Regarded as something of a classic road movie, at the core of Badlands is a story that was so not only half-inched for Oliver Stone's inferior Natural Born Killers, but was actually based on the real life events of fugitive delinquents in 1958.

Martin Sheen plays Kit Carruthers, a small town drop out that falls for Holly Sargis, a shy, introspective fifteen-year old girl who lives with her middle-class father (played by Warren Oates) in a small town in South Dakota.

Despite his obvious shortcomings, Holly falls for Kit and inevitably her Father disapproves of the relationship. As he battles to split them up, the couple become closer until the conflict ends with Kit killing Mr Sturgis. After the initial shock, Holly agrees to go along with Kit as the couple leave town and go on the run.

Having attempted to make a life for themselves in the woods, their plans go awry and they continue their journey toward the badlands of North Dakota, and end up killing people along the way.

As a result of their actions, they become infamous, with the media lapping up the misery left in their wake while a national manhunt gets underway. All this despite kit's insistence that he just wants to get out of there to live a quiet life.

Badlands has been mulled over since it first came out, with a whole host of different interpretations taken from it. Some see it as a social comment on the US at the time, just after the end of the Vietnam War. Others see it as an ironic look at the way the media works. Whatever the view given, nearly all would agree that director Terence Malick forged a masterpiece from one of his first films.

For Martin Sheen, it cold easily be regarded as his best performance outside of Apocalypse Now. Given how is viewed as the elder statesman of The West Wing, it's particularly intriguing to see him as a young rebel, clearly detached from the real world.

Spacek is equally as impressive as the 15-year-old girl seduced by the romantic side of her boyfriends actions, mistaking murder for love. All this despite being in her mid-twenties during the filming.

Such is the quality of Malick's work, he refuses to condemn nor glorify Kit¿s actions - in fact he requests that the viewer do just that.