Heaven's Gate - make up your own mind

4/16/16 Heaven's Gate, 1980, #98 BBC

I am going to be perfectly honest -  Heaven's Gate did not suck. Yes, it was long and maybe the four editors could have cut a little more, but I have seen worse. Much worse. I was concerned because I remember when Heaven's Gate was released and it was eviscerated in the press for being too long (the version I watched was almost four hours long), too wandering in its story, and ego ride for writer/director/head narcissist Michael Cimino (Deer Hunter), and just not very good. Growing up on all of that, I was totally shocked to see the movie had made the BBC's 100 Best American Films (I have to say, I am putting less and less faith in this particular list, but I'm too far gone to quit).

The movie opens in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts with a college graduation from Harvard University, focusing on two friends, Billy Irvine (John Hurt) and Jim Averill (Kris Kristofferson). There's a lot of laughing, not a lot of dialogue and then some unintelligible speeches (at least to me) from the serious and pious Reverend Doctor (Joseph Cotton) and the drunk Billy. The opening scene is about 10-15 minutes and I have no idea why it's there unless it's to show the privilege that produces Billy and Jim, but there is no need for the drawn out scene. We are then magically transported out West where we see a town flooded with immigrants from all over Europe, most of them not faring very well. I had a little problem with the geography because it sounded to me like they kept referring visits to St. Louis, which is in Missouri, but it turns out that most of the story is set in Wyoming; they are not close to one another. Anyway, once I left that distraction behind, I focused on the movie. Billy and Averill are both out in Wyoming; Billy is some kind of gentleman/businessman and Averill is the marshal. It seems the immigrants are stealing cattle to survive, either for food, or some believe for favors at the local brothel. This is spurring on a high level of anti-immigrant feelings, leading to killings and a plan for a mass execution, headed by Frank Canton (Sam Waterston) of the cattle association, and his orders are carried out by Nate Campion (Christopher Walken). Oh, and the woman who runs the brothel, Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert in her American film debut), is having a relationship with Averill AND Campion (the good thing is she doesn't charge Averill, but she does charge Campion for her favors - apparently that shows she has more feelings for Averill). Most of the movie seems to drag on with fights, drinking, and a rolling skating music video at Heaven's Gate, the local roller rink owned by John L. Bridges (Jeff Bridges). Yes, the movie is named after a roller skating rink, or maybe it's the other way around. The last hour of the movie is actually the best, things start to happen, and it leads to this incredibly violent and crazy shootout with the immigrants and those against the cattle association go on the offensive against the cattle association and their hired hands. It's very chaotic, and not very organized; wagons weren't designed to run in tight circles over and over, so of course they tip and it seemed more people were killed because of runaway wagons or horses. Before this all transpired, Averill quit as marshal and was ready to head back East, but his conscience gets the best of him, and he joins the immigrants and helps them construct Roman inspired war machines and gives them a brief boost, but it's not enough.

Enough about the story. The movie has an incredible cast, many of them in the early days of their careers or just before they hit it big. Waterston is refreshingly evil and unlikable as Canton, he makes you forget his longtime role as Jack McCoy. Kristofferson was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Actor, but I didn't think he was terrible; I think the role required a restrained performance with a lot below the surface. Sometimes I thought the issue was more with the script than his acting. Isabelle Huppert was my favorite actor in the movie as Ella Watson; maybe it was the French accent, but I like to think I'm more evolved than that. She was tough, sensitive, funny, held her own with a mostly male cast. I'm not sure what Bridges character was for, except to create the roller rink, and maybe be Averill's pal. Walken was really good and showed a lot of depth as well: romantic, tough as nails, a good friend, and although sometimes it's hard to see, a sense of morality.

I think if the movie had been made in the last few years, and shown on the History Channel (it's sort of based on historical events), Netflix or Amazon as a two or three part series, it would have found an audience and maybe even been nominated for a Golden Globe or something. There is a bigger appetite for longer programs if it's over a couple of nights. Not to say that would have remedied everything, but it might have helped with some of the issues. Or not, it seems that Cimino was a huge control freak and there was a lot wrong, but I'm feeling optimistic. What's that? Are you asking me if you should see it? If you like action westerns and have four hours at the cabin when it's raining, yeah, I would say to watch it. Or a snowy weekend.