Heaven's Gate(film)

For other uses, seeHeaven's Gate (disambiguation).

Heaven's Gate
Original theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Cimino
Written by	Michael Cimino
Produced by	Joann Carelli
Starring	Kris Kristofferson Christopher Walken John Hurt Sam Waterston Brad Dourif Isabelle Huppert Jeff Bridges Joseph Cotten
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Edited by	Lisa Fruchtman Gerald Greenberg William Reynolds Tom Rolf
Music by	David Mansfield
Production company	Partisan Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	November 19, 1980(1980-11-19)(New York City) April 24, 1981(1981-04-24)(United States)
Running time	219 minutes (seeAlternative versions)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$44 million
Box office	$3.5 million

Heaven's Gateis a 1980 AmericanepicWesternfilm written and directed byMichael Cimino,starringKris Kristofferson,Christopher Walken,John Hurt,Sam Waterston,Brad Dourif,Isabelle Huppert,Jeff Bridges,andJoseph Cotten,and loosely based on theJohnson County War.It revolves around a dispute between land barons and European immigrants inWyomingin the 1890s.

The film's production faced numerous setbacks, including cost overruns, significant retakes, bad press (including allegations of animal abuse on set), and rumors about Cimino's allegedly authoritarian directorial style. Cimino had an expensive and ambitious vision for the film, pushing it nearly four times over its planned budget.

The film premiered in November 1980 and received significant critical backlash, promptingUnited Artiststo pull it from theaters. In April 1981, a truncated re-cut version was released, though it remained a financial failure, earning only $3.5 million against its $44 million budget. It was subsequently condemned as one of theworst films ever made.According to some film historians such asPeter Biskind,the film's financial failure resulted in the demise ofdirector-driven film productionin the American film industry, steering back toward greaterstudio control of films.

In the decades since the release, however, general assessment ofHeaven's Gatehas become more favorable.The 1981 re-edit has been characterized as "one of the greatest injustices of cinematic history", while later re-edits have received critical acclaim.In 2015,BBC CulturerankedHeaven's Gate98th on its list of the 100 greatest American films of all time.

Plot

In 1870, two young men, Jim Averill and Billy Irvine, graduate fromHarvard College.The Reverend Doctor speaks to the graduates on the association of "the cultivated mind with the uncultivated" and the importance of education. Irvine, the class orator, follows this with his opposing, irreverent views. A celebration is then held, after which the male students serenade the women present, including Averill's girlfriend.

Twenty years later, Averill is passing through the booming town ofCasper, Wyoming,on his way north toJohnson County,where he is now amarshal.Poor European immigrants new to the region are in conflict with wealthy, establishedcattle baronsorganized as theWyoming Stock Growers Association;the newcomers sometimes steal their cattle for food.Nate Champion– a friend of Averill and an enforcer for the stockmen – kills a settler for suspected rustling and dissuades another from stealing a cow.

At a board meeting, the head of the Association,Frank Canton,tells members, including a drunk Irvine, of plans to kill 125 named settlers, as thieves and anarchists, with the help of the cruel Major Wolcott. Irvine leaves the meeting, encounters Averill, and tells him of the Association's plans. As Averill leaves, he exchanges bitter words with Canton. Canton and Averill quarrel and Canton is knocked to the floor. That night, Canton recruits men to kill the named settlers.

Ella Watson,a Johnson County bordello madam fromQuebec,who accepts stolen cattle as payment for use of her prostitutes, is infatuated with both Averill and Champion. Averill and Watson skate in a crowd, then dance alone, in an enormousroller skating rinkcalled "Heaven's Gate", which has been built by local entrepreneur John L. Bridges. Averill receives a copy of the Association's death list from Minardi, abaseball-playingU.S. Armycaptain,and later reads the names aloud to the settlers, who are thrown into terrified turmoil. Cully, astation masterand friend of Averill's, sees the train with Canton's posse heading north and rides off to warn the settlers but is murdereden route.Later, a group of men come to Watson's bordello, slaughter her workers, and rape her. Averill shoots and kills all but one of them. Champion, realizing that his landowner bosses seek to eliminate Watson, goes to Canton's camp and shoots Morrison, the remaining rapist, then refuses to participate in the slaughter.

