'Heaven's Gate' never had a chance in 1980, but now it does

Kris Kristofferson in Heaven's Gate

Michael Cimino's 1980 western epic Heaven's Gate has a horrible reputation.

It routinely appears on lists of the biggest flops of all time and it's often credited with bankrupting a studio (United Artists) and ending the era of auteur-driven cinema of the 1970s.

But, at the end of the day, is the movie actually good?

This question has only begun to be asked more often in recent years, where time and distance has been far kinder to this costly film.

In hindsight, despite being a visual feast and boasting a formidable cast, Heaven's Gate could probably never have been a big enough hit to recoup it's budget.

This is not because it's bad, in fact I think it's a masterpiece. It's because the movie is a bleak indictment of American culture, particularly our unique form of greed. It's an unabashedly revisionist, and politically leftist interpretation of the frontier which had the unfortunate distinction of hitting theaters the year the Reagan revolution took hold.

It's also a very long, uncompromising film with a somber tone and a very downbeat ending. That said, you can see that the estimated $40 million sunk into its production was put to good use, this is one of the most visually stunning films I've ever seen. The narrative is unconventional, and may turn off a lot of viewers -- it takes several detours from its strongest element, a story of eastern European settlers being executed by organized, rich landowners -- but it's rewarding if you hang with it.

Christopher Walken in Heaven's Gate

Not unlike Cimino's best picture winner The Deer Hunter, the film begins with protagonist at a point of innocence and joy. While that war film began with an extended wedding sequence, this one opens with an old fashioned Ivy League graduation. This sequence will try the patience of some viewers but if you give in to its semi-indulgent charms you'll find the entire enterprise very engrossing.

The film then jumps twenty years into the future, and we see that our hero, the soulful Kris Kristofferson, is now the one moneyed man standing in the way of a nefarious plan to disperse unwanted settlers in Wyoming with a "death list."

The villain in this scheme is played brilliantly by Sam Waterson. To see this actor so associated with nobility playing a capitalist of the worst kind is a master class in performing against type.

The sprawling story incorporates a love triangle between a French prostitute (played by Isabelle Huppert), Kristofferson's character, and a hired gun played by Christopher Walken. The Walken performance is one of his best, combining his infamous ability to terrify with a tender sensitivity that is often overlooked.

The movie's massive sets and action sequences had me an awe, and its elegiac and authentic score keeps things lively. There were no scenes that struck me as wrong-headed or embarrassing in all of its 219 minutes. What I saw was an ambitious film that is not for all tastes but far from a failure.

Thanks to underground buzz over the years and a gorgeous, state-of-the-art re-release thanks to the Criterion Collection, a whole new audience can enjoy this remarkable film without the griping over its cost. Heaven's Gate is a challenging, visionary work that tries to portray the West as it really was.

Even if you don't think that it succeeds in doing that, I think it's a noble effort.