Heaven's Gate

Director: Michael Cimino

Overview

"Michael Cimino's infamous box-office disaster Heaven's Gate comes to DVD with a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. Spanish and French subtitles are accessible, and the English soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include a collectible booklet and the original theatrical trailer. Regardless of what one thinks of the film, this is a solid release from MGM/UA."

Product Details

Release Date:	02/29/2000
UPC:	0027616837127
Original Release:	1981
Rating:	R
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	3:39:00

Special Features

Collectible booklet; Original theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kris Kristofferson	Actor
Christopher Walken	Actor,Actor,Actor
John Hurt	Actor
Sam Waterston	Actor
Isabelle Huppert	Ella Watson
Jeff Bridges	John H. Bridges
Joseph Cotten	`The Reverend Doctor'
Roseanne Vela	Beautiful Girl,Actor
Ronnie Hawkins	Wolcott
Geoffrey Lewis	Trapper
Paul Koslo	Mayor Lezak
Richard Masur	Cully
Mary C. Wright	Nell,Nell
Nicholas Woodeson	Small Man
Willem Dafoe	Actor
Stefan Scherby	Large Man
Waldemar Kalinowski	Photographer
Terry O'Quinn	Capt. Minardi
John Conley	Morrison,Actor
Margaret Benczak	Mrs. Eggleston
Tom Noonan	Jake
Elizabeth McGovern	Actor
James Knobeloch	Kopestonsky,George Kopestansky
Erika Petersen	Mrs. Kopestonsky
Robin Bartlett	Mrs. Lezak
Marat Yusim	Russian Merchant
Aivars Smits	Mr. Kovach
Gordana Rashovich	Mrs. Kovach
Jarlath Conroy	Mercenary in New Suit,Actor
Allen Keller	Dudley
Caroline Kava	Steeka
Mady Kaplan	Kathia
Anna Levine	Little Dot
Pat Hodges	Jessie
Mickey Rourke	Nick Ray
Kevin McClarnon	Brown
Kai Wulff	German Merchant
Steve Majstorovic	Czech Merchant
Gabriel Walsh	Zindel's Clerk
Judi Trott	Actor
Norton Buffalo	Private
T-Bone Burnett	Member of the Heaven's Gate Band
Jack Blessing	Emigrant Boy
Stephen Bruton	Member of the Heaven's Gate Band
Jerry Sullivan	Governor of Wyoming
David Cass	Moustached Mercenary
Paul D'Amato	Bearded Mercenary
Peter Osusky	Peter
Ivan Kormanik	Ivan
Michael Christensen	Juggler
Anatoly Davidov	Fighting Bulgarian Emigrant
Nina Gaidarova	Bulgarian Emigrant's Wife
Wally McCleskey	Chicken Fighter
Gary 'Buzz' Vezane	Canton's Bodyguard
H.P. Evetts	Wolcott's Bodyguard
Bruce Morgan	Miner Mercenary
Bobby Faber	Harvard Class Marshal
Judy Trot	Irvine's Girlfriend
Brad Dourif	Actor
David Mansfield	Composer

Technical Credits

Michael Cimino

Michael Cimino	Screenwriter
Jim Camomile	Special Effects
Joann Carelli	Producer,Sound Effects
Cis Corman	Casting
Jane Halloran	Casting
Dennis O'Dell	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Charles Okun	Executive Producer
Stan Parks	Special Effects
Ken Pepiot	Special Effects
Sam Price	Special Effects
Kevin Quibell	Special Effects
William Reynolds	Executive Producer
Paul Stewart	Special Effects
Buddy Van Horn	Stunts
Richard Adams	Sound Effects
Donald A. Bolger	Sound Effects
Charles J. Bond	Sound Effects
Ken Dufva	Sound Effects

Scene Index

Scene Selections
0. Scene Selections
1. Logos/Title/Credits [2:44]
2. Graduation, 1870 [6:12]
3. The Class Orator [:52]
4. Dancing On The Lawn [3:34]
5. Florwers For The Lady [3:00]
6. Farewell To Youth [:35]
7. Foreign Train [1:34]
8. Hard Time In Casper [2:48]
9. "What's Going On?" [3:32]
10. The Association [1:03]
11. Ugly Rumors & Pool [6:29]
12. "We'll Work Our Land." [1:16]
13. Looking For 25 Men [5:40]
14. Fighting Starvation [2:09]
15. Cock Fight [2:43]
16. A War On The County? [5:04]
17. Breaking Up A Fight [1:48]
18. Sexy Pie [2:24]
19. Ella's Birthday Present [2:08]
20. A Thoughtful Talk [1:25]
21. Skating & Fiddling [:11]
22. It's Time To Leave [1:13]
23. "Cash Or Cattle?" [1:30]
24. Champion's Turn [3:19]
25. "What Do You Want?" [3:05]
26. Backbreaking Work [6:19]
27. The Death List [1:23]
28. Fighting Over Ella [3:22]
29. Acting Civilized [3:33]
30. Trainload Of Killers [1:55]
31. Hunted Citizen [3:52]
32. Tongue-Tied [2:12]
33. The Horrible Truth [3:10]
34. A Terrible Intrusion [4:32]
35. Rescued Too Late [2:22]
36. "We Are The Law!" [5:40]
37. Jim Bows Out [1:32]
38. Drunk & Fired [3:28]
39. Besieged [2:02]
40. "Hold Together!" [3:09]
41. Caught In The Fray [1:59]
42. "Too Many Of Them!" [:35]
43. Cold Farewell [5:27]
44. A Roman Offense [1:46]
45. "Military Authority." [2:30]
46. Lost Love [1:42]
47. Adrift Years Later [2:52]
48. End Credits [4:13]

Menu

Side #1
Play Movie
Menu Group #1 with 49 chapter(s) covering 03:38:36
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles

Editorial Reviews

The dire financial and professional consequences Heaven's Gate visited upon its director and studio can't be disputed, but the virtues of the film itself remain more open to debate. Though unwieldy, unsatisfying, and self-indulgent to a fault -- Michael Cimino appears uncomfortable shooting a scene with fewer than fifty extras -- its excesses also bring quite a bit to admire. But first the flaws: Heaven's Gate plays like an ultra-ambitious first novel in desperate need of an editor. Though it prominently features a love triangle between Kris Kristoferson, Christopher Walken, and Isabelle Huppert, for instance, it not only takes over 90 minutes to establish this relationship, it takes that long to establish that all three characters know each other. By that point, Cimino has already made clear that muscular storytelling will not be a priority, and while that approach suited Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and The Deer Hunter just fine, it fails him here. What's more, for a film about the struggle of the common man against a system of capitalist oppression, it rather hypocritically reduces its poor immigrant farmers into an undifferentiated mass. But for those willing to stick with the 219 minute film (the version to which this review refers and the one most widely available on video and at revival screenings) through those flaws, Heaven's Gate offers considerable rewards. If nothing else, it's a masterful work of cinematography from first shot to last, thanks to the work of Vilmos Zsigmond. More directly to Cimino's credit as a director, he uses Zsigmond's imagery to convey his grandiose themes about the West and America in a way his screenplay only suggests. Where Heaven's Gate fails as a film, it sometimes works as a symbolic pageant, and while that may not be enough to redeem it entirely, it certainly rescues it from charges of artistic disaster.