![[box cover]](../reviewimgs/h/heavensgate.jpg)
Heaven's Gate
This infamous 1980 flop is a work of incredible, carefully wrought physical beauty -- but it's also as dumb and boring as all tarnation. Based on a potentially interesting historical conflict between rich cattle owners and poor immigrants in 1890's Wyoming, Michael Cimino's four-hour labor of love is so aimless, ill-conceived, and indulgent that it would take Cimino-size stamina to sort it all out. Made for a then-mammoth budget of $44 million, Heaven's Gate returned only $1.5 million, nearly bankrupting United Artists and effectively ending the Second Golden Age of Cinema. To add insult to boring injury, this pointless saga fizzles out into one of the most listless, downbeat, futile endings known to man. It's like a long joke with a no punchline that causes one to question, "I sat through that for this?" This uncut, original version looks stunning in 2.35:1 widescreen, but looks aren't everything. In 2.0 Dolby Surround. Trailer, keep case.
—Gregory P. Dorr