Canton, Wolcott and their men encounter one of Champion's friends leaving a cabin with Champion and his friend Nick Ray inside, and a gunfight ensues. Attempting to save Champion, Watson arrives in her wagon and shoots one of the hired guns before escaping on horseback. Nick is killed before Canton's men push a burning cart towards the cabin, setting it on fire. Champion writes a last letter to Ella. Champion emerges from the burning cabin shooting at Canton's men but is killed by a hail of bullets. Watson warns the settlers of Canton's approach at another huge, chaotic gathering at "Heaven's Gate." The coward mayor of the county, Charlie Lezak, proposes to deliver the people on the list peacefully, while the young pharmacist Mr. Eggleston claims that the only way to survive is to brace the weapons and fight the enemy army. The agitated settlers approve Eggleston's idea, and they rush to battle with Bridges and Ella leading them. With the hired invaders now surrounded, both sides suffer casualties (including a drunken, poetic Irvine) as Canton leaves to bring help. Watson and Averill return to Champion's charred and smoking cabin, and discover his corpse, along with a handwritten letter documenting his last minutes alive.

The next day, Averill reluctantly joins the immigrant settlers, with their cobbled-together siege machines and explosive charges, in an attack against Wolcott's men and their makeshift fortifications. The battle is fiercer and more desperate. Despite the heavy losses that the immigrants suffer, including Eggleston himself, they manage to inflict a huge number of casualties on the mercenaries' army. Wolcott himself, while trying to escape, is killed by Averill, who hits him with an explosive charge. Before the settlers manage to wipe out the enemies, the US Army shows up with Canton and Minardi, thus stopping the battle. The mercenaries are put under arrest, though Averill is aware that this is just a facade to save them and make them avoid a criminal charge. Later, at Watson's cabin, Bridges, Watson, and Averill prepare to leave for good, but they are ambushed by Canton and two others. Averill and Bridges shoot and kill Canton and one of his men but both Bridges and Watson are killed. A grief-stricken Averill holds Watson's body in his arms.

In 1903, about a decade later, a well-dressed, beardless, but older-looking Averill walks the deck of his yacht offNewport, Rhode Island.He goes below, where an attractive middle-aged woman is sleeping in a luxurious boudoir. The woman, Averill's old Harvard girlfriend (perhaps now his wife), awakens and asks him for a cigarette. Silently he complies, lighting the cigarette and returning to the deck.

Cast

• Kris KristoffersonasAverill
• Christopher WalkenasChampion
• John Hurtas Irvine
• Sam WaterstonasCanton
• Brad Dourifas Mr. Eggleston
• Isabelle HuppertasElla
• Joseph Cottenas The Reverend Doctor
• Jeff Bridgesas John L. Bridges
• Geoffrey Lewisas Trapper
• Paul Kosloas Mayor Lezak
• Richard Masuras Cully
• Terry O'Quinnas Captain Minardi

In addition, musicianRonnie Hawkinsappears in the first of his few acting roles, as Major Wolcott; the film's composerDavid Mansfieldappears onscreen as John DeCory, the leader of the Heaven's Gate Band and an employee of Ella;Rosie Vela(credited as Roseanne Vela) appears as the "Beautiful Girl" whom Averill falls for atHarvard;futureGolden Globe winnerandAcademy Award nomineeMickey Rourkeappears in his second-ever screen role as Nick Ray; and future multi-Academy Award nomineeWillem Dafoemakes his first, uncredited, screen appearance as Willy.

Production

Historical basis

The basic plot elements of the film were inspired by Wyoming's 1892Johnson County War,the archetypal cattlemen–homesteaders conflict, which also served as the background forShaneandThe Virginian. Most of the film's principal characters bear the names of actual key figures in the war, but the events portrayed inHeaven's Gatebear little resemblance to actual historical events.

