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'Heaven's Gate' - Too Epic for the 80s?

Second Chances #29

By Adam WallacePublished 4 years ago 5 min read
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Hello, and welcome back to Second Chances where the maligned and forgotten don't have a date with the hangman.

Back in the 60s, the theaters regularly got historical epics. Movies like Ben-Hur, The Great Escape, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Ten Commandments were more than films; they were events with their 3+ hour runtimes and grand scale. Nowadays, epics are more fantasy-based with The Lord of the Rings films and Avengers: Endgame. Epics were pretty much unwelcome in the 80s; no one had time to devote 3 hours to a movie. Caught in the middle of that was the 1980 epic western Heaven's Gate.

The behind-the-scenes drama for this movie is actually more infamous than the movie itself. The passion project of writer/director Michael Cimino, Heaven's Gate was a script that was stuck in development hell since the early 70s. Studios wouldn't give Cimino a chance with it. That is, until Cimino won Oscars for The Deer Hunter and became Hollywood's new golden boy. United Artists gave in and gave Cimino a blank check for Heaven's Gate. The result was a final cost of $44 million ($137 million today), 4 times the planned budget, and a three-and-a-half-hour movie that people avoided. Even after the studio forced Cimino to trim the runtime down to two hours, people still stayed away. Earning only $3.5 million, it still stands as one of the biggest box office bombs in history. The failure led to studios retaking control over productions; the days of directors having total control over their films were pretty much over. The Razzies also took potshots at it. It scored five nominations and "won" one ("Worst Director" for Cimino). I'm convinced that the Razzies had a field day only because of the backstage controversy. During my time off for Christmas, I took time to watch it, and it is a lot better than its reputation suggests.

The plot is inspired by the Johnson County War in Wyoming in 1892 but not actually based on it. Kris Kristofferson plays James Averill, a Harvard grad who became the marshal of Johnson County, Wyoming, an area whose population is mostly European immigrants. Cattle barons led by the bigoted Frank Canton (Sam Waterston) elect to use some stolen cattle as an excuse to do some ethnic cleansing. Almost the entire population of the county is put on a kill list, including Averill's French lover, bordello madam Ella Watson, played by Ally's favorite actress Isabelle Huppert. It's up to Averill and his closest associate, barkeep John Bridges (Jeff Bridges), to rally the town and fend off the barons' private army.

Funny enough, that synopsis of the main plot only covers about 35% of the movie's runtime. There's also a subplot of a love triangle involving Averill, Ella, and the barons' chief enforcer Nate Champion (Christopher Walken). That subplot takes up about another 15% of the movie. So what makes up the other half? Footage that people may call "too many establishing shots" but I call "slice of life". Cimino went out of his way to make his Johnson County, Wyoming, feel like a living, breathing place. A lot of attention by the press is given to the roller skating and choreographed dance scenes, but there's more than that. Plenty of time is given to traveling scenes and smaller moments like group photos that allow viewers to soak up the atmosphere. Atmosphere is always my big thing and not just with horror movies. Now, I can understand if people think half of a three-and-a-half-hour movie being footage not related to the plot is overly self-indulgent and too much to ask a paying audience to sit through. However, that "slice of life" stuff was actually some of my favorite moments in the movie.

When the action does pick up, it has all the intensity of a war film rather than the almost cartoonish feel of most Westerns, right down to plenty of dust kicking up in the battles. Whatever can be said of the bloated budget, it definitely looks like all the money is onscreen. The action scenes near the end were so intense that horses actually got killed during filming. In fact, this movie is the reason the "No Animals Were Harmed" disclaimer exists today. On top of everything else, Heaven's Gate is a great film just to look at. The set designs and cinematography are just gorgeous. Some of the traveling shots can be mixed into an effective Wyoming tourism ad.

The movie does have some justifiable faults beyond the time commitment and the backstage drama. Despite the all-star cast which, beyond those already mentioned, includes John Hurt, Brad Dourif, Terry O'Quinn, and even Willem Dafoe in his feature film debut, the performances tended to be on the flat side. I know Cimino was going for realism, and overacting would've clashed terribly with the atmosphere. However, I'm convinced a middle ground could've been found between underacting and overacting. Averill's posh upbringing clashing with his populist sensibilities was established as a major character arc, but it only really shows at the very beginning and the very end, a lost opportunity to add a bit more substance. The scene when a few of Canton's mercs hold on their murder spree to try to rape Ella feels very out of place and almost too detailed. I know it was meant to give Averill time to save her, but it still felt like it didn't fit. (I swear, with this, Elle, and The Piano Teacher, does Isabelle Huppert have to get raped in EVERY movie she's in?) Finally, the ending is almost too low-key. Without spoiling it, I know it was meant to bring Averill's character full-circle, but it still felt too small compared to the rest of the spectacle.

Heaven's Gate is a movie that demands things from its audience. It demands a long time commitment. It demands appreciation of atmosphere. It demands appreciation of the little details. It demands a bit of a strong stomach. However, if you fit in with those requirements, it is a gorgeous look at life in the Old West that deserves more respect than it got in 1980. The Criterion Collection released the original director's version on Blu-Ray. Check it out when you can free up the time.

What do you think? Any more movies that deserve another shot? Let me know, and take care!

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About the Creator

Adam Wallace

I put up pieces here when I can, mainly about games and movies. I'm also writing movies, writing a children's book & hosting the gaming channel "Cool Media" on YouTube! Enjoy & find me on Twitter!

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