Heaven’s Gate
1980
****
Director: Michael Cimino
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Joel Grey, Mickey Rourke, Christopher Penn
At the end of the 19th century, Marshal Jim Averill returns to Wyoming to woo the woman he loves while a violent conflict escalates between wealthy cattle ranchers and immigrant laborers. Michael Cimino's ambitious epic Western, based on the Johnson County War, was a famously expensive flop that ended up transferring control over film productions from directors to studios. Cimino's film itself was dismissed due to its commercial failure, but it in fact offers an engrossing mix of personal and historical drama, though there is probably no good argument for it to be more than 3.5 hours long.
