MovieChat Forums > Heaven's Gate (1981) Discussion > A Masterpiece

A Masterpiece

posted 12 years ago by arbino-man
16 replies | jump to latest

So I watched this due to the Criterion Collection and must say that I loved it. I didn't expect to it enjoy it as much as I did.

A beautifully directed film. It's a shame so many people couldn't understand why Cimino had delivered.

The violence was a bit harsh and can make one angry, but that's how thing tend to work in reality.

Loved Christopher Walken in the film.

There is so much to this film that I love, and while it may not be for everyone, I still consider it a masterpiece.

[–] sleepwalking 12 years ago

Completely agree. The financial loss is one thing, but I can't believe the stinker reputation this masterpiece has been burdened with. Of course critics and the public love a scapegoat. The symbolism and themes of the film are so clear, beautiful and symmetrical, but not melodramatic or preachy. Hopefully Criterion's beautiful new release of the film will give Heaven's Gate its long-overdue second life.

[–] arcarese 12 years ago

A masterpiece in the rough; great cinematography, great music, extremely poor editing.

Just finished watching the blu ray; this film would be a masterpiece if 90+ minutes were cut from it.

For starters, remove the opening graduation scene as it detracts from the main story, cut out the pregnant pauses throughout the film and pick up the pace a little.

316 minutes that felt like like it was 8 hours long.

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[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

And poor Isabelle Huppert, whenever she does an american film the director is out of control-"Heaven's Gate" and "I Heart Huckabees" comes to mind.

But not with Hal Hartley in Amateur. Great film and she rocks as a nun with a penchant for writing porno.

The distance is nothing. The first step is the hardest.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] i_dont_even_try 11 years ago

I agree. I watch it about once a year. It's weak in some areas but its strong points more than make up for them.

[–] plexus61 11 years ago

Yes, poetic and magnificent.

[–] phillipsdan83 11 years ago

It's got excellent visuals and a fine cast, but it uses a historical incident where you can't say anyone won (the cattle barons were starting to lose money due to herds dying out from drought and blizzards, so they couldn't afford heavy losses from rustling and thought they had a right to the public lands they were grazing the cattle on) to tell a story of class struggle between haves who feel a sense of entitlement and mostly immigrant have nots backed by a man regarded as a class traitor by his own. BTW, while the cattle barons got off in the courts, the legal fees bankrupted most of them and the local town and county officials that opposed them got no justice out of it, so within a few years both sides preferred to forget the whole thing ever happened in the first place. In the end those immigrant have nots represented a future that eventually overtook the cattle barons.

[–] plexus61 11 years ago

Of course, it is just a cinema fiction/novel, that has very distant relation to real facts.

[–] bstephens21 11 years ago

I've discussed it before, but blasting this film for the liberties it takes with the Johnson County War is like blasting all the Westerns about "the Gunfight at the OK Corral" for making themselves studies of law prevailing over lawlessness. Storytellers have a right to allegory, especially in the Western.

To me, Heaven's Gate may be false to the Johnson County War, but it's ultimately true to American History. Just look back at the destruction of the American Indian and forward to the Labor Wars at the turn of the 19th/20th century, and you'll see two examples of what Cimino's driving at...

[–] phillipsdan83 11 years ago

Good points, though someone maybe ought to do a movie about the Homestead Strike.

[–] jimakros 11 years ago

Cimino said,"i dont make movies to make apoint,i make movies about people".Thats one of the biggest lies i ever heard.This entire movie is just Cimino's stupid attempt to make his leftist point that america is not a real democracy,which is crap.
I saw this in the original the few days it played in NEW York Cimema 1 back in 1980,the place was packed,everybody had great expectations,and in the end everybody left huggely dissapointed.I've never watched it again since,i still remember it was very boring,but had some dazzling visuals.You could see the guy spent a lot of money,to utter waste.

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