MovieChat Forums > Heaven's Gate (1981) Discussion > Please remake this

Please remake this

posted 8 years ago by bghill1
2 replies | jump to latest

Someone needs to do this film's huge potential justice and remake it. Someone rewrite the sloppy, unfocused screenplay, Maybe Clint Eastwood could direct, obviously shorten it, leaving off unnecessary dance sequenses, and use way less extras, and everything involving the immigrants and that absurd final battle scene, all but scrap it and start from scratch. And that just plain stupid burning house sequence could easily be redone to make sense. And don't even get me started on that squandered, senseless, potentially dramatic death scene that just screamed, "phone it in, it all amounts to nothing." Also, and probably most important, the characters need to actually matter, simply write them better, more fleshed out and not just glorified plot props. This needs to happen, this movie should've been great. I can't think of another movie with as much potential that missed the mark so badly as Heaven's Gate.

The Coens might be a good fit to direct as well.

[–] col_rutherford 8 years ago

Heaven's Gate was loosely based on a historical event known as the Johnson County War. I wish that Cimino hadn't taken so many liberties with history. I'd like to see a movie or TV series present a more historically accurate version of the Johnson County War, but it might not go over well with audiences. Ironically, some of the most frequently criticized scenes in Heaven's Gate had basis in fact.

For example, the burning house sequence that the OP called "just plain stupid" was based on an actual event. There really was a person named Nathan D. Champion who held off dozens of gunmen until he was burned out and shot multiple times. Champion really did take the time to write a farewell message describing how he was inside a burning cabin. In reality, the siege of the cabin at the KC Ranch was even more incredible, as Champion was able to hold out against his attackers for many hours. The real Champion was targeted by members of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association because he was an independent rancher they accused of cattle rustling, not a hired gun who turned against them.

The residents of Johnson County really did build a movable breastworks out of logs and a wagon, from behind which they planned to hurl dynamite at their enemy. The wealthy cattlemen were rescued at the end by the U.S. cavalry. In reality, though, the cattlemen and their hired gunmen were besieged at a ranch instead of being encircled in an open field. The actual death toll was surprisingly low considering the large number of people and firearms involved. Only four people were killed during the invasion of Johnson County: Nathan Champion and Nick Ray, who were murdered at the KC Ranch, and two of the gunmen hired by the cattlemen, who accidentally shot themselves with their own guns.

[–] bghill1 8 years ago

I would be all for keeping the story as historically accurate as possible if remade while making necessary changes to keep it a functioning story, as long as it's done well and obviously done in an entertaining/ artful way. And I still can't believe the guy wrote a note; stranger than fiction I guess.