History Film / DaysOfHeaven

Set in 1916, a steelworker named Billy (Creator/RichardGere) kills a foreman out of anger. Fearing reprisals, he runs away with his sister Linda (Linda Manz) and girlfriend Abby (Creator/{{Brooke Adams|Actress}}). Pretending that Abby is his sister so as to avoid gossip, Billy and his crew hitch a train to the Texas panhandle, where they find work in the wheat fields of a rich but sick farmer (Music/SamShepard). When the farmer falls in love with Abby, Billy convinces her to marry him, thinking that he will die within the year and they can inherit his money. Of course, things don't work out quite so well...

* WholePlotReference: The main plot of Billy encouraging Abby to marry the farmer so they can get his money is taken from Creator/HenryJames' ''The Wings of the Dove''.

Set in 1916, a steelworker named Billy (Creator/RichardGere) kills a foreman out of anger. Fearing reprisals, he runs away with his sister Linda (Creator/LindaManz) and girlfriend Abby (Creator/{{Brooke Adams|Actress}}). Pretending that Abby is his sister so as to avoid gossip, Billy and his crew hitch a train to the Texas panhandle, where they find work in the wheat fields of a rich but sick farmer (Music/SamShepard). When the farmer falls in love with Abby, Billy convinces her to marry him, thinking that he will die within the year and they can inherit his money. Of course, things don't work out quite so well...

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!!This film contains the following tropes:
* AccidentalMurder: In the opening scene Billy hits a foreman at the factory, accidentally killing him.
* AnimalMotifs: The locusts symbolize a threat. The time when the swarm of locusts attacks the fields coincides with the moment when the farmer realizes that Billy is Abby's lover and [[spoiler:decides to kill him]].

* BecomingTheMask: Abby pretends to be attracted to the farmer as part of a plan to inherit his fortune after his death, but then she falls in love with him.
* BedsheetLadder: How Linda and another girl escape the apparently unpleasant boarding school where Abby deposited her, towards the end of the movie.
* BittersweetEnding: Far more bitter than sweet. [[spoiler:The farm has been completely desecrated by locusts and fire, Billy and the farmer are dead, Abby leaves town seemingly as a way to cope with everything that's occurred, and Linda has been left alone at a boarding school. However, Linda seems to enjoy the place despite her initial hesitance, with the movie ending with her going off on a new adventure with a new friend she's made.]]

* CrazyJealousGuy: When the farmer understands that Billy was Abby's lover, he goes after him [[spoiler:to kill him with a gun]]. This is somewhat justified by the fact that Billy and Abby lied to him from the start, but at the time he does it, Abby had ended her relationship with Billy.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the opening scene Billy hits a foreman at the factory, accidentally killing him. Billy is established as hot-headed and impulsive.

* FaceFramedInShadow: Billy is framed this way when he's peering into Abby and the farmer's bedroom, before he sneaks in and lures Abby out.
* FauxlosophicNarration: For lack of a better term. Linda's voiceovers both comment on what's happening storywise and veer off into philosophical rambles. Reportedly, Malick didn't script the narration. He showed Manz the film and had her speak (in character) into a microphone whatever came to mind as she watched it.
* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: The narrator is Linda, the protagonist's sister. [[spoiler:This is because Billy is dead at the end of the story.]]

** The foreman at the beginning of the movie [[spoiler:won't be the last man Billy kills.]]
** At several points throughout the movie, a few grasshoppers are found in the fields and picked off. [[spoiler:Too bad the number [[TheSwarm will eventually become overwhelming.]]]]
** As mentioned above in FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator, the sole fact that Linda is the narrator already suggests that [[spoiler:either Billy, Abby, or both will be absent from her life by the end of the film]], which is exactly what happens.
* GoldDigger: Abby marries the farmer only to inherit his money when he will die. Justified because she is really poor.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: See the page quote. Abby and Billy's deception is justified by the fact that they are very poor and this is their only hope for a better life. The farmer is depicted as a rather nice guy. [[spoiler:His violent reaction is justified by the fact that Abby and Billy lied to him.]]

* HuntingAccident: Billy considers killing the farmer during a hunting trip. {{Subverted|Trope}} because he does not dare to do it.
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:Billy]] uses a screwdriver to kill [[spoiler:the farmer]].

