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 L. 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 | cockfight | gun violence | speech | 

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Taglines:

What one loves about life are the things that fade.

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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:

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, 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:

149 min (1981 re-cut) 219 min (original cut) 217 min (2012 director's recut) 325 min (rough cut)

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During post-production, Michael Cimino changed the lock to the studio's editing room, prohibiting United Artists executives from seeing the film until he completed the editing (in a 2015 interview, he denied this ever occurred). Working with Oscar-winning Editor William Reynolds, Cimino slaved over his project. As one person involved in the project noted, "Michael didn't want respect. He wanted awe. The idea was that the magic man was in his workshop doing his magic, and we should all just leave him alone and let him finish."

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Goofs

After hours lying outdoors in temperate weather, Nathan's corpse is miraculously free of flies.

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Quotes

Ella Watson: Do you think a woman can love two men?
James Averill: Sure you can. Why not three? But it sure as hell isn't convenient.

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Connections

Referenced in Manhunter: Francis Is Gone Forever - An Interview with Tom Noonan (2016)

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Soundtracks

"Mamou Two-Step'
Written by Doug Kershaw

User Reviews

A mediocre two hour film that goes three and a half.

Thanks go to the great Vilmos Zsigmond for making this film look beautiful, but tear that away and you have a ridiculously long (3 hours 39 minutes) weak story with mostly one-dimensional characters. The long gaps between lines and each overwrought scene- be it a noisy town meeting or a gang rape- gives you plenty of time to think about how this could have been a two hour film, and you can spend the rest of the time finding other things wrong with it. While the actors are all pros, sometimes adding dimension to their roles, they are usually bored beyond even scene-chewing. Aesthetic pacing is one thing, but then when it occasionally gives you canned lines like the bad guy saying, 'I am the law' into the sepia mix, well, it's just fodder for MST3000. Even they'd get bored. If you see it, you'll be bored, too.

It's a typical Hollywoodization of an actual historical event- in other words, here, have another love triangle with a sweet prostitute, the sheriff, and a sorta bad guy. In an ultimately failed attempt to reinterpret the western, Camino instead grabs at all the standard 70's clichés: graphic violence that quickly becomes cartoonish, butt-naked ladies, jumpy volume shifts, and anti-heroes. Whee. Face it- when you think Old West, do you think... roller rink?

Not really surprising that it's such a legendary flop; it has such high aspirations to fall from. On its long, long, long way down, it looks great, indulgent, and expensive the whole way, and goes flop. You will thank the invention of the Fast Forward button.