Becoming a fan of Mickey Rourke, when I watchednthis I was blown away by how awesome the muted color looked, the initial pink screen shot & eveything. How amazing natural light looked. It made me obssessed with cinematography. I watched all his films. Wasnt a huge fan of sunchaser, but I think Heavens Gate 2 Desprate Hours. He made 4 incredible films. Ive knly ever watched the directors cut of Sicilian on vhs & blueray. So i cant speak on the dvd. I luv Year of The Dragon as like my favorite film. I luv Deaprate Hours.
Didn’t expect part 2 to be a tirade against critics. The reviews you showed specifically criticized the look of the film…at length. Then you saw the criterion version, that looks completely different. Did this not occur to you?
In 1968 cinema attendance was down and studios largely cut production of films and focused more on distribution, thus taking on movies made independently and largely only financing promotion and distribution. This and the birth of the MPAA gave rise to the independent film maker, both producers and directors. I don't believe New Hollywood was what studios wanted or cared about, it was simply a by product of the times and I believe that's why when the studios, which had been taken over by corporate America in the 60's, found a way out of New Hollywood, they took it. I don't think they wanted independent producers and directors dictating the industry. I do think Heaven's Gate was simply a scapegoat, regardless of whether it is a good film or not.
Ryans Daughter and Heavens Gate are the two most visually gorgeous yet unfairly demonized films ever made and screw the arrogant narrow minded critics opinions.
Heaven's Gate is an absolutely stunning looking movie. If you aren't absolutely immersed in the reality of it while you watch it, you're probably more suited to Jackass movies or something. Sadly, Cimino was always up against it after the success of The Deer Hunter. But Heaven's Gate deserves to stand alongside the greats of the art, and holds its own comfortably.
Unqualified means without qualification, i.e., without equivocation or hedging. A pure disaster. Unqualified and disqualified are totally different concepts. I liked the video, but this little riff of yours was like putting on a tee shirt that says "I AM STUPID."
Who really cares what the critics say? I found the film dreadfully boring and indulgent. It reminded me of Bertolucci's "1900". Bloated and not as incisive as it would've hoped to be.
This film is one of the best; the point of the roller skate dance scene is that it's a joy to watch - the actors are spontaneously having a great time - it would be spellbinding to see that in real life - I could watch that much longer than 8 minutes. Why should it "advance the story" or have to make a point like in a whodunnit?
I was around 5 when this movie came out and to me, it will *always* be the movie with all the real -life horse murders. The big way it changed Hollywood was by making it standard to have the Humane Society on every film set to make sure no animals were hurt or killed.
This Movie Essay channel is so cool. Can’t believe Heaven’s Gate caused the downfall of the New Hollywood 70’s era filmmaking. I like Star Wars and LOTR trilogies.
No, the movie is still bad. I watched it very recently (but before checking out your video), so it was the 'brightened' version that is supposed to showcase a misunderstood masterpiece. It does nothing of the sort. You are right that the movie is not an unqualified disaster, but it is only because it has some saving graces. There are flickers of great artistic talent from Cimino, and the commitment from a series of very good actors (Isabelle Huppert!) is admirable. But it is clear that the whole project was fundamentally misconceived. Cimino turned a complex piece of history into an annoyingly simplifying 'good guys - bad guys' story. And the fact that his 'white saviour' fails in the end in spectacular fashion does not change that. The obsession with period detail is quite ridiculous in light of the fact that Cimino falsifies history on an industrial scale. What are those masses of immigrants doing in a place that was actually a sparsely populated backwater? It is like mixing the migration experience of New York (cramped accommodation and all) with Western mythology and the ragged landscape of Wyoming/Montana. The sound is terrible (but that can be helpful at times because the dialogues are not exactly of stellar quality). Character motivations are murky throughout (so the actors deserve a lot of credit for making something of such puzzling roles). The love triangle between Ella, Averill, and Champion ('Can't a woman love two men?') is misguided. To me, the biggest letdown is the scene when Ella dies. It is supposed to be the emotional climax of the movie. And it is just silly. How can Averill walk away unscathed when he is in an exposed position in broad daylight facing at least four gunmen with rifles, and when his two companions end up dead riddled with bullets? Oh yes, he needed to survive so that Cimino could add his sombre epilogue about an unhappy life. (And never mind that, in real life, Averill and his wife Ella were lynched in 1889 - years before the infamous slaying of Champion in 1892.) The real kicker is when Averill holds the dying body of Ella ('Oh Ella, don't die!). I dare anyone to tell me that that bit has any emotional authenticity to it. Heaven's Gate is a move that Cimino never had the ability to deliver in decent quality. But I guess there is a sliver lining, Apparently, what he really wanted was adapting The Fountainhead. Hmm, the combination of his ego and Ayn Rand's sociopathic philosophical ideas... That could have been the real disaster.
That is an ink blotter used to dry and absorb any excess ink coming from fountain pens which drew ink directly from an inkwell and were used before ballpoint pens were perfected.
Where is the video explaining why Michael Cimino looks like hes on the Housewives of New Jersey you promised at the end of the Heavens Gate part 2 video??? Im dying to know.
Saw this last year in the movie theatre …I had heard of the legend about what a misfire etc…absolutely unjustified…it’s now in my top favourites of all time…the attention to detail and the epic sweep of the characters is fantastic..
Just brilliant, and so interesting in including diverse but relevant aspects, from the California doomsday cult, to the Johnson County wars epic you praise, to the stunning excess of Cimino, this film and its political poignance for today. Especially today in the US backed settler wars over their unconscionable land theft in Israel.
It makes me so happy to see this film getting the recognition I always felt it deserved. First saw it in the early 2000’s and was obsessed with Bach’s book. The criterion restoration is exactly what this film needed to be discovered by later generations. I can’t recommend the criterion version enough. It’s absolutely wonderful.
I saw Heaven's Gate during the summer of 1981 at 16 years of age. I was the only person in the theater and fought temptation to leave. Not because it was horrible but because it was long and the theater was hot (Raleigh, NC). Two years later I arrived in LA and watched it on the Z Channel as the "Director's Cut". It was amazing and was the reason I worked and still work in the movie biz. This is a masterpiece that the critics weren't ready for and let their fear run their judgement.
Yes this is a beautiful film however some of the criticism was valid at least at the time, it was overlong with scenes that easily could have been trimmed and the pace or feel of the film would not have suffered in the slightest, and yes we have the remastered version now where the colors are bright and vibrant back then it literally looked like someone pissed on the reels.
I am fan of Michael Cimino's work when he did screenplays for Silent Running and Magnum Force. I remembered this documentary Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession talked about Michael Cimino on Heaven's Gate and the banter from some of these so-called Film Critics made about the film. Jerry Harvey from Z Channel approached Cimino to ask if he had a Director's Cut. That pushed the envelope of having Director's Cut of films that are usually get ignored or being obscured
