NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Heaven's Gate (film)

Heaven's Gate is a 1980 western movie, which depicts a highly fictionalized account of the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s. The director, Michael Cimino, had an expansive and ambitious vision for the film and pushed the film far over its planned budget. The movie's financial problems and United Artists' subsequent demise led to a move away from director-driven film production in the American film industry and a shift toward greater studio control of films. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (495x755, 81 KB) Original film release one-sheet poster This image is of a movie poster, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the movie or the studio which produced the movie in question. ... Michael Cimino (born February 3, 1939, New York City) is an Australia film director. ... Kristoffer Kris Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an influential American country music songwriter, singer and actor. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... Isabelle Anne Huppert (born March 16, 1953) is a French actress. ... Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... For the singer, see Mississippi John Hurt. ... Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an Oscar nominated American actor noted particularly for his portrayal of Jack McCoy on the long-running NBC television series Law & Order. ... Bradford Claude Dourif (March 18, 1950, Huntington, West Virginia) is an American Academy Award nominated actor. ... Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905â€“February 6, 1994) was an American stage and screen actor. ... Geoffrey Lewis (born July 31, 1935) is an American character actor who has been popular since the early 1970s, often featured in offbeat roles. ... Richard Masur (born 20 November 1948, New York, New York) is an actor who has starred in over 80 movies during his career. ... Terrance Terry OQuinn (born on July 15, 1952) is an Emmy Award nominated American actor. ... Mickey Rourke (born September 16, 1956) is an American actor who has primarily appeared in drama, action, and thriller films. ... William Dafoe, Jr. ... David Mansfield (born c. ... Vilmos Zsigmond (born June 16, 1930) is a Hungarian-American cinematographer. ... This article is about the film studio. ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... A directors cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials or video games, that is supposed to represent the directors own approved edit. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... USD redirects here. ... The year 1980 in film involved some significant events. ... Broncho Billy Anderson, from The Great Train Robbery The Western movie is one of the classic American film genres. ... The Invaders of The Johnson County Cattle War. ... Official language(s) English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Area Ranked 10th - Total 97,818 sq mi (253,348 kmÂ²) - Width 280 miles (450 km) - Length 360 miles (580 km) - % water 0. ... The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... Michael Cimino (born February 3, 1939, New York City) is an Australia film director. ... Auteurs redirects here. ... American cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. ... A movie studio is a controlled environment for the making of a film. ...

The film's actors included Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Joseph Cotten, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Masur, Terry O'Quinn, Mickey Rourke, and Willem Dafoe. Kristoffer Kris Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an influential American country music songwriter, singer and actor. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... Isabelle Anne Huppert (born March 16, 1953) is a French actress. ... Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... For the singer, see Mississippi John Hurt. ... Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an Oscar nominated American actor noted particularly for his portrayal of Jack McCoy on the long-running NBC television series Law & Order. ... Bradford Claude Dourif (March 18, 1950, Huntington, West Virginia) is an American Academy Award nominated actor. ... Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905â€“February 6, 1994) was an American stage and screen actor. ... Geoffrey Lewis (born July 31, 1935) is an American character actor who has been popular since the early 1970s, often featured in offbeat roles. ... Richard Masur (born 20 November 1948, New York, New York) is an actor who has starred in over 80 movies during his career. ... Terrance Terry OQuinn (born on July 15, 1952) is an Emmy Award nominated American actor. ... Mickey Rourke (born September 16, 1956) is an American actor who has primarily appeared in drama, action, and thriller films. ... William Dafoe, Jr. ...

Plot

The film opens in 1870 as two young men, Jim Averill (Kristofferson) and William C. "Billy" Irvine (Hurt), are graduating from Harvard University. The Reverend Doctor (Joseph Cotten, in his penultimate film role) speaks to the graduates on the association of "the cultivated mind with the uncultivated," and the importance of "the education of a nation." Irvine, brilliant but obviously intoxicated, follows this with his opposing, irreverent views. A celebration is then held after which the male students serenade the females present. 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Harvard redirects here. ... Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905â€“February 6, 1994) was an American stage and screen actor. ...