Inaccuracies

Homesteaders began to settle northern Wyoming in the 1890s, claiming land under theHomestead Acts,but there were no hordes of starving European immigrantskilling rich men's cattle to feed their families, as depicted in the film.Nate Championis portrayed as a murderer and "enforcer" for the stockmen, but he was actually a popular small rancher inJohnson County,nicknamed "king of the rustlers" by the stockmen because he resisted their tactic of claiming allunbranded young cattleas their own.

Jim Averellwas another homesteader who lived about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Johnson County. Two years before the invasion began, he and his wifeElla Watsonwere murdered by stockmen, who falsely accused Watson of exchanging sexual favors for stolen cattle.There is no evidence that Watson was a bordello madam, as portrayed in the film, nor that Watson or Averell ever knew Nate Champion.

Screenplay

In 1971, film directorMichael Ciminosubmitted an original script forHeaven's Gate(then calledThe Johnson County War), but the project was shelved when it failed to attract big-name talent, includingJohn Wayne,who turned down the lead role.A third version of the script was submitted to20th Century Foxbefore the release ofThe Deer Hunter.His directorial debut,Thunderbolt and Lightfoot(1974), was a hit. In 1979, on the eve of winning two Academy Awards (Best DirectorandBest Picture) for 1978'sThe Deer Hunter,Cimino convincedUnited Artiststo resurrect theHeaven's Gateproject withKris Kristofferson,Isabelle Huppert,andChristopher Walkenas the main characters. He was given an initial budget of $11.6 million,but was also provided withcarte blanche.Cimino's girlfriend, Joann Carelli, was hired to produce the film.

Filming

Cimino and his friends searched through 20,000 miles of land for scenery for the film.Principal photographybegan on April 16, 1979,inGlacier National Park,east ofKalispell, Montana,with the majority of the town scenes filmed in theTwo Medicinearea, north of the village of East Glacier Park.Shooting also included the town ofWallace, Idaho.Harvard University refused to allow the film to be shot there, reportedly because of Cimino's excessive demands for the film set, and the film's prologue was instead shot at theUniversity of Oxford.The project had a December 14 projected release dateand $11.6 million budget, and promptly fell behind schedule.

Production issues

According to legend, by the sixth day of filming the project was already five days behind schedule.

Cimino demands perfection

Kristofferson compared Cimino toIngmar BergmanandFederico Fellini.Steven Bachcompared him toMichelangeloand said that "I am confident we'll make our money back on it".As an example of Cimino's fanatical attention to detail, a street built to his precise specifications had to be torn down and rebuilt because it reportedly "didn't look right." The street in question needed to be 6 feet (1.8 m) wider; the set construction boss said it would be cheaper to tear down one side and move it back six feet, but Cimino insisted that both sides be dismantled and moved back 3 feet (0.91 m), then reassembled.An entire tree was cut down, moved in pieces, and relocated to the courtyard inOxford, Englandwhere the Harvard 1870 graduation scene was shot.Cimino had an irrigation system built under the land where the major battlefield scene would unfold so that it would remain vividly green, to contrast with the red color.

Cimino shot more than 1.3 million feet (400,000 metres; nearly 220 hours) of footage, costing the studio approximately $200,000 per day in salary (equivalent to $720,000 in 2022), locations and acting fees.Privately, it was joked that Cimino wished to surpassFrancis Ford Coppola's mark of shooting one million feet of footage forApocalypse Now(1979).

Cimino's obsessive behavior soon earned him the nickname "TheAyatollah".Production fell behind schedule as rumors spread of Cimino's demanding up to 50 takes of individual scenes and delaying filming until a cloud that he liked rolled into the frame.As a result of the delays, several musicians originally brought to Montana to work on the film for only three weeks ended up stranded, waiting to be called for shoots to materialize. The experience, as theAssociated Pressput it, "was both stunningly boring and a raucous good time, full ofjam sessions,strange adventures and curiously little actual shooting. "The jam sessions served as the beginning of numerous musical collaborations between Bridges and Kristofferson.John Williamsturned down the chance to compose the score for the film, which eventually went to David Mansfield.

