Heaven's Gate (1980)

Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film written and directed by Michael Cimino, starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, and Joseph Cotten, and loosely based on the Johnson County War. It revolves around a dispute between land barons and European immigrants of modest means in Wyoming in the 1890s.

The film's production faced numerous setbacks, including cost overruns, significant retakes, bad press (including allegations of animal abuse on set), and rumors about Cimino's allegedly authoritarian directorial style. Cimino had an expensive and ambitious vision for the film, pushing it nearly four times over its planned budget.

The film premiered in November 1980 and received significant critical backlash, prompting United Artists (UA) to pull it from theaters. In April 1981, a truncated re-cut version was released, though it remained a financial failure, earning only $3.5 million against its $44 million budget and was lambasted by critics. It was condemned as one of the worst films ever made at the time. According to some film historians such as Peter Biskind, the film's financial failure resulted in the demise of director-driven film production in the American film industry, steering back toward greater studio control of films. The film's failure also led to Transamerica selling UA to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), ending their existence as an independent studio.

In the decades since the release, however, general assessment of Heaven's Gate has become more favorable. The 1981 re-edit has been characterized as "one of the greatest injustices of cinematic history", while later re-edits have received critical acclaim. In 2015, BBC Culture ranked Heaven's Gate 98th on its list of the 100 greatest American films of all time.