The film then flashes forward 20 years, where Averill is now the sheriff in the booming region of Johnson County, Wyoming, where European immigrants are stealing the cattle of the rich WASP ranch owners for food. Nathan D. Champion (Walken)--who knows Averill--is an enforcer for the landowners, and he kills a settler for suspected rustling and dissuades another from stealing a head of cattle. At a meeting of The Stock Growers Association (a group consisting of the rich ranch owners), a dissipated Billy Irvine is revealed to be a member. Quite intoxicated, he leaves the meeting and goes upstairs to a billiard room, where he encounters Averill and tells him of the Stock Growers's intent on using violence to force the settlers to leave. As Averill leaves, he exchanges bitter words (and punches) with the head of the Association, Frank Canton (Waterston), who has prominent political connections. Johnson County is a county located in the north central of the state of Wyoming. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ... For general information about the genus, including other species of cattle, see Bos. ... White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, commonly abbreviated to the acronym WASP, is a term which originated in the United States. ... Billiard (as a noun, adjective or verb) may refer to: A type of shot in cue sports (such as pool, carom billiards and snooker) The traditional European name for the number 1015 in mathematics (called quadrillion in modern science) A dynamical system of particle trajectories within a closed reflective boundary...

Ella Watson (Huppert), a bordello madam who accepts stolen cattle as payment for use of her prostitutes, is in love with Averill and Champion, and she helps teach the illiterate Champion how to read and write. She finds herself caught between the two as it's revealed that the Association has composed a list of more than one hundred settlers ("thieves and anarchists," as Canton calls them)--Ella included--who will be killed by a number of men from Texas who are hired by the Association. Averill gets a copy of the list from Captain Minardi (Terry O'Quinn) of the U.S. Army and later reads the names on the list to the settlers, who are shocked and begin to argue about what to do, with one becoming enraged enough to shoot the mayor (Paul Koslo) in the ear. Cully (Richard Masur), a train conductor and friend of Averill's, sees the train containing Canton's posse and rides off to warn the settlers, but is later murdered by the posse after stopping to sleep during his journey. Later, a group of men come to Ella's bordello and rape her, but all of them except one are shot and killed by Averill. Champion arrives, and after realizing that his landowner bosses seek to eliminate Ella, he goes to Canton's camp and shoots the remaining rapist, after which he and Canton become enemies because of Champion's refusal to participate in the slaughter. For other uses, see Texas (disambiguation). ... Terrance Terry OQuinn (born on July 15, 1952) is an Emmy Award nominated American actor. ... Paul Koslo is a blonde haired American actor who appeared in such seventies cult films as Mr. ... Richard Masur (born 20 November 1948, New York, New York) is an actor who has starred in over 80 movies during his career. ...

"Trapper" (Geoffrey Lewis)--one of Champion's friends--is walking away from the cabin he and Champion share when he encounters Canton and possibly Canton's entire posse. He is given one minute to go back to the cabin and warn Champion and their friend Nick Ray (Mickey Rourke) and then come back to safety. However, as soon as Trapper emerges from the door he is shot, and the gun battle begins. Ella arrives in a wagon and shoots one of the hired guns but doesn't stay, escaping on her horse. Champion and Nick Ray fight on outnumbered, and are killed. Meanwhile, Ella makes it to town and warns the settlers that Canton's men are nearby, and the settlers decide to fight back. Averill then leads the settlers to attack Canton's gang (after he and Ella discover the bodies of Nate and Nick Ray), and both sides suffer casualties (a drunken Billy Irvine is one) before the U.S. Army arrives and stops the fighting, just as Averill's side is about to overrun the landowners' men, helped by Averill's knowledge of Classical war wagons and tactics. Later, John Bridges (Jeff Bridges) meets Ella and Averill at Ella's cabin, as all three are going to leave the area. However, while preparing to leave they are ambushed by Canton and two others. Bridges and Averill kill Canton and one of the men, but both Bridges and Ella are killed in the shootout. Averill then mourns Ella as he holds her in his arms, as the film fades out. Geoffrey Lewis (born July 31, 1935) is a popular US character actor since the early 1970s, often featured in offbeat roles. ... Mickey Rourke (born September 16, 1956) is an American actor who has primarily appeared in drama, action, and thriller films. ... Look up Classical in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ...

The film then shows a title, "Newport, Rhode Island, 1903," as a yacht at sea is in the background. A well-dressed, mustachioed Averill is revealed to be the yacht's owner, walking on the deck. Going down into the yacht, he enters a room and an attractive lady (who apparently is one of two women who eyed Averill during the Harvard graduation 33 years earlier) sleeps on a chaise lounge. Averill sits in a chair and looks at her, saying nothing. Eventually the woman comes to and she asks Averill for a cigarette, who then sits on an ottoman closer to her and unemotionally offers her one and lights it without saying a word, barely moving from his ottoman seat. They look at each other, and soon Averill gets up and goes towards the door. Exchanging looks with her, Averill then peers at the rest of the room and then leaves. The film ends with a shot in the distance of Averill roaming the yacht's deck.