As production staggered forward, United Artists seriously considered firing Cimino and replacing him with another director, implied in the bookFinal Cutto beNorman Jewison.

ActorJohn Hurtreportedly spent so long waiting around on the production for something to do that he went off and madeThe Elephant Man(1980) forDavid Lynchin the interim, and then came back to shoot more scenes onHeaven's Gate.

Filming completes

Heaven's Gatefinished shooting in March 1980, having cost nearly $30 million.Reportedly, during post-production Cimino changed the lock to the studio's editing room, prohibiting executives from seeing the film until he completed his cut, although Cimino disputed this story.Working with Oscar-winning editorWilliam H. Reynolds,Cimino worked doggedly over his project.

Post-production

On June 26, 1980, Cimino previewed aworkprintfor executives at United Artists that reportedly ran five hours and twenty-five minutes (325 minutes), which Cimino said was "about 15 minutes longer than the final cut would be."

The executives flatly refused to release the film at that length and once again contemplated firing Cimino.However, Cimino promised them he could re-edit the film and spent the entire summer and fall of 1980 doing so, finally paring it down to its original premiere length of three hours and 39 minutes (219 minutes). The original wide-release opening on Christmas of 1979 had come and gone, so UA and Cimino finally set up a release date of November 1980.

Release

United Artists spent $1.5 million advertising the film during the three weeks before its premiere.During an intermission at the film's November 19, 1980 premiere at the New York Cinema 1 theater, the audience was so subdued that Cimino was said to have asked why no one was drinking the champagne. He was reportedly told by his publicist, "Because they hate the movie, Michael."After a sparsely attended one-week run, Cimino and United Artists quickly pulled the film from any further releases, completely postponing a full worldwide release.On April 24, 1981, the film opened in 810 theatresin a "director's cut", a two-hour-and-twenty-nine minute (149 minute) version that Cimino had recut for a third time.

Box office

Following a brief theatrical release in November 1980, during which the film was poorly received by critics, United Artists decided to pull the film from theaters, re-releasing it in April 1981 in a truncated cut. Despite the efforts to capitalize on the film with a re-release, it was a significant financial failure, earning $3.5 million domestically against its $44 million budget.The film grossed $1.3 million in its opening weekendand closed after the second week, having grossed only $3.5 million against its $44 million budget.The film is considered one of the biggestbox office bombsof all time.Bach claimed that the film needed to make $140 million (equivalent to $517,705,977 in 2023) to break even.

Critical response

The initial critical reception to the film was almost universally negative.The New York TimescriticVincent Canbypanned the film, calling it "something quite rare in movies these days - 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 "[i]t fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to the devil to obtain the success ofThe Deer Hunterand the Devil has just come around to collect. "

Reviewing the shorter cut in theChicago Sun-Times,Roger Ebertcriticized the film's formal choices and its narrative inconsistencies and incredulities, concluding that the film was "[t]he most scandalous cinematic waste I have ever seen, and remember, I've seenPaint Your Wagon."He also heavily criticized the cinematography, calling the film one of the ugliest he'd ever seen.Ebert stated that he was initially in disbelief over the vast negative reception from critics but admitted after seeing the film that "it was as bad as everybody said." OnSneak Previews,Ebert's co-hostGene Siskel,who saw both the original and shorter cut, also panned the film calling it a "turkey" and pinpointed the film's failure on the illogical character choices.Kevin Thomas of theLos Angeles Timesissued a dissenting opinion when he reviewed the shortened film, becoming one of its few American champions and calling it "a true screen epic" while stating that in two decades as a critic, he had never felt "so totally alone."Thomas' paper actually had its former lead film critic and editor come out of retirement to write a thoroughly negative front-page review of the movie for its Arts section, and moved Thomas' positive review to an interior page of that section.

In 1999,Timeplaced the film on a list of the 100 worst ideas of the 20th century.

