The over-the-top negative criticisms are disingenuous and laughable

Released in 1980, "Heaven's Gate" is Michael Cimino's notorious adult-oriented Western that brought down a studio. Cimino's style is arty with a focus on mundane realism, similar to Francis Ford Coppola. I'm not a fan of Cimino's previous film, the overrated "The Deer Hunter" (1978), because of the tedious opening hour and the disagreeable focus on Russian Roulette, although I love his Tarantino-like "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974) and his underrated "Desperate Hours" (1990). Cimino wisely doesn't allow the Harvard graduation sequence that opens "Heaven's Gate" to go on forever like the wedding in "Deer Hunter," not to mention it has aesthetic merit.

There are two versions of the film: The premiere New York City cut runs 3 hours, 39 minutes while the edited version that hit theaters five months later is a little over an hour shorter (roughly 2.5 hours). Critics complain that the story makes no sense, but it's actually really simple with only a handful of main characters. I was never confused about what was happening and I viewed the shorter version. The locations and photography are top-of-the-line. Whether or not you appreciate the story will depend on if you favor Cimino's arty, mature and realistic style. In any case, everything leads to an action-packed climax.

When the movie was released there was a critical feeding frenzy (started as payback for the press being banned from the production), but much of the criticisms are disingenuous as critics conveniently jumped on the hate wagon.

For instance, there's the complaint that this is an ugly film due to an industrial pall, including dust and smoke. Actually, the visuals are awesome despite any dust, smoke or fog.

Roger Ebert complained that a character in a burning cabin who is convinced that he's going to die writes a note and signs his full name before breaking out and getting shot, but the real-life person in question kept a journal of his besieging and, in fact, signed it off before dying (obviously he didn't want people to mistake his identity when his body was found).

Ebert also whined about a gunman breaking into a house and shooting three men who are raping a woman and yet she is unscathed. Actually the guy in question is a marshal by profession and therefore highly skilled at gunmanship.

Yet another criticism is that the antagonists in the big battle sequence could've easily gotten to their attackers who were utilizing the armored wagon made of logs by going around or behind, but it's clear that the settlers would've simply shot 'em down if they unwisely did this seeing as how they would've been out in the open. Aduh.

In no way is this one of the worst movies ever made, let alone the worst big Western (for that, see John Ford's laughable "Cheyenne Autumn").

"Heaven's Gate" gets a solid 7/10 from me.