Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate - A Review

Heaven's Gate, the notorious financial disaster that sank United Artists and the directing career of Michael Cimino.

First, the positives: The production design, set design, costumes, lighting are all amazing. And the music is beautiful.

But the story and characters...kind of thin. Remove the trappings of the epic and you end up with a simple story of a worn out, cynical, law man named James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) in love with a brothel owner, Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert). She, in turn, is in love with Nate Champion (Christopher Walken), a mercenary hired by the rich land owners to kill off the immigrants living on their land.

Problem is Ella is an immigrant. And it is hinted that Nate Champion might also be an immigrant. "You work for them (land owners)? You look like one of us," an immigrant kid yells at Champion. Yet Champion remains an enigma throughout the film.

The movie opens with a beautifully staged prologue, a graduation sequence set some twenty years before the main events of the film.

We see a young James Averill and his drunken college buddy William Irvine (John Hurt). They are happy, full of life. The graduating students dance the waltz out in the courtyard.

But at the end of the prologue, William is depressed and saddened by the thought of impending adulthood and lost youth. "It's over, James," Irvine cries out as fellow graduates crowd around them, cheering and screaming for joy. Thus the movie begins with a melancholy tone and a longing for a past already gone.

Flash forward twenty years later. Jim Averill sits alone in a large, ornate train car. The image of Averill, with his graying beard and cowboy hat is strong and iconic. Outside of the train, seated along the top are hundreds of immigrants, huddled masses looking for a new life out West.

The train arrives in Casper, Wyoming. Averill learns that the rich land owners plan to get rid of the immigrants. At a social club, where Averill was once a member, he meets up with old friend William Irvine.

Irvine is now a sad drunk, longing for the good old days of their youth. Averill confides in Irvine that he hates getting old. Irvine complains that they are all prisoners of their class. Both realize the battle to rid the immigrants is inevitable.

Turns out there is a death list to kill off more than one hundred immigrants, including Ella Watson. Jim wants Ella to leave and start a new life with him. Ella wants to stay. Nate is in love with Ella and doesn't want her to go with Jim. Ella doesn't know who she should be with.

Nate and Jim have a rivally not so much based upon the love of Ella but of class.

"You're a rich man, with a fancy name," a towns person says to Averill. "I want to get rich, like you," Champion tells Jim. And after helping Averill into his bed after a night of heavy drinking Champion puts on Averill's hat and looks in the mirror. "You have class," Nate says to the passed out Averill as he admires himself wearing Averill's hat.

They are all prisoners of their class.

There is a sweet scene when Nate shows Ella his cabin and that the inside walls have wallpaper - old newspapers glued to the walls. Champion has made an attempt to be somewhat civilized and classy, like Jim Averill.

It's takes a while to build up steam but after about three hours the movie kicks into high gear with an exciting battle between the immigrants and a mercenary army hired by the rich landowners.

Heaven's Gate is not a bad movie. It is not a roller coaster comic-book movie. Yes, the story is weak and many of the shots last way too long. The movie's running time is three hours forty minutes. But the technical aspect is first-rate. Kris Kristofferson is brilliant at playing a cynical, sad, world weary character. Christopher Walken is mysterious and dark. Isabella Hubert is wonderful as Ella Watson.

Despite its many flaws, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate deserves a chance with lovers of film.