Writing inThe Guardianin 2008,Joe QueenandeclaredHeaven’s Gatethe worst film made up to that time. “This is a movie that destroyed the director's career,” he wrote. “This is a movie that lost so much money it literally drove a major American studio out of business. This is a movie about Harvard-educated gunslingers who face off against eastern European sodbusters in an epic struggle for the soul of America. This is a movie that stars Isabelle Huppert as a shotgun-toting cowgirl. This is a movie in which Jeff Bridges pukes while mounted on roller skates. This is a movie that has five minutes of uninterrupted fiddle-playing by a fiddler who is also mounted on roller skates. This is a movie that defies belief.”

The Vergesaid: "Based on 30 years of critical assessment,Heaven's Gatestands as one of the worst movies ever made. That's not an exaggeration ".

Reassessments

In subsequent years, some critics have come to the film's defense, beginning with European critics who praised it after the film played at theCannes Film Festival.Robin Woodwas an early champion ofHeaven's Gateand its reassessment, calling it "one of the few authentically innovative Hollywood films... It seems to me, in its original version, among the supreme achievements of the Hollywood cinema."David Thomsoncalls the film "a wounded monster" and argues that it takes part in "a rich American tradition (Melville,James,Ives,Pollock,Parker) that seeks a mighty dispersal of what has gone before. In America, there are great innovations in art that suddenly create fields of apparent emptiness. They may seem like omissions or mistakes at first. Yet in time we come to see them as meant for our exploration. "Martin Scorsesehas said that the film has many overlooked virtues.Some of these critics have attempted to impugn the motives of the earliest reviewers. Robin Wood noted, in his initial review of the film, reviewers tended to pile on the film, attempting to "outdo [one an]other with sarcasm and contempt."Several members of the cast and crew have complained that the initial reviews of the film were tainted by its production history and that daily critics were reviewing it as a business story as much as a motion picture.In April 2011, the staff ofTime Out LondonselectedHeaven's Gateas the 12th greatest Western of all time.WhilePeter Biskindcovered the many excesses and problems with the movie in his bookEasy Riders, Raging Bulls,he also noted thatHeaven's Gatewas not dissimilar to other big-budget, troubled projects of the late 1970s and early 1980s (such asSteven Spielberg's1941andWarren Beatty'sReds), and that the backlash againstHeaven's Gatecould have easily been directed elsewhere. Biskind speculated that Michael Cimino's personal unpopularity was the main reason this film became so widely reviled.Philip Frenchpraised the film in his original review.

In the fall of 2012, the film was re-released to "soak up acclaim" as a 216-minute "director's cut"at the69th Venice Film Festival.on August 30 in the presence of Cimino, followed one month later by screening at theNew York Film Festivalin the "Masterwork" lineup, along withLaurence Olivier'sRichard IIIandFrank Oz's director's cut ofLittle Shop of Horrors.It was then shown at theFestival Lumièrein France, where Venice Festival directorAlberto Barberadescribed the film as an "absolute masterpiece" that had disappeared, and whose 1980 cutting was characterized as a "massacre" by nervous producers and had been "one of the greatest injustices of cinematic history" that had destroyed careers (Cimino and Kristofferson) following "annihilat[ing]" critical reviews.

In March 2013, the new director's cut was again featured back in New York City in a week-long run screening at theFilm Forum.Writing in theNew York Times,criticManohla Dargissaid of the restoration that it "looks good projected, if surprisingly bright", and "it also appears to be an act of directorial revisionism." Of the film itself she writes: "The film’s scope, natural backdrops, massive sets, complex choreography and cinematography are seductive, at times stunning, and if you like watching swirling people and cameras, you may love it."

An article by Nicholas Barber on theBBCwebsite in December 2015 traced the history of the critical reception ofHeaven's Gateand concludes: "so much ofHeaven's Gateis patently splendid that it is mind-boggling that anyone could pronounce it an 'unqualified disaster'. And the scenes which were slammed in 1980 as being symptomatic of waste and excess – the Harvard waltz, the massed rollerskating – are the scenes which take your breath away. "Reflecting on the depicted negative attitudes to immigrants, he writes:" However unwelcomeHeaven's Gatemay have been in 1980, there hasn't been a more urgently topical film in 2015. "The film holds a 57% score onRotten Tomatoesbased on 47 reviews with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Heaven's Gatecontains too many ideas and striking spectacle to be a disaster, but this western buckles under the weight of its own sprawl. "OnMetacritic,the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "average or mixed reviews".

