Heaven's Gate (1980)

This is a beautiful movie......

I just saw this for the first time, after all these years of hearing what a colossal failure it was. If you love Cinema, appreciate Bergman, Truffaut, Sergio Leone, etc., you will at least appreciate Heavens Gate, & maybe even fall a little bit in love with the characters & the movie itself.

Is it as good as Cimino's "The Deer Hunter"? Or Leone's "One Upon a Time in the West"? In conventional terms, no, but how many films are? All I know is, Heavens Gate is "a work of art". It's also imperfect, sprawling, & probably too long. But if you're a hard-core film buff, you should see this.....you might love it, too..... December 31, 2008

Heaven's Gate

I was really not impressed with this western. It was too long and drawn out. I thought it would never get over with. The action was too dull. I would not watch again. December 19, 2008

Not the definitive version, but worth viewing

After having absorbed the originally released extended director's cut for years (the 2-vhs set), I was disappointed to see two crucial omissions from this version. One, the incredible roller-skating sequence is presented here in color, matching the basic tone of the rest of the film (mind you, nothing wrong with that). My original print shows that same sequence in a deep, rich sepia-tone tint. It never failed to give me chills every time I experienced it, and I couldn't believe this print did not have it. Also (and even more head-scratching) is the fact that there are no English sub-titles! Most of the speeches in the heaven's gate hall toward the end are in a Eastern European dialect and you miss what's being said.
Also, please note that this is not a true 16:9 wide-screen dvd. It's presented in that format within a standard 4:3. So you have to zoom in to fill your wide-screen monitor, and from what I could discern, the print is not all that consistently focused.
I guess I'll have to wait until a better version shows up someday, maybe a double-disc with commentary! November 24, 2008

An American Class

Michael Cimino's politically radical view of a slice of American history should, in time, be regarded as one of the greatest of American films. Its many powerful and evocative scenes remind us what movies can do. November 10, 2008

a real butt number

this is one of the slowest moving films i have ever seen . endless scenes moving at a glacial pace with people saying nothing , staring into space , emoting ... very difficult to determine what is happening . best watched on a dvr where you can fast forward in 30 second intervals to get through the meaningful silent staring .. the concluding scene is impossible to fathom . who is the woman ? where did she come from .. November 10, 2008

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