Heaven's Gate (1980)

A dramatization of the real-life Johnson County War in 1890 Wyoming, in which a Sheriff born into wealth, attempts to protect immigrant farmers from rich cattle interests.

Director:

Michael Cimino

Writer:

Michael Cimino

Stars:

Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kris Kristofferson	...	James Averill
Christopher Walken	...	Nathan D. Champion (as Chris Walken)
John Hurt	...	William C. Irvine
Sam Waterston	...	Frank Canton
Brad Dourif	...	Mr. Eggleston
Isabelle Huppert	...	Ella Watson
Joseph Cotten	...	The Reverend Doctor
Jeff Bridges	...	John H. Bridges
Ronnie Hawkins	...	Maj. Wolcott
Paul Koslo	...	Mayor Charlie Lezak
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Trapper Fred
Richard Masur	...	Cully
Rosie Vela	...	Beautiful Girl (as Roseanne Vela)
Mary Catherine Wright	...	Nell (as Mary C. Wright)
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Small Man

Storyline

Wyoming, 1890. James Averill is the Sherriff of Johnson County, a county largely inhabited by foreign immigrants. The wealthy cattle owners view the immigrant farmers as a nuisance and hindrance to them enlarging their own land. The cattlemen's association, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, effectively declares war on the immigrant farmers, and gets the state government's blessing. They assemble an army of guns-for-hire, and, backed by US cavalry, set out to rid the state of the immigrants. James Averill's heart is with the immigrants but he is not sure they have a chance of winning the inevitable war.

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Plot Keywords:

shot to death | period piece | cattle ranch | rape | love triangle | 

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Taglines:

The only thing greater than their passion for America...was their passion for each other.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian French Polish German

Release Date:

19 November 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate

Filming Locations:

Butte, Montana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$44,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,032, 19 November 1980, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,484,331, 31 December 1981

Company Credits

Production Co:

Partisan Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

219 min 149 min (1981 re-cut) 217 min (2012 director's recut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nearly 220 hours of total footage was shot, and the original final cut was 3 hours and 39 minutes, making the shooting ratio roughly 60 to 1.

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Goofs

The period steam engine is a coal fired engine, with black smoke. In the West, steam engines had wide, open smokestacks for burning cheap, plentiful wood, producing white smoke and live cinders. In fact, piles of logs are stacked on the accompanying tender.

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Quotes

John L. Bridges: It's gettin' dangerous to be poor in this country.
James Averill: It always was.

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Alternate Versions

All UK versions are cut by 1 min 14 secs to remove all scenes of cockfighting as well as editing footage of cruel horse-falls.

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Connections

Referenced in Making of 'Timerider' (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Mamou Two-Step'
Written by Doug Kershaw

User Reviews

don´t knock it til you have tried it

I seriously don´t know why this movie got such a hostile reception when it was first released. Sure, it´s overlong and somewhat gratuitous in its depictions of sexuality and violence but so are lots of well regarded movies. I seriously don´t think that the people who hated "Heaven´s Gate" really understood it. "Heaven´s Gate" in its uncut form, much like "The Deer Hunter" shows the gross differences of living an insecure and dangerous life (like the immigrants and Averil in Wyoming) and living in comfort and privilege (like the settled "Americans" in Wyoming and Averil in the prologue and epilogue). Living a hard life is painful but it can also be invigorating as opposed to the dull life Averil leads in the epilogue. Also, as Michael Cimino took great pains to make the picture historically accurate , it is fascinating as a document of (and maybe indictment of) American life in Old West Wyoming. The dialogue is often genuinely clever and emotional. Combined with great music and cinematography, the movie works like a truly poetic work of art. Granted, "Heaven´s Gate", with its refusal to patronize the viewer, is not for all tastes. However, Hollywood turns out so much commercial dreck each year which is so much easier to dismiss as mindless eye candy (even when an example of it becomes a blockbuster) that "Gate" and Cimino really do deserve more respect. All people should see the uncut version at least once and then they should make up their own mind.