SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

An action-packed slog

A Major Disappointment

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

HEAVENS GATE (1980) directed by: Michael Cimino starring: Kris Kristofferson, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond9 *s out of 10 I don't understand why this film still gets hated-on so much by audiences, even while the critics and intellectuals finally come around to embracing it as a great, important film; in my own opinion, it is just shy of a masterpiece, and, in a lot of ways, very much like Cimino's masterpiece from just a couple of years before - 'The Deer Hunter' .. that particular Vietnam-war film starring De Niro is as much of a slow-burn as HEAVEN'S GATE is, or is, at least, a l m o s t as much of a slow-burn .. I mean, Cimino definitely had his own unique style and aesthetics going on for himself, which obviously involved deliberately slow-pacing (very slow at times, albeit), immense subtlety, overwhelming intricate visual-detail (like old paintings), purposefully awkward interactions between characters, very deep characterizations, etc .. and, as with 'The Deer Hunter', patience is just required to understand and appreciate HEAVEN'S GATE - both films almost require a form of meditation for them to fully work and pay off .. HEAVEN'S GATE may be long, yes, but certain aspects are fully and obviously intended by Cimino, such as the stiffness of everything, as well as the beautifully deliberate pacing that almost creates an illusion of a narrative in real-time - he wants the viewer to have to absorb what is going on in this way, and there is often, quite awesomely, this superbly realistic and humanizing affect on the viewer because of this - this was, at least, my experience with every viewing .. .. .. what I'm saying is, in a way, I really do find it a mystery that people love 'The Deer Hunter' so much, but still can't handle HEAVEN'S GATE because of, primarily, its length and its pacing; I mean, lol, The Deer Hunter' is definitely the better of the two films, but it certainly requires patience - almost as much as this picture does .. and like I said, the patience pays off here .. the more you give to this film, the more it will give to you; it is almost like a relationship with somebody in a metaphorical way.. HEAVEN'S GATE is elegant, enormously epic, stately, rustic, ultra-realistic, thoroughly well-acted and gorgeously well-shot brilliance .. Cimino knew what he was doing, and I'm sure that, even in the '80s and '90s when this was s*** on even by the critics and film-intelligentsia. he knew deep-down that he had made a magnificent epic for the ages to appreciate .. now, I do believe this picture is just shy of a masterpiece, because it IS eccentric, and DOES require patience, and maybe does try to take on too much of a load, so to speak; basically, the way I see it, this film just has these human-like-flaws that it wears on its sleeve because of how earnest it is in so many ways, including its themes as well as its extreme ambitions on technical levels.

Magnificent production but pacing and acting are sometimes questionable. I loved the lighting and sets and recreation of 1890's Wyoming but the basic story of the two guys in love with the same girl is Paint Your Wagon without the gold or the songs! And that triangle took up too much time. The story (for it hardly has a plot) is too slight for such a lengthy movie. Sam Waterson is lost for a great chunk of it. And I cannot make out John Hurt's role. Also, it isn't based on any historical events which for me detracted from its appeal. Apparently there was no confrontation between immigrants and "stockgrowers."

A violent movie, my only quible. It is wonderfullly filmed, well acted, and surprisingly relevant in today's world. Long yes, but sometimes it takes a while to tell an important tale. I believe it it is Chris Chistopherson's main contribution to the entertainment world notwithstanding his musical contributions

Heaven's Gate is an epic vision by Filmmaker Michael Cimino. Whether you like it or not, it's Cimino's story that he wanted to tell. The end result was a box office cancer with several finished versions that bankrupted a studio and ruined the career of many in the entertainment industry. However, we are left with a movie that Cimino continues to have critics pan and praise with its countless highs and lows. Here are my 7 ways that could have saved Heaven's Gate from what is utterly became. 1. Stopping Cimino throughout the production. The Studio had several opportunities to save money and time by not allowing Cimino to go over budget several times and going over schedule multiple times. The excessive demand in production value and countless spending could have been halted if not minimized if you reigned Cimino in on multiple occasions. Filmed mostly in Montana, scenes were also shot at Oxford. However, filming in Newport, Rhode Island for less than a 5 minute scenes could have been completely scrapped. This also would have saved money and time for the sake of the Director's vision. Whether the final product would have been drastically different, the Studio would not have faced as such a giant disaster. 2. More back story. The movie is an epic drag when it comes to the subject matter and its overall plot. Giving a narration, subtitles for the non speaking English characters along with more backstory about the immigrants could have given this beautiful film a more "understandable" story to help the audience from hating it. The confusion the audience strives is that the long-winded sequences lack the direction of story. 3. Scrapping your minor characters. If the goal is to produce and epic five hour movie, then you need to keep your characters. However, if you wanted a better story without losing site of the main story you would need to cut back on the side stories from actors like John Hurt, Jeff Bridges, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Masur and Mickey Rourke. This would have helped cut the final length of the movie and improved the central story line. 4. More romance. The story does lack a connection between the three main characters: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken and Isabelle Huppert. Several critics have complained that the love interest between this romantic triangle could have greatly been bettered. 5. Edits, edits and more edits. Heaven's Gate has moments of pure beauty and epic scenes. How it is edited into a movie creates a long melodramatic story that baffles and goes nowhere. Although Heaven's Gate did have several final edited versions, the idea of a total re- edit, from its opening credits, to including flashbacks and rearranging scenes by manipulating the time sequence could have helped with the pacing of the movie. 6. Make Heaven's Gate into a 2 part movie if not a Trilogy. If the Studio made their single box office bomb into a 3 part epic, they had the chance of recouping their investment and keeping Cimino's vision of a 5 1/2 hour story. Along with option #5, editing the movie into 3 parts would have given the audience more time to digest the story and the vision that Cimino wanted to tell.