Terrence Malick

Days of Heaven

Days of Heaven

One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting films of the last century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In the mid-1910s, a Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor, and flees with his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and his little sister (Linda Manz) to the Texas panhandle, where they find work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating a timeless American idyll that is also a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1978
  • 94 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #409

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Terrence Malick, camera operator John Bailey, and editor Billy Weber, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring Weber, art director Jack Fisk, costume designer Patricia Norris, and casting director Dianne Crittenden
  • Audio interview with actor Richard Gere
  • Interviews with Bailey, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and actor Sam Shepard
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Adrian Martin and a chapter from director of photography Nestor Almendros’s autobiography

    Cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang

Purchase Options

Now Available

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Terrence Malick, camera operator John Bailey, and editor Billy Weber, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring Weber, art director Jack Fisk, costume designer Patricia Norris, and casting director Dianne Crittenden
  • Audio interview with actor Richard Gere
  • Interviews with Bailey, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and actor Sam Shepard
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Adrian Martin and a chapter from director of photography Nestor Almendros’s autobiography

    Cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
Days of Heaven
Cast
Richard Gere
Bill
Brooke Adams
Abbey
Sam Shepard
The farmer
Linda Manz
Linda
Robert J. Wilke
Farm foreman
Jackie Shultis
Linda's friend
Stuart Margolin
Mill foreman
Timothy Scott
Harvest hand
Gene Bell
Dancer
Doug Kershaw
Fiddler
Richard Libertini
Vaudeville leader
Frenchie Lemond
Vaudeville wrestler
Sahbra Markus
Vaudeville dancer
Bob Wilson
Accountant
Muriel Jolliffe
Headmistress
John Wilkinson
Preacher
King Cole
Farmworker
Credits
Director
Terrence Malick
Executive producer
Jacob Brackman
Producer
Bert Schneider
Producer
Harold Schneider
Editor
Bill Weber
Cinematographer
Nestor Almendros
Additional photography by
Haskell Wexler
Original music by
Ennio Morricone
Non-original music by
Camille Saint-Saëns
Casting director
Dianne Crittenden
Art director
Jack Fisk
Set decorator
Robert Gould
Costume designer
Patricia Norris

Current

Days of Heaven: On Earth as It Is in Heaven
Days of Heaven: On Earth as It Is in Heaven
Days of Heaven: On Earth as It Is in Heaven

Like many American directors who emerged in the early 1970s, Terrence Malick went to film school—to the American Film Institute, where, indeed, his fellow students included Paul Schrader and David Lynch. But unlike many film school graduates, Malic

By Adrian Martin

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Out of Time: Sam Shepard in Days of Heaven

Performances

Out of Time: Sam Shepard in Days of Heaven
Out of Time: Sam Shepard in Days of Heaven

In his big-screen breakthrough, Sam Shepard delivers tenderness, ferocity, and the quiet expressiveness of a silent film star.

By Hillary Weston

Sloane Crosley’s Top 10
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