Controversies

Effect on the U.S. film industry

The film's $44 million cost ($137 million in 2023 dollars) and poor performance at the box office ($3.5 million gross in the United States) generated more negative publicity than actual financial damage, causingTransamerica Corporation,United Artists' corporate owner, to become anxious over its own public image and to abandon film production altogether. In 1981, Transamerica sold United Artists toKirk Kerkorian,who also ownedMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer(MGM), which effectively ended United Artists' existence as an independent studio.United Artists has since been a subsidiary of MGM. While the money lost due toHeaven's Gatewas considerable, United Artists was still a thriving studio with a steady income provided by theJames Bond,Pink PantherandRockyfranchises. On the other hand, United Artists was already struggling after an executive walkout in 1978and several other major box office flops in 1980, includingCruising,FoxesandRoadie.

The fracas had a wider effect on the American film industry. During the 1970s, relatively young directors such as Coppola, Scorsese,Peter Bogdanovich,George Lucas,William FriedkinandSteven Spielberghad been given large budgets with very little studio control (seeNew Hollywood). However, the directors' power lessened considerably as a result of disappointing box-office performers such as Friedkin'sSorcerer(1977) andCruising(1980), Coppola'sOne from the Heart,and Cimino'sHeaven's Gate.The studios ultimately shifted focus from director-driven films and adoptedhigh-conceptfeatures, epitomized byJawsandStar Wars(both released beforeHeaven's Gate). As the new high-concept paradigm of filmmaking became more entrenched, studio control of budgets and productions became tighter, ending the free-wheeling excesses that had begottenHeaven's Gate.

Accusations of cruelty to animals

The film was marred by accusations of cruelty to animals during production. TheAmerican Humane Association(AHA), barred from monitoring the animals on set, issued press releases detailing the abuses and organized boycott picket lines. The outcry prompted theScreen Actors Guild (SAG)and theAlliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP)to contractually authorize the AHA to monitor the use of all animals in all filmed media afterward.

One assertion was that steers were bled from the neck without giving them pain killers so that their blood could be collected and smeared upon the actors in a scene.The AHA asserted that fourhorses were killed and many more injured during a battle scene. It has been claimed that in said scene as shown in the final film, one of the horses was blown up with dynamite.

According to the AHA, the owner of an abused horse filed a lawsuit against the producers, director, Partisan Productions and the horsewrangler.The owner cited wrongful injury and breach of contract for willfully depriving her Arabiangeldingof proper care. The suit cited "the severe physical and behavioral trauma and disfigurement" of the horse. The case was settled out of court.

There were accusations of actualcockfights,decapitated chickens, and a group of cows disemboweled to provide "fake intestines" for the actors.

The film is listed on AHA's list of unacceptable films.The AHA protested the film by distributing an international press release detailing the assertions of animal cruelty and asking people to boycott it. AHA organizedpicket linesoutside movie theaters in Hollywood while local humane societies did the same across the USA. ThoughHeaven's Gatewas not the first film to have animals killed during its production, it is believed that the film was largely responsible for sparking the now-common use of the "No animals were harmed..." disclaimer and more rigorous supervision of animal acts by the AHA, which had been inspecting film production since the 1940s.This is also one of the films to not have the end credit disclaimer.

The UKBlu-rayrelease from Second Sight Films removes about a minute of footage relating to cockfights and animal cruelty. Prior video releases removed about a minute and fourteen seconds of the cruelty.

