Days of Heaven (1978)

Quite a lovely film, a great American life film. But it's hard to really fall in love with it.

I can't believe the high scores for this movie. It was on my cable channel and had high 90's on two review scores so I recorded it. The narrator has the most annoying voice and accent and her voice does not project to the audience at all. The old man who worked for the farmer was the best actor. The photography was beautiful. Everything else was mediocre at best. It just dragged along to an abysmal ending. I cannot believe people are comparing this to movies like Casa Blanca. This is just average. The whole premise could have been developed into a great movie. I guess I don't like this director's style.

The quintessential American film. Filmmakers should make a pilgrimage to this film as a rite of passage. It is energized, beautiful, gripping, and bold and gives an honest and insightful portrayal of the Industrial Age's American Dream.The film involves two lovers who set out to the west for a better life. They work on the farm of a wealthy landowner along with hundreds of other immigrants and laborers looking to make a life for themselves.The proprietor of the farm asks Abby, the woman, for her hand in marriage. He is ill and dying, which ultimately pushes her decision to accept the proposal. All is not well with Bill, however, her husband. Jealousy, a front and center theme, rears its ugly head and things fall apart.Richard Gere gives an outstanding performance in this piece. The acting is great and deep, the actors connect with each other and the environment around them. The music is haunting, and visually, like many of Malick's works, the film is unparalleled in its beauty, many of the shots involving natural light just before the sun sets.I give this film a perfect score and would recommend it to literally anyone. It should be in a museum, and lauded for years for its quality.

Yes, it looks good. Yes, setting and premise make you think you are a in for a great story. No, there is no great story and it actually ends up being the same old story.Terrance Malick might be good at a lot of things but writing is not one of them.I love the look and feel of this movie, The New World and The Tree of Life but they all leave me disappointed. I don't believe them. The pictures pull you in and the writing pulls me out.Character development is so weak in this film you really don't care what happens to any of these people. What they are doing working in the fields is anybodies guess but it looks like Malick told them to pick up a rake and act like you're doing something. No attention to detail.