no way to know what Kit was like before the war, but certainly post-war he is a man who is emotionally disconnected from others and lacks empathy, and who has no compunction when it comes to using a gun to get rid of problems in his life.

I think the contrast between the two characters is perhaps most prominent in the ending, when they are both being arrested. Holly is despondent, while Kit couldn't have a care in the world and just casually says to her, "Don't worry now, I'm gonna get you off these charges. There's a whole lot of other boys out there waiting for you. You're gonna have a lot of fun. . . . Boy, we rang the bell, didn't we?" Soon after he is casually chatting with the police with seemingly little concern over facing a life in prison.

I thought that Sheen and Spacek were both quite good in the film, especially Sheen, who I've never seen play a character quite like this. I will also point out that Sheen, especially in certain shots, looks a lot like Emilio. No question that Emilio is his kid. Spacek was playing a 15-year-old, and often looks like she's about that age, even though she was apparently around 23 when this was filmed.

Overall, I thought the film was good and thought-provoking and it gave me a new respect for Malick's work.