The greatest movie ever!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

As much as I enjoy movies based on real killers and psychopaths, then "Starkweather" just never managed to impress in any way. And to be bluntly honest, then it was an unfathomably boring movie.The story started out at a slow, monotone pace and never really got up into a pace where it became enjoyable or interesting.As for the acting, well it wasn't particularly impressive. However, it was not the fault of the actors and actresses, it was because they had absolutely nothing to work with from the script and director Byron Werner. And not even Lance Henriksen could manage to salvage this train wreck.With a slow paced storyline, a movie about serial killers should at least have some interesting things to offer in the macabre. But even here "Starkweather" didn't deliver. There was just no feeling to the movie that you were dealing with an actual serial killer.If you enjoy movies about serial killers, stay well clear of "Starkweather" because there are far better movies available.

Charles Starkweather is not a civil rights martyr. He killed 11 people for his "Teen Queen". I haven't seen this movie & know the story. He was so bad that even President Eisenhower wanted to see him die in the electric chair in person. However he sent an aide as his stand-in. But The Question remains this: What has happened since June 25th, 1959 when Starkweather paid for his sins in the electric chair? The evil did not die when Starkweather paid the price. We had "Birmingham Sunday" and then JFK was killed in Dallas. We heard about Richard Speck & Charles Whitman, We saw the demise of Dr. King & Senator Kennedy & then we heard about Charles Manson & his Family. And before that what about Mi Lai? At least Lt. Calley didn't ended up like Starkweather for his role in Mi Lai. We had Kent State & The Munich Olympics where The PLO terrorists killed 11 Isareli Athletes, that's how many Starkweather killed. In time we see The Jonestown Massacre, The Iran scene, The demise of John Lennon, and other events leading to "9/11". There are so many events that makes Charles Starkweather look like Fred Rogers. However I did have a nightmare that there was an event in Lincoln, NE where a plague would kill off children & teenagers or Lincoln, NE would end up like Hiroshima, Japan, 8/6/1945 & the spirit of Charles Starkweather gets the last laugh. However on the 50th Anniversary of his death we lose Farrah Fawcett to cancer and we lose "The King of Pop", Michael Jackson. At least Lincoln, NE didn't get nuked. And I'm glad my dreams are false. However there is still bad elements out there post-1959. And it seems that Charles Starkweather in spirit has the last laugh on us & Starkweather is Lincoln's answer to "Freddy Krueger". And that's it on this subject. Starkweather is no civil rights martyr. Marcus Brainard

I have seen already some movies based on Starkweather, for example Natural Born Killers was loosely based on that theme. Not so known but a good story about him is Badlands, and then came this flick. Should tell the story as it was, but after 5 minutes into the movie I already know that it would be bad. Charles had some voices in his head, The Mentor called in this flick, played by Lance Henrikson. But he appears in the movie and that is already one of the mistakes, it has nothing to do with the story about Starkweather. The Son of Sam had also voices but in the movie, Summer of Sam, you hear the voices you don't see a real person. Here it does and it annoys. Further on the killings are mostly off camera especially those with the stabbing. The gore is far away and the blood flows but not that it is scary as does the movie, it is never scary. As far as I know the dates are correct, but still it is a worse movie. You better watch Badlands instead. Luckily the performance of Charles is believable, ashame, good have been better.

There is a fine movie about the serial murderer Charlie Starkweather and his hostage/girl friend Karil Ann Fugate out there. Its title is "Badlands." There is also a very good TV movie on the subject, starring Tim Roth.This thing is so bad that no words can describe it. Everything about it is less than poor.It's not just the low budget. With imagination and talent that kind of obstacle can be overcome -- "Mean Streets", "The Honeymoon Killers," "The Littlest Fugitive," "The Savage Eye," "Detour." But this abortion lacks not just money but everything.The acting, or rather its absence. Not only isn't there a decent performance from anyone in the cast. Some are so bad that I've seen better in high school productions of "Our Town." The sheriff is probably the worst, but they're all bad, about as reactive as a noble gas.The editing. Continuing with the sheriff's disarticulation, please note what happens on the screen when he has a line. ("A line" because he reads them as if they didn't come in packages.) The camera shows us the sheriff's grim and uninteresting face. Seconds pass. Finally he speaks. "If they want to go out in a blaze o' glory, this is their chance." The camera lingers for a few seconds more on his face although he has nothing more to say and the muscles of his face remain marmoreal. After a few scenes like this the effect on the viewer is that of a hypnotic drug -- and not even a good HIGH first, but a precipitate drop in consciousness of the sort you get from chloral hydrate.The direction. Abominable. Nobody can hold a gun still. It must be jerked around or waved from side to side, or jabbed as if shoveling dirt. Even when a lawman takes a bead on a window he waves his rifle as if it were a magician's wand.Location: Not Nebraska farmland but clearly the Mojave Desert in California.I can't go on with this, really. I hate to dump on people and this is no fun. It's more embarrassing than anything else. Reminds me of a professor who once told us that when we wrote our term papers we should do our very best. Then he paused for a moment and mused out loud, "What if you did your very best and it turned out pedestrian?" Okay. Fair and balanced, right? There are two valuable things in this movie. There are some nice shots of vintage 1940s and 1950s cars, though sometimes mislabeled. And this film would serve as a very good bad example in any film school.