Production and Reception

In 1971, Michael Cimino submitted the original script for Heaven's Gate, then called The Johnson County War, to United Artists executives; the project was eventually shelved when it failed to attract big name talents. In 1978, after winning two Academy Awards (Best Director and Best Picture) for the The Deer Hunter, Cimino convinced United Artists to resurrect the project with Kris Kristofferson, Isabelle Huppert and Christopher Walken as the leads. The film began shooting on April 16, 1979 in Glacier National Park, north of Kalispell, Montana. Much of it was shot on Big Meadow, which is on the park road headed towards Kintla Lake. The film had a projected December 14 release date. The original budget was $11.6 million. Kalispell is a city in Flathead County, Montana, USA. The population was 14,223 at the 2000 census. ... Fog rolls over the surface of Kintla Lake, caused by the differing temperatures of the air and the water. ...

The project fell behind schedule almost immediately; Cimino eventually shot more than 1.3 million feet (nearly 220 hours) of footage, in the process incurring approximately $200,000 in production cost per day. Despite going overbudget, Cimino was not financially penalized because he had obtained a contract from United Artists to the effect that all money spent "to complete and deliver the picture in time for a Christmas 1979 release shall not be treated as overbudget expenditures." The film finished shooting in March 1980, having cost nearly $30 million.

During postproduction, after months of delays, last minute changes, and cost overruns, Cimino delivered his version which ran 5 hours and 25 minutes (325 minutes) long; United Artists executives forced Cimino to edit the film down to 3 hours and 39 minutes (219 minutes). Cimino pulled that version from release after only one screening: its premiere in New York City on November 19, 1980. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...

The premiere was by all accounts a disaster. During the intermission, the audience was so subdued that Cimino is said to have asked why no one was drinking the champagne. He was reportedly told, "Because they hate the movie, Michael."

A subsequent review by New York Times critic Vincent Canby called Heaven's Gate "an unqualified disaster," comparing it to "a forced four-hour walking tour of one's own living room". Canby went even further by stating that "It fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to obtain the success of The Deer Hunter and the Devil has just come around to collect". Roger Ebert quipped in The Chicago Sun-Times: "The most scandalous cinematic waste I have ever seen, and remember, I've seen Paint Your Wagon."^[1] The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. ... Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 â€“ September 15, 2000) was an American film critic. ... Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ... Chicago Sun-Times The Chicago Sun-Times is an American newspaper publishing out of Chicago, Illinois. ... Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in a promo still for Paint Your Wagon. ...

Heaven's Gate resurfaced six months later in a 2 hour and 29 minute (149 minute) version attempting to recoup some of its losses. But negative publicity had already damaged the film's reputation and this version quickly disappeared from theatres.

Awards and nominations

Although the film is praised by some prominent critics in the 1990s and 2000s, it received a number of poor reviews upon its first release.

Razzie Award The Raspberry Awards or Razzies, first awarded in 1981, were created by John Wilson in 1980, intended to counterpoint the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer. ... Michael Cimino (born February 3, 1939, New York City) is an Australia film director. ... The Razzie Award for Worst Picture is a dishonor given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. ... The Razzie Award for Worst Actor was an honor given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actor of the previous year. ... Kristoffer Kris Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an influential American country music songwriter, singer and actor. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ...

Effects on the U.S. film industry

The movie's unprecedented $40 million cost (equivalent to about $120 million as of 2006) and poor performance at the box office ($3,484,331 gross in the United States) generated more negative publicity than actual financial damage, causing Transamerica Corporation (United Artists' corporate owner at the time) to become anxious over its own public image and withdraw from film production altogether. Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up publicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Transamerica Corporaion is an insurance and investment company in the United States. ...

Transamerica then sold United Artists to MGM, which effectively ended the existence of the studio. MGM would later revive the name "United Artists" as a subsidiary division. While the money loss due to Heaven's Gate was considerable, United Artists was still a thriving studio with a steady income provided by the James Bond and Rocky franchises. Many have also argued that United Artists was already struggling at the time with the box offices flops of Cruising and Foxes. (Both released earlier in 1980.) 007 redirects here. ... For other uses, see Rocky (disambiguation). ... Cruising is the name of a film released in 1980, directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino. ... Foxes is a 1980 English-language drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Gerald Ayres. ...