Versions of the film

There are several different versions of the film:

1. Workprint cut: 325 minutes
   • Print for studio executives, early 1980
2. Initial "Premiere" Release: 219 minutes
   • Cinema release, November 1980, aborted after 1 week
   • Shown on Z Channel cable, 1982, as "The Director's cut"
   • Released on VHS and LaserDisc by MGM as "The Legendary Uncut Version," later released on DVD in 2000
3. Director's Second edit: 149 minutes
   • Wide cinema release, April 1981
   • Released on DVD in France and the Netherlands
4. Radical Cut: 219 minutes
   • 2005 special screening in Paris and New York
   • Reassembled by MGM with available high-quality footage (using alternative footage where required)
5. Digitally restored Director's Cut: 216 minutes
   • Restored in 2012 for the 69th Venice Film Festival, followed by a BD & DVD release.
   • Based on the initial release with the intermission removed and slightly shortened.
   • This cut removes the cinematography's sepia tint which is present on all previous versions.

Workprint cut, premiere cut and an alternative cut

Notwithstanding the 325-minute "workprint" cut shown to executives in June 1980, Cimino had rushed through post-production and editing to meet his contractual requirements to United Artists, and to qualify for the 1980Academy Awards.The version screened at the November 1980 premiere ran three hours and 39 minutes. Bridges joked that Cimino had worked on the film so close to the premiere that the print screened was still wet from the lab.

After the aborted one-week premiere run in New York, Cimino and United Artists pulled the film; Cimino wrote an open letter to the studio that was printed in several trade papers blaming unrealistic deadline pressures for the film's failure.United Artists reportedly also hired its own editor to try to edit Cimino's footage into a releasable film with no real success.

Ultimately, Cimino's second edited version, a 149-minute version, premiered in April 1981 and was the only cut of the film screened in wide release. The original negative for the longer version no longer exists because it was directly edited for the 149-minute version (YCM separation mastersof the longer version were used as the source for the Criterion Collection release). This cut of the film is not just shorter but differs radically in the placement of scenes and selection of takes.This version, after leaving theaters, was not released on home video of any kind in the United States but was later released on DVD in France ( "la Porte du Paradis" ). This version has also aired on the MGM HD cable channel and was available free-with-ads on US streaming providerTubifrom March to November 2017.

In 1982,Z Channelaired the 219-minute 1980 premiere version of the film on cable television – the first time that the longer version was widely exhibited – and which Z Channel dubbed the "director's cut." As criticF.X. Feeneynoted in the documentaryZ Channel: A Magnificent Obsession,Z Channel's broadcast ofHeaven's Gatefirst popularized the concept of a "director's cut."

When MGM (which acquired the rights to United Artists's catalog after its demise) released the film onVHSandvideodiscin the 1980s, it released Cimino's 219-minute cut with the tagline "Heaven's Gate... The Legendary Uncut Version. "Subsequent releases onLaserDiscandDVDhave contained only the 219-minute cut.

Due to the wide availability of the 219-minute 1980 premiere version ofHeaven's Gateand its frequent labeling as either "uncut" or the "director's cut," Cimino insisted that the so-called "original version" did not fully correspond to his intentions and that he was under pressure to bring it out for the predetermined date and did not consider the film ready, making even the 219-minute version essentially an "unfinished" film.

The 216-minute version shown in Venice is quite similar to the 219-minute version, but with no intermission. Some shots in the second part are slightly shorter and a shot with a single line has been cut (just after John Hurt is beaten by Sam Waterston).

149-minute cut

In the 149-minute version ofHeaven's Gatereleased in 1981, the following scenes are cut:

• Irvine's speech at the Harvard graduation
• The co-ed circle dancing immediately following graduation
• Averill beating up the brute enforcer (who beats up the immigrant in front of his wife and children)
• Averill passing the beaten man's widow in the carriage, asking her how she's doing
• The spitting fight between the two immigrant landowners in the cockfight scene
• The entire roller skating dance scene
• A shot of female immigrants carrying a load up the hill
• Champion almost shooting the stock grower that insults Ella Watson
• The scene where Ella Watson first leaves Champion to return to Averill
• The introductory part of the scene where Averill reads the names on the "death list" (the edited version starts with John Bridges firing the gun in the air, to restore order)
• Averill weeping to Bridges that he "hates getting old," while looking at the old photo of himself and his girlfriend
• The immigrants being informed that Averill quit his post, and Watson warning them the stock growers have arrived
• The last five or so minutes of the second battle scene, including the footage of the character crushed under the wagon and the woman killing him in mercy
• That same woman killing herself after the battle, and Bridges and Averill surveying the carnage
• Any reference to the woman on the boat, presumably Averill's girlfriend or wife, from the end of the film

