Blu-ray Review Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

For the record, I love THE TREE OF LIFE and don't think that I was "fooled" into loving it.
Vincent

Yeah, I thought The Tree Of Life was excellent and I'm even not that big of a fan of Malick's work (he's a very talented director but his movies rarely connect with me) so it's not like I was blinded by any love of his previous work.

 

[Peter Neski]

"it looked terrible"
don't know where you saw this,but it never looked Terrible when I saw it ,the Ordinal print was far from great in a theater too small,
when I saw the short version,( Cimino did add color to this version) It looked great in a big theater , Up until the 16x9 dvd looked rotten on video
when they did the HD version ,they clearly fixed the color somewhat,when Cimino worked on his version ,there was even more color,but it still looked like
Heavens Gate,This film simply looks great with or without color,and Idea that it looked terrible is simply untrue ,at least to my eyes

 

[theonemacduff]

It isn't a terrible film, and as I mentioned above, the Criterion transfer makes it quite watchable, whereas (at my local cinema in 1978, at least), it looked terrible and seemed to drag on and on. Cimino has cut the intermission from this Blu-ray, but at home we can pause or stop any damn time we please or watch it straight through, so that isn't a big deal. The colors are now rich and often beautiful, where before they were just awful (I always pondered how it was that Zigmond had made the uncharacteristic decision to render so much of the film brown and yellow and unpleasant, but now I realize the film was made to look this way in post-production). I credit Cimino with correcting the color for this release, even if without Zigmond's participation.
Story-wise, it is problematic, but has its merits. The characters are unfortunately not well-written enough to involve their audiences. There is little nuance and almost no arch, and the chemistry between them is superficial at best. This was Cimino's most egregious shortcoming, in both his writing and his directing. If one cannot give a damn about who is who and what/why they do what they do, why stretch a film to a 3 1/2 hour length? The film feels interminable (yes, I saw the 149-minute cut, and it was not only incomprehensable, but remained interminable). We cared about the characters in THE DEER HUNTER. the script allowed for development and insight, both of which are completely lacking in HEAVEN'S GATE. This is a perfect example of a a man with an enormous ego, stroked by an Oscar, coming to believe that everything he writes or directs is henceforth going to be irrefutably genius. Farewell, United Artists. He, unlike the much less talented Michael Bay, did suffer for his transgressions because his latest "masterpiece" bombed at the box office.
Nevertheless, I like this film. I am not sure I could tell you why. Even when I saw it theatrically, and endured a print that was color-drained and truly unpleasant to watch (as was the subsequent DVD release), I came out feeling, not that I thought it was a fine movie, but that it was somehow a good one. There were enough sequences that suggested brilliance to offset any overall hatred of it, and I wound up feeling a strange dichotomy of incomprehension and admiration. I am not sure I have had that sensation before or since.
So, in answer to your question: Yes, the Cirterion edition of this movie is well worth watching. I wish there had been a commentary from Cimino plus, as an extra, the film FINAL CUT, based upon the Steven Bach book, the combination of which would have provided us with a good argument on both sides of the coin.

This says it all, and very well too. Plaudits.

 

[Vincent_P]

It isn't a terrible film, and as I mentioned above, the Criterion transfer makes it quite watchable, whereas (at my local cinema in 1978, at least), it looked terrible ...

You saw HEAVEN'S GATE in a theater in 1978? How did you manage that, seeing as how it didn't even start filming until April of 1979?
Vincent

 

[Dick]

You saw HEAVEN'S GATE in a theater in 1978? How did you manage that, seeing as how it didn't even start filming until April of 1979?
Vincent

Well, of course, you are correct, and I mis-typed. Thanks for the correction.

 

[James David Walley]

On a level of 1 to 10, what is the entertainment value of the film? If I'm gonna drop $30 I want to enjoy a good story, not gawk at the imperfections.

If you are moved by grand imagery and epic sweep, and value a film in part by how it immerses you in that time and place, I'd give it an 8. If you don't care about such things, and only want a solid plot and characters, probably only a 5.
I only read the first few sentences of the essay in the book (by an author who was, at the time of release, an Italian film student, and couldn't understand the harsh criticism it received), but I can agree HG has a rather European feel to it. I've always thought that, say, if Bernardo Bertolucci had made this exact film, it would have gotten rave reviews (and still have been a box-office disaster considering its budget, but one that would have acquired a cult reputation as an "underappreciated classic" among film buffs, and become a regular booking at the art-repertory houses that flourished in every big U.S. city before DVD killed them off a decade or so ago).

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Richard V /t/325324/michael-ciminos-heavens-gate-blu-ray-review#post_4003825
I'm finding it kinda unusual that many posters here are saying that the "long" version should be edited down to make a better film, when the whole "re-discovery" of this movie and the noteriety (both from critics and the public) it has received decades after it's inital disasterous release, is due to restoration of the scenes removed from its' initial NY opening. That is a rambling sentence, so I'll try to be more succint. Wasn't the whole point of releasing a bluray, to release the "director's cut"?

I think the 216-minute "Gate" is way too long and would like a shorter cut. I never saw the theatrical version, so I don't know its pros/cons, so I can't judge it. I do think it's possible the movie needs a shorter cut but just not THAT shorter cut...

 

[Noel Aguirre]

It's not too long- it simply needs its intermission reinstated.

 

[KeithDA]

It's not too long- it simply needs its intermission reinstated.

Yes - watched about 2 hours of it last night and decided to stop at that point - so I'm having an 'overnight' intermission. The draw of Dan Brown's latest bedtime read pulled me away - now that has some pace...

 

[TJPC]

I was one of the minority who found “The Deer Hunter” to be one of the most pretentious bores imaginable when I saw it in the theatre. Vindication came when Cimino‘s “Heaven’s Gate” was laughed (snored?) off the screen.
It reminds me of the director of the musical version of “Gone With The Wind” in “SOB”.