Days of Heaven (1978) [The Criterion Collection]

Director: Terrence Malick
Writer: Terrence Malick
Stars: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard

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.

Extras:
- 2K 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
- 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