2005 radical cut

In 2005, MGM released the film in selected cinemas in the United States and Europe.The 219-minute cut was reassembled by MGM archivist John Kirk, who reported that large portions of the original negative had been discarded, making this an all-new radical version using whatever alternative available scenes that could be found.The restored print was screened inParisand presented to a sold-out audience at New York'sMuseum of Modern Artwith a live introduction by Isabelle Huppert.Because the project was commissioned by then-MGM executiveBingham Ray,who was ousted shortly thereafter, the budget for the project was cut and a planned wider release and DVD never materialized, with the project since being abandoned altogether.

2012 digitally restored Director's Cut

In 2012, MGM released yet another version, digitally restored and 216 minutes long. It premiered at the2012 Venice Film Festivalas part of the Venice Classics series.

The Criterion Collectionreleased the restored 216-minute version onBlu-ray Discand DVD on November 20, 2012. This "Director's Cut" was personally supervised by Michael Cimino and Joann Carelli. Cimino explains in the special features portion of the DVD that this is his preferred version of the film, and he feels it is the complete version he intended to make.

2014 Steven Soderbergh's "The Butcher's Cut"

On April 21, 2014, director, cinematographer, and editorSteven Soderberghreleased an unofficial alternate cut ofHeaven's Gatevia his website extension765.com, under his pseudonym Mary Ann Bernard. Soderbergh's version, which runs 108 minutes, is dubbed "The Butcher's Cut".

Accolades

Award	Date of Ceremony	Category	Recipients	Results	Ref.
Cannes Film Festival	May 13–27, 1981	Palme d'Or	Michael Cimino	Nominated
Academy Awards	March 29, 1982	Best Art Direction	Art Direction:Tambi Larsen;Set Decoration:James L. Berkey	Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards	March 29, 1982	Worst Picture	Heaven's Gate	Nominated
		Worst Director	Michael Cimino	Won
		Worst Actor	Kris Kristofferson	Nominated
		Worst Screenplay	Michael Cimino	Nominated
		Worst Musical Score	David Mansfield	Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards	1982	Worst Picture	Heaven's Gate	Nominated
	2007 (expanded ballot)	Worst Director	Michael Cimino	Won
		Worst Screenplay		Nominated
		Most Intrusive Musical Score	David Mansfield	Nominated

See also

• List of box office bombs
• List of films considered the worst
• Revolution(1985) – a historical epic film, starringAl Pacino,that was also made by a high-profile director (Hugh Hudson); it, too, was a failure on release and led to problems for its studio. Since then, it has received a new cut that was more positively reviewed.

References

Sources

• Bach, Steven(September 1, 1999).Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists(Updated ed.).New York, NY:Newmarket Press.ISBN978-1-55704-374-0.
• Biskind, Peter(1998).Easy Riders, Raging Bulls:How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock-'n'-Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.New York: Simon & Schuster.ISBN0-684-80996-6.
• Hughes, Howard (2009).Aim for the Heart.London:I.B. Tauris.ISBN978-1-84511-902-7.
• Medved, Harry;Medved, Michael(1984).The Hollywood Hall of Shame: The Most Expensive Flops in Movie History.Angus & Robertson.ISBN0207149291.

External links

• Heaven's GateatIMDb
• Heaven's Gateat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Heaven's GateatBox Office Mojo
• Heaven's GateatRotten Tomatoes
• Michael Cimino on HEAVEN'S GATE (1980)onYouTube
• Restoration DemonstrationonYouTube
• DVD FeaturetteonYouTube
• "The Johnson County War: 1892 Invasion of Northern Wyoming".Wyohistory.org.
• Heaven’s Gate: Western Promisesan essay by Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan at theCriterion Collection