Heaven's Gate

Thirty one years ago today marks the release of the film that sunk United Artists, the film studio founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks. The film was Heaven's Gate, the $40+ million dollar ($150-200 million in today's dollars) ego trip by Michael Cimino who thought just because he had won an Oscar the previous year (for The Deer Slayer) that the public would eat a mile of his poop just to see where it came from. Cimino shot over a million and a half feet of film (over 284 miles), most of which was processed. Cimino would often do 50 takes of a scene, and once when he built an entire western town to his exact specifications, he decided that the street was too narrow, so he ordered the whole thing torn down (over the objections of his crew, who said that all he needed to do was to tear down one side and rebuild it farther away). When Heaven's Gate came out, it was a five-hours long (later trimmed) crapfest with... Read more

I have no problem with length in and of itself, and length is sometimes necessary in order to tell a story. However, in this case it just wasn't necessary. Too many scenes in this film are twice as long as they need to be, with very little happening. Or they involve a lot of singing, dancing, marching, fighting, skating, and whatnot, all of which looks nice but just drags the story out longer and longer without advancing the plot. Cimino apparently could not bear to cut a single second of any of this. Had he done so, the movie would have been more bearable. Aside from that, the story is quite fascinating, the locations are gorgeous, the sets are authentic-looking, and there is a great cast here. Too bad they were in the hands of a director who just didn't know when to quit or when to edit his own work.

You can't see it, you can't hear it (and in one release, there were actually subtitles for the English-speaking actors)--but there are those who consider this mess cinematic genius. But then the French believe Jerry Lewis is a comedic genius. This unfortunate mess has within it a darn good film about the Johnson County War and it has a really terrific cast (including Willem Dafoe in his movie debut). But as a whole, it is a waste of time, talent, and celluloid. I have seen the uncut and cut versions, so editing won't help it. Not only did this film sink troubled United Artist but also the entire Western genre. The treatment of animals on the set prompted the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to contractually authorize the American Humane Association to monitor the use of all animals in all filmed media. It's been more than 10 years since Michael Cimino's name has been attached to an American film. I understand that he is directing or will ... Read more

I was really not impressed with this western. It was too long and drawn out. I thought it would never get over with. The action was too dull. I would not watch again.

I liked the Film. I use to Teach Skating and enjoyed the Dance on Skates very much.

"The Deer Hunter's" success with critics and publics alike led United Artists to give Cimino carte-blanche on "Heaven's Gate," an epic Western about the 1892 Johnson County Wars... The elliptical story, about the persecution of lowly European-born farmers by Wyoming's cattle-barons, was a muddled mixture of class-conflict, sumptuous pageant and underwritten, stereotypical characters... However, Cimino's fetish for authenticity and his sweeping sense of scale ensured that the film running at nearly four hours - was rarely tedious... Its undeserved status as a cause célébre, with critics divided as to whether it was a masterpiece or a fiasco, derived from its inflated budget... Blamed for the studio's financial problems, Cimino became a scapegoat for Hollywood's general decline, and the film, edited into an incomprehensible short version after its initial release, was a commercial disaster...