* KillingInSelfDefense: [[spoiler:Billy]] kills [[spoiler:the farmer]] with a screwdriver, only because the latter threatened him with a gun.
* LoveTriangle: Abby falls in love with the farmer for real but can't shake Billy. Tragedy ensues.
* MarriageBeforeRomance: Abby falls for the farmer after marrying him.
* MurderTheHypotenuse:
** Billy considers killing the farmer during a hunting trip. {{Subverted|Trope}} because he does not dare to do it.
** In the end, [[spoiler:the farmer goes after Billy with a gun to kill him, but Billy finally kills the farmer in self-defense with a screwdriver.]]
* NoNameGiven: The farmer, the foreman... pretty much every character apart from the three leads, and even they aren't given last names.
* OldRetainer: The farm foreman is devoted to his boss. At some point, he tells Billy that he considers his boss as his own son. Therefore, he is determined to find [[spoiler:his murderer]] in the end.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Happens a few times, particularly with Brooke's Chicagoan accent.
* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Abby has two lovers: Billy, a poor worker, and the rich farmer. At first, Abby is in love with Billy, but she marries the farmer and then falls in love with him.
* RomanticFakeRealTurn: Abby pretends to be attracted to the farmer as part of a plan to inherit his fortune after his death, but then she falls in love with him.
* SanitySlippage: The farmer goes on one after realizing the truth about Abby and Billy.
* SceneryPorn: Many arguments could be made that this is THE most beautiful film ever shot.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The farmer vs. Billy.
* ShoutOut: The family watched Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''Film/TheImmigrant'' on a home projector.
* SteelMill: The opening scene of the film takes place in a Chicago steel mill (and surrounding slums).
* TheSwarm: A swarm of locusts attacks the fields. This is the time when [[spoiler:the farmer goes after Billy.]]

* YourDaysAreNumbered: Nothing's visibly wrong with the farmer, but a doctor tells him he has maybe a year to live.

* TheBeard: {{Inverted|Trope}}. Abby and Billy are lovers, but they pretend to be siblings.

* TheKenBurnsEffect: Used throughout the opening credits, as the camera pans and zooms over old-timey 1920s pictures.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: See the page quote. Abby and Billy's deception is justified by the fact that they are very poor and this is their only hope for a better life. The farmer is depicted as a rather nice guy. His violent reaction is justified by the fact that Abby and Billy lied to him.

* TheSwarm: A swarm of locusts attacks the fields. This is the time when the farmer goes after Billy.

Set in 1916, a steelworker named Billy (Creator/RichardGere) kills a foreman out of anger. Fearing reprisals, he runs away with his sister Linda (Creator/LindaManz) and girlfriend Abby (Creator/BrookeAdamsActress). Pretending that Abby is his sister so as to avoid gossip, Billy and his crew hitch a train to the Texas panhandle, where they find work in the wheat fields of a rich but sick farmer (Music/SamShepard). When the farmer falls in love with Abby, Billy convinces her to marry him, thinking that he will die within the year and they can inherit his money. Of course, things don't work out quite so well...

Set in 1916, a steelworker named Billy (Creator/RichardGere) kills a foreman out of anger. Fearing reprisals, he runs away with his sister Linda (Creator/LindaManz) and girlfriend Abby (Creator/BrookeAdams). Pretending that Abby is his sister so as to avoid gossip, Billy and his crew hitch a train to the Texas panhandle, where they find work in the wheat fields of a rich but sick farmer (Music/SamShepard). When the farmer falls in love with Abby, Billy convinces her to marry him, thinking that he will die within the year and they can inherit his money. Of course, things don't work out quite so well...

* ExcusePlot: Why do they pretend to be siblings? So we can have a movie.

* ArtImitatesArt: Cinematographer Néstor Almendros drew inspiration for the film's look from artists like Johannes Vermeer and Edward Hopper and the work of early century photographers.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: See the page quote. Abby and Billy's deception is justified by the fact that they are very poor and this is their only hope for a better life. The farmer is depicted as a rather nice guy. His violent reaction is justified by Abby and Billy lied to him.

Set in 1916, a steelworker named Billy (Creator/RichardGere) kills a foreman out of anger. Fearing reprisals, he runs away with his sister Linda (Linda Manz) and girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams). Pretending that Abby is his sister so as to avoid gossip, Billy and his crew hitch a train to the Texas panhandle, where they find work in the wheat fields of a rich but sick farmer (Music/SamShepard). When the farmer falls in love with Abby, Billy convinces her to marry him, thinking that he will die within the year and they can inherit his money. Of course, things don't work out quite so well...

* YourCheatingHeart: Abby cheats on her husband with her former lover, Billy. When she falls for her husband, she ends this affair.

* CrazyJealousGuy: When the farmer understands that Billy was Abby's lover, he goes after him [[spoiler:to kill him with a gun]]. This is somewhat justified by the fact that Billy and Abby lied to him from the start, but at the time he does it, Abby had ended her realtionship with Billy.