Review of Heaven's Gate (1980) by Paul M — 18 Jun 2014

Michael Cimino's disgustingly ambitious epic:

- Has Kris Kristofferson.

- Has Christopher Walken.

- Has John Hurt.

- Has Jeff Bridges.

- Has Brad Dourif.

- Has Mickey Rourke.

- Has Isabelle Huppert in all her female glory... for the hundredth time.

- Runs for 219 minutes.

- Has an intermission.

- Is notorious for being an infamous financial disaster.

- Costed $36,000,000.00 in 1980's terms.

- Initially left United Artists financially crippled.

- Got criticized by critics under terms of "self-indulgence".

- Was nominated for only one Academy Award.

- Recently got a Criterion Collection release.

- Has a 6.7 rating in IMDB, and therefore...

- ...is underrated.

Michael Cimino constructs a fully committed essay about American imperialism disguised as a plot of European immigrants seeking for a better life in the American frontier. The real-life setting of 1890's Wyoming and the consequent War of Johnson County were perfect excuses for everything that the film contains... and did. Repeatedly, and pretty much intentionally, the movie lingers in several sequences as in attempts to contemplate its own impressionistic visual grandiosity. Normally, I would codemn such cinematic ego, but truth to be told, the scope is so massive that the expansion of certain sequences is completely justified just for the sake of escapism and appreciation. In essence, the size of the experience provided mimics Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984) in many aspects, most of them emotional (as in the nostalghia evoked) and technical, mostly regarding the impressionistic cinematography. Both projects feel like a master's farewell; ironically enough, this was barely Cimino's third feature.

With a development of events that guarantees entertainment throughout its epic running time, Heaven's Gate is a worthy restoration of the classic days of epic moviemaking of classic Hollywood with anti-Hollywood, somewhat European tints, deserving of more reputation than the one it has received. I must accept that the story could have been shortened at least one full hour, but why do that when the directorial vision is properly applied and the stars' alignment was exact for using such a tremendous budget?

86/100.