Night+Day

tuesday
december 19
Far as the Eyes Can See No American director has filmed this country's open roads, fields, and prairies as beautifully as Terrence Malick. In 1978's Days of Heaven, Malick even makes migrant farming look good. A love triangle featuring Richard Gere and Karen Allen/Margot Kidder look-alike Brooke Adams, Days of Heaven showcases Malick's trademarks: dry narration (by incomparable tomboy Linda Manz), spare dialogue, and wide-screen vistas that dwarf the characters. All three of these traits also dominate 1973's Badlands, a retelling of the Charles Starkweather-Carol Ann Fugate murder spree with a great James Dean imitation by Martin Sheen and a wonderfully listless performance by Sissy Spacek. Days of Heaven screens at 3:30 and 7:20 p.m.; Badlands screens at 5:25 and 9:15 p.m. at the UC Theatre, 2036 University, Berkeley. Tickets are $6.50; call (510) 843-6267.

Indoor Drive-In "The First Annual Cacophony Drive-In Movie Short Film/Video Festival" began as an actual drive-in event this summer, but it's chilly now, so it's moving inside. A program of strange, oddball, and just plain goofy short films -- including the first work by Burden of Dreams director Les Blank -- it also includes an original trivia quiz on U.S. presidential assassinations. Watch weird stuff and talk about Squeaky Fromme at 7:15 and 9:15 p.m. at the Red Vic, 1727 Haight, S.F. Tickets are $3-5.50; call 668-3994.