Gates of Heaven (1978)

A documentary about a pet cemetery in California, and the people who have pets buried there.

Director:

Errol Morris

Stars:

Lucille Billingsley, Zella Graham, Cal Harberts

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Lucille Billingsley	...	Self
Zella Graham	...	Self
Cal Harberts	...	Self
Dan Harberts	...	Self
Phil Harberts	...	Self
Scottie Harberts	...	Self
Mike Koewler	...	Self
Floyd McClure	...	Self
Ed Quye	...	Self
Florence Rasmussen	...	Self

Storyline

The men who run a pet cemetery, and the men and women who bury their pets, become the subject of this documentary. We first meet Floyd McClure, a paraplegic with a dream to create a pet cemetery. One inspiration is the death of his collie years before; and the other is the local rendering plant, which turns animals into glue. He realizes his dream, only to see it fail. Then we visit a successful pet cemetery, run by a father and his two sons. One is a frustrated musician, nursing a broken heart. The other is joining the family business after selling insurance in Salt Lake City. Throughout, we also meet the people who have buried their pets.

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Plot Keywords:

pet cemetery | napa valley | los altos california | love | eccentric | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of 2020, Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park is still in operation. According to its website, the pet cemetery is the largest and most exotic in the United States. It is still owned and operated by the Harberts family, with Dan and his son David running things at the memorial park. Founders, Cal Harberts and his wife, Catherine "Scottie" Harberts, have both since passed away. Cal passed away in 2001 and Scottie departed this Earth in 2017.

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Quotes

Floyd McClure: When I turn my back I don't know you, not truly, but I can turn my back on my little dog and I know that he's not going to jump on me or bite me. But human begings can't be that way.

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Connections

Featured in Sneak Previews: Force: Five, Escape from New York, Gates of Heaven, On the Right Track, The Fox and the Hound (1981)

User Reviews

Pet Peeve Greives

Early Errol Morris documentary, pitting the true believers versus the salesmen of the world. Both trying to fill a need, I got the vibe that when Floyd McClure talked about that specifically, he was really talking about the emotional hole left in people's lives by a departed pet. Rather than a hole in one's wallet, or just the hole in the ground.

Evidently the first part of this took place darn close to where I live these days: Los Altos, CA! Indeed there is a "Gates of Heaven" cemetery up by Rancho San Antonio, but I think that's just for us two-legged critters.

While this definitely had some clever editing (a couple of times, he turned on a word beautifully from one interviewee to the next), there was a lot of strange miscellany left in the film. I call to the witness stand the lady who loaned her son $400 for a car, but never sees him any more. Additionally the two squabbling ladies of Los Altos. Fascinating to watch, and more of a precursor to Morris' "First Person" show (worth catching if you can!) He just kind of sets the camera down and let's folks go awhile...like a confessional/diary as much as his latter day interregatron.

Somehow, whether by coaxing them with a Coors, or just quietly sitting and filming, Morris gets people to really expound on whatever details of their life seem to really matter to them. A couple of the pet couples are placed before tall images of flora? Not sure of the significance.

The most touching moment is the filming of the little tombstones for a variety of pets, all with some heartfelt little sententia or sweet goodbye. Putting it on film in a way makes these even more immortal.

Not sure how people who don't have any pets at all will react to this. I watched this with our 11-year old Wire Fox Terrier, but he zonked out (tends to prefer Bollywwod?). But I'm sitting there thinking of his mortality and the proposed $3K charge for cataract surgery and being a bit torn between loving my pet deeply, versus calculating the cost of him.

I guess the rendering man is important; he did all he could to wipe the smirk off his face having clearly jumped the shark on the pet v. food debate. And I mean putting food on his table...as much as quasi-food like bonemeal and by-products. For him, it was just a job *clearly* and he seemed perplexed how anybody could see it otherwise.

But bottom line, all of these people were making their living (including Morris as the filmmaker) off the death of pets. We want our lives to be filled with more than making our rent and paying our bills, and one way we try to do that is through our relationships with pets.

This film's alright, not up there with some of Morris' other work. Oddly comic at times. Like jeez, the pet cemetery called "Bubbling Well", that sounds like a code phrase for a rendering plant. Ick. "Gates of Heaven" felt at times like a strange good-guy/bad-guy dramatic film rather than a documentary. By the way, where are the trophy (Caine?) and guitar (Abel?) brothers today?? Looks like they're still in business

http://www.bubbling-well.com/

Bottom line, I'd say see this, but only *after* taking the dog out for a nice walk or a run along the beach.

6/10

PS My dog wants to add

"A cemetery for cats, come on you've got to be kidding!"

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gates of Heaven

Filming Locations:

Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park, Petaluma, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gates of Heaven

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1