'Heaven's Gate' is one of the most notorious flops in Hollywood history. Michael Cimino just had a big hit and won multiple Oscar's for 'The Deer Hunter', so the studio gave him a free hand. It's a western that wants to be 'The Godfather', set against the backdrop of the 1890 Johnson County range war in Wyoming.
The film went four times its planed budget, savaged by critics it made $3.5 million off of $44 million spent. In fact this movie faired so poorly that it shuttered a major studio. TransAmerica sold United Artists to MGM which folded it into their existing operations. This is particularly ironic given that UA was founded by artist attempting to escape the level of control exerted by a big studio like Metro Goldwyn Meyer. Cimino, who died in 2016, would be black listed in the industry and never direct another film.
To top that off the movie is really bad, a confused rambley mess with an an oppressive run time of 3 hrs and 39 minutes. Even Christopher Walken as a hired gun doesn't help.
This film has just two settings, boring and ridiculous. Some nice scenery (filmed in Idaho and Montana), and the occasional WTF moment, including a roller skating party and three over the top shoot outs. But if 'Heaven's Gate' isn't a bad movie then there are no bad movies. *
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