Badlands (1973) — Screenplay
A teenage girl flees with her older boyfriend after he murders her father, sparking a violent cross-country spree across the Dakota badlands.
- Written by
- Terrence Malick
- Genre
- Drama, Crime
- Length
- 63 pages
Malick's debut is a masterclass in tonal dissonance, pairing lyrical voiceover with brutal acts to create a haunting, dreamlike atmosphere. Study how his precise visual storytelling and sparse, poetic dialogue build a world where violence feels inevitable yet strangely poetic.
Read the full Badlands (1973) screenplay in PDF, page by page, right here on Laper — or download the original script to study Terrence Malick’s scene work, dialogue and structure at your own pace. A free resource for screenwriters and film students learning Hollywood script format.