Criterion is currently working on releasing Heaven's Gate
http://criterioncast.com/2012/07/25/heavens-gate-on-its-way-to-the-criterion-collection/
shareCan't wait. Great film.
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MovieChat Forums > Heaven's Gate (1981) Discussion > Criterion is currently working on releas...
And yet they don't include "Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate". That's disappointing as the only copy of the doc is in parts on youtube in low quality.
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Awesome news. Disappointed about Final Cut though, i really thought criterion would add the doc. to the release.
" I've come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubble gum "
The most likely answer is that, in order to get Cimino's seal of approval (and interview), they had to drop it. The documentary is much more even-handed than the book (I wouldn't even call it an adaptation), but Cimino basically want's nothing to do with "Final Cut".
shareIf you can play PAL Region 2 DVDs (or Region B Blu-Ray), and you want to see at least part of the documentary "Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate", get the Criterion UK release (on the "Second Sight" label (whose logo looks suspiciously like Criterion's but with a "2" for region 2 inside the C), released nov. 25. 2013). It's the exact same 216' restored transfer supervised by Cimino and all that (207' with PAL speedup on the DVD (not on the Blu-Ray) - don't worry about it, that's normal for PAL DVDs, it just plays a bit faster, you won't notice) and has a bonus disk just like the USA release...
Except that the bonus disk 2 contains different stuff. Here's the comparison:
USA Criterion bonus:
* Interview with Kris Kristofferson.
* Interview with soundtrack arranger and performer David Mansfield.
* Interview with second assistant director Michael Stevenson.
* New illustrated AUDIO interview with Cimino and producer Joann Carelli.
* Trailer and TV spot.
UK Criterion (Second Sight) bonus:
* 'True Gate' - an interview with Jeff Bridges.
* 'Painting Jackson County' - an interview with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.
* 'Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate' - DVD Release Version (Excerpts)
The UK version sounds more interesting to me because it's got an interview with Zsigmond, the cinematographer, and it's got at least part of the Final Cut documentary (even though it pretty much slams Cimino and the movie, though maybe in excerpting it they just kept the good parts and edited out the nasty stuff). Also Jeff Bridges is generally a better interview than Kristofferson, I've found, and who cares about the soundtrack arranger or the assistant director. Okay so you don't get the new audio interview with Cimino or the booklet with the 1980 interview with him - I suppose that's the only downside to getting the UK version.
Good information on the R2/RB Heaven's Gate release, but...
Why do you keep writing "Criterion UK"? There is no UK Criterion. Criterion has nothing to do with Second Sight and Second Sight has nothing to do with Criterion. They are two completely separate independent companies.
This kind of thing confuses the hell out of people who don't know any better or are new and just getting into serious film and/or boutique blu-ray and DVD releases.
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Just to write briefly that the Criterion restoration shown in Venice is remarkable:
Greens, blue sky are so intense, just as the colors of the American Flag (including white) that is so present in the last hour of the film.
And the white dress of Ella, bloodstained...
There is big grain more visible in the outdoor scenes in the first half hour of the film, and again near the end (but I bet it has always intended to be like this) In indoor scenes, the grain is very discrete, the yellow color is subtile.
The juggler at the windows, and all a sum of details (Walken that still breathes despite the death of Champion), we can see them now !
And always these 3h30 that are flowing, without you see them scrolling..
In a word, you have never seen Heaven's Gate like this... (except maybe if you saw it at its release, obviously)
Just curious: is the shot, in the midst of the rollerskate dance, when Jeff Bridges springs out the doorway to vomit... does the screen suddenly turn extremely sepia? The John Kirk restoration a few years back (in the print that I saw) messed up and turned the whole scene sepia. Cimino, in one of the interviews, complained about the colors in the original print.
shareNo sepia (at least, from my memories)
There is just one shot, that lasts maybe one or two seconds, that seems really damaged, at the beginning of the battle, with blue scratches... I think they prefered to let it like this instead of touching it too much...
For the detail, the film is preceded by a Park Circus animation/logo, and by a panel that explains the restoration method from the separations, and the fact that Criterion has been helped in this restoration, under a MGM license, precisely by Park Circus and another company I do not remember.
And it seems that Park Circus is now the worldwide theater rights holder.
I hope that some distributors, next to you, will have the good idea to show it in theater, this restoration really deserves the big screen...: it's something !