Dir. Terrence Malick. 1978, 94 mins. 35mm. With Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz. A gloriously realized evocation of turn-of-the-century America as lived by itinerant laborers in the wheat fields of the Texas panhandle, Days of Heaven, much like Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane or The Godfather films before it, is that rare thing in Hollywood cinema—a genuine milestone that redefined how film might give access to the historical past, while establishing new roots in the twin traditions of American literature and philosophy. It is also a romantic tragedy viewed from the perspective of a child, as idiosyncratically personal and regionally specific as it is indescribably beautiful. Legendary cinematographer Néstor Almendros was justly awarded an Academy Award for his work on this film.

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