Heaven's Gate (1980) is a big-budget western movie, depicting a fictionalized account of the Johnson County War between land barons and European immigrants in 1890s Wyoming. The biggest Hollywood flop of the 1980s, Heaven's Gate became synonymous with troubled and overbudget film disasters. 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Broncho Billy Anderson, from The Great Train Robbery The Western movie is one of the classic American film genres. ... The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River or Wyoming Civil War, was a range war which took place in Johnson County, Wyoming, in the Powder River Country, in April, 1892. ... The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that color 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... State nickname: Equality State Other U.S. States Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Governor Dave Freudenthal (D) Official languages English Area 253,554 km² (10th)  - Land 251,706 km²  - Water 1,851 km² (0. ... ... Most of the items listed below are ones that had high expectations, large amounts of money or widespread publicity, but fell far short of success. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

Directed by Michael Cimino (who received a Golden Raspberry for worst director for this film), it starred Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Joseph Cotten, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Masur, Terry Quinn, Mickey Rourke, and Willem Dafoe. Michael Cimino (born February 3, 1939 in New York City, New York) is an American film director. ... The 2nd Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 29, 1982. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Christopher Walken Ronald Walken (born March 31, 1943), known professionally as Christopher Walken, is an American film, television, and theatre actor best known for playing menacing or psychologically damaged characters. ... Isabelle Ann Huppert (born March 16, 1955) is a French actress. ... Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor. ... (Mississippi John Hurt is an early American folk and country blues singer, 1893-1966) John Vincent Hurt (born January 22, 1940) CBE, is a British actor. ... Sam Waterston as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy in Law & Order Sam Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor noted particularly for his portrayal of Executive Assistant District Attorney John Jack McCoy on the long-running NBC television series Law & Order, as well as for his many... Dourif at the premeire of The Two Towers film. ... Joseph Cotten, circa 1956. ... Geoffrey Lewis (born July 31, 1935) is a popular US character actor 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. ... Terry OQuinn (Born: July 15, 1952 in Newberry, Michigan, USA) is an American actor. ... Philip Andre Rourke Jr. ... Willem Dafoe Willem Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is a versatile American actor. ...

The film opens in 1870 as Kris Kristofferson's character graduates from Harvard University and makes his way West. The epilogue takes place in 1903. 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ...

Cimino had just won an Academy Award for directing The Deer Hunter, so United Artists had every reason to believe he was creating magic on location in Wyoming. After months of delays and cost overruns, Cimino finally delivered his masterpiece—a 5 hours and 25 minutes version of Heaven's Gate. The studio balked and sent him back to re-edit it to a more manageable length. His recut version was still 3 hours and 40 minutes long. The Cimino version was pulled from release after only one screening: its premiere in New York City on November 19, 1980. A subsequent review by veteran 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." It surfaced six months later with 70 minutes cut by the studio in a desperate attempt to recoup some of its losses, but to no avail. Adverse publicity was largely responsible for a dismal box-office take. Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... This article is about The Deer Hunter, the movie. ... The current United Artists logo. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, communications, music, fashion, and culture. ... November 19 is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

One of the primary complaints about the film is its soundtrack: even though Cimino uses subtitles for non-English dialogue, some of the English dialogue is obscured by blaring music or sound effects. In printed material In printed material, a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title. ...

The movie's unprecedented US$40 million cost sent United Artists into bankruptcy and eventually led to its purchase by MGM. The current United Artists logo. ... Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ...

The fracas also had a wider effect on the American film industry. During the 1970s, relatively young directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg were given large budgets with very little studio control. This trend continued. Cimino has remarked that a popular 1985 book about the making of the film, Final Cut, by former United Artists executive Steven Bach, "should be classified as fiction. [Bach has] made money off my blood, my work, for 20 years." Bach stated in his foreword to the book that Cimino had been unresponsive to requests for interviews. Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American film director, screenwriter, vintner, magazine publisher, and hotelier. ... George Lucas George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born on December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio but raised in the suburbs of Haddonfield, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona), is an American film director and producer whose films range from science fiction to historical drama to horror. ... 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. ...

In October 2004 an uncut version of the film was again shown in selected art-house cinemas in the US and Australia, along with a documentary about the film.

External links

• Heaven's Gate at the Internet Movie Database