MovieChat Forums > Heaven's Gate (1981) Discussion > Based on its infamous reputation

Based on its infamous reputation

posted 2 years ago by Poozer91 (605)
13 replies | jump to latest

I thought I was going to hate it. I am a huge fan of movies and really into cinema history. Everything I have read about the film has been negative. A writer/director with an ego larger than the sky rocketed budget, a movie that nearly bankrupted a studio, and destroyed creative freedom for directors for a long while. But watching it I really liked it. Yes, it’s a long movie but I never felt it dragged and looks beautiful. Was anyone else impressed with the movie?

[–] MichaelJPollock (731) a year ago

I was!

[–] Foster (878) 10 months ago

ALWAYS liked it--- Saw it when it came out --- The longer versions are better

[–] Poozer91 (605) 10 months ago

Just curious. Did you see it in when it was released in theaters and how did audiences react to it?

[–] Foster (878) 10 months ago

Saw it when it got in the theater --- The original Short, cut-up version --- Don't recall any special or negative reaction --- But the there are a lot of movies people don't get up and cheer --- I did know a couple folks there and 1 did mention he thought it was cut up and could have been better

[–] Poozer91 (605) 10 months ago

Okay, thank you. I did hear there were several different versions of the movie out there, but it seems that critics were exaggerating the negative audience reception of the movie.

[–] Foster (878) 10 months ago

Try to watch the longest version you can find --- I honestly forgot the length , close to 3 hours, Maybe the Directors edition

[–] Poozer91 (605) 10 months ago

Yeah, I watched the three hour and thirty nine minutes version. There is even a 90-odd minutes version on the Blue-Ray release of the movie that I believe Steven Soderbergh edited.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 10 months ago

I like it very much myself. I really don't like much else that Cimino did, but this was very good. The longer version you can see, the better. Cimino's skill with this Western really makes me sad that he never got to direct his Native American project, "Conquering Horse".

[–] Poozer91 (605) 10 months ago

I think the Deer Hunter is an emotionally powerful and essential anti-war Vietnam film. His other movies never reached the heights of his master pieces after Heaven’s Gate. I think once you nearly bankrupt a studio and with a bad public response, people tend to go with other filmmakers.

[–] Interlepos (1807) 10 months ago

It's a masterpiece. The 2012 Criterion version rescued this film. Finally, it was presented in Technicolor, eliminating the ugly brown sepia tint that Cimino used in the original version. Watching this film on the big screen with the Criterion version on Blu-ray (and with subtitles!) is a marvel to behold.

[–] whynotwriteme (7720) 10 months ago

That sepia tint has destroyed so many Westerns between 1980 and now. Thankfully, it seems to be falling out of favor. Most of the recent Westerns I have seen in the past few years don't use it. But for a while there, every Western film seemed to be viewed through a puddle of stale urine.

[–] liscarkat (18367) 9 months ago

Making everything brown is how they signaled "this is the olden days". In recent years, it seems to have been replaced by having rooms appear to be filled with fog or smog, even when nobody is smoking.

[–] liscarkat (18367) 9 months ago

I noticed you mentioned subtitles. I remember liking "Heaven's Gate" very much when I saw it in a theater over forty years ago, and then on video a few years later. My only complaint was that the dialogue was very difficult to understand, being muffled by background sounds much of the time.