The fracas had a wider effect on the American film industry at the time. During the 1970s, relatively young directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, and William Friedkin were given unprecedentedly large budgets with very little studio control (New Hollywood). The studio largesse eventually led to the new paradigm of the high concept feature, epitomized by Jaws and Star Wars. But it also led to less successful films as Friedkin's Sorcerer (1977), and culminating in Coppola's One from the Heart and Cimino's Heaven's Gate, among other money-losers. As the new high-concept paradigm of film making became more entrenched, studio control of budgets and productions became tighter, ending the free-wheeling excesses (or, the infiltration of the culture of the promotion of aesthetic freedom, if you prefer to view film production primarily as an artistic rather than a commercial venture) that begat Heaven's Gate. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five-time Academy Award winning American film director, producer, and screenwriter. ... Peter Bogdanovich Serbian Cyrillic ÐŸÐµÑ‚Ð°Ñ€ Ð‘Ð¾Ð³Ð´Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ› (born July 30, 1939) is a Serbian-American film director, writer and actor. ... William Friedkin (born August 29, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) is an Academy Award-winning American movie and television director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The Exorcist and The French Connection in the early 1970s. ... New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood refers to the brief time between roughly 1967 (Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate) and 1982 (One from the Heart) when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, drastically changing not only the way Hollywood films were produced and marketed, but... High concept, in film, is a term typically used to refer to the style and mode of production developed by Hollywood studios in the late 1970s. ... Jaws is a 1975 thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on Peter Benchleys best-selling novel inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. ... This movie poster for Star Wars depicts many of the films important elements, such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters Star Wars, retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981 (see note at Title,) is the original (and in chronological... Sorcerer is a 1977 film produced and directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou. ... One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. ...

The very poor box office performance of the film also had a huge impact on the western genre of films which had a revival in the late 1960s. From this point on, very few western films were released by major studios.

Director's cut

Despite these setbacks, the movie was salvaged by an unlikely source. The Z Channel, a cable pay TV channel that at its peak in the mid-1980s served 100,000 of Los Angeles's most influential film professionals, was the only network showing uncut movies on television. After the failed release of the re-edited and shortened Heaven's Gate, Jerry Harvey, the channel's programmer, decided to play Cimino's 219 minute cut. The re-assembled movie received admiring reviews and coined the term "director's cut." ^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Z Channel (disambiguation). ... â€œPay TVâ€ redirects here. ... Jerry Harvey (1949 â€“ 1988) was a California filmmaker and programmer, best known for his work on Z Channel, a pioneering cable station in the Hollywood Hills. ... A directors cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials or video games, that is supposed to represent the directors own approved edit. ...

When MGM home video released the film on VHS in the 1980s, they released Cimino's 219 minute cut, using the tagline "Heaven's Gate… The Legendary Uncut Version". Subsequent releases on laserdisc and DVD have been the 219 minute cut. The 149 minute cut, released in 1981, has never been released on home video in the United States and is now very difficult to see or get access to. This cut of the film is not just shorter but differs in placement of scenes and selection of takes. Not to be confused with disk laser, a type of solid-state laser in a flat configuration. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ...

"The whole idea of a director's cut being something you could actually market came out of Jerry Harvey's rescue of Heaven's Gate," notes F. X. Feeney, a film critic who contributed heavily to Z Channel's programming guide. "It's an important measure, because home video, home viewing via pay TV, these things have really revolutionized how we perceive movies." F.X. Feeney (born September 1, 1953) is an American film critic and producer of Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, the promotional guide to Z Channel in Los Angeles. ... Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films. ...

In October 2004, an uncut version of the film was again shown in selected art-house cinemas in the US and Australia, along with Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, a documentary about Z Channel. In 2005, the original uncut version of Heaven's Gate was re-released in Paris. It was also shown to a sold out audience at New York's Museum of Modern Art with a live introduction by Isabelle Huppert. Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... This article is about the museum in New York City. ... Isabelle Anne Huppert (born March 16, 1953) is a French actress. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the television series. ... Steven Spielberg (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... Termite Terrace is the nickname for the old building in Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA where Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were first created. ... Book Revue (alternate title: Book Review) was a 1946 Looney Tunes cartoon short featuring Daffy Duck. ... This article is about the 1995 sci-fi film. ... Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American film actor, director and producer. ... Albert Brooks (born July 22, 1947) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, writer, comedian and director. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Robert Cole (Albert Brooks) is a Hollywood film editor right in the middle of cutting a new science fiction film with George Kennedy. ... Foley - is a term used to describe a process of creating sound effects for enhancing a soundtrack of a film, video or multimedia work. ... Steven Bach (born April 29, 1940 in Pocatello, Idaho, USA), is the former senior vice-president and head of worldwide productions for United Artists studios. ...

Contents

Plot

Production and Reception

Awards and nominations

Effects on the U.S. film industry

Director's cut

References

See also

External links

Contents

Plot GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Production and Reception

Awards and nominations

Effects on the U.S. film industry

Director's cut

References

See also

External links

Plot