HEAVEN'S GATE
A film review by Vince Deehan
Copyright 1997 Vince Deehan
Written and Directed by Michael Cimino. Cast : Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, John Hurt, Sam Waterson, Brad Dourif and Jeff Bridges.
HEAVEN'S GATE. What does this make you think of ? For me, whenever I hear mention of this film I immediately think of the following: massive flop, financial disaster, huge budget, Michael Cimino, a ruined career. This film has become synonymous with the idea of an overblown disaster. So powerful is this association that I never knew, until last week, just what exactly the film was about. I literally hadn't a clue what the plot was until I read about the current screening of the full 220 minute version at London's National Film Theatre. This is a crying shame because having seen the film in its full 70 mm glory I can honestly say that it is a great film and one I would urge anyone to see it if they get the chance.
The story concerns the evil antics of the rich landowners of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (which gets abbreviated to just "The Association" throughout the film ) who, tiring of the impotency of the law in punishing the immigrants who are stealing their livestock, decide to take out some rough justice. To this end they write up a "death list" of 125 men who they deem to be thieves and "anarchists" who they wish to be killed. They hire local men to carry out this task, paying them five dollars a day and 50 dollars for every person they kill. They also give these hired men an allowance for clothes and boots. This leads to a very humorous scene early in the film when Kris Kristofferson's character, James Averill, returns to Wyoming and enters the local men's clothes shop to find hoards of men trying on suits and boots, all at the expense of the "association".
James Averill is the main character in the film and is clearly from the upper class, but he has been excluded from the Stock Growers Association. This is because he won't play by their rules and disagrees with some of their principles. Needless to say he is opposed to their plan to kill some of the immigrants, not least when he hears they have 125 on their list he declares that this is virtually all of them. (This latter statement was mentioned at least twice throughout the movie, both times seemingly an absurd exaggeration. In fact it probably was correct, when you realise that virtually all of the families were set to lose at least one male family member).
Alongside this story of class conflict, is the romance between James Averill and a prostitute, Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert). This romance is complicated by the involvement of Nathan D Champion (Christopher Walken) ,one of the association's hired men, who also is in love with Ella. The difference being that Ella charges Nathan, but doesn't charge James ! The interesting thing about this entanglement is that both men soon become aware of the situation but neither act as you would expect. There are no overblown histrionics between the two. In fact, both men ,as well as being on opposite sides of the conflict, seem to have a quiet respect for each other. Although I think it's fair to say that James has less respect for Nathan, than Nathan does for him.
Although the general tone of the film is quite sombre, there are some wonderfully light hearted scenes which bring a smile to the face. The opening scene sees a very youthful Kristofferson running through gentrified streets in an attempt to catch up with a procession which is headed for his University graduation ceremony. He is running so fast that it gives the film an exhilarating start which is just what you need at the start of a 220-minute film ! (As an aside, it is quite startling how young Kris Kristofferson looks without his beard in the early scenes of him as a student. He really looks about 20 and I half suspected that these scenes *must* have been filmed years before the rest of the film where he looks considerably older. In reality, I'm sure they probably weren't. Respect due to the make-up team !) . In another early scene we see Kristofferson and John Hurt, as his rather foppish friend William, dancing around a huge green with a few hundred other dancers. They are moving so fast and fluently, with the camera following, that I was amazed that the actors weren't falling over from being so dizzy ! A later scene in Wyoming sees a crazy kind of barn dance, attended by all of the immigrants and James and Ella, where everyone is whirling around the dance floor on..... roller-skates !! Was this normal practice ?! It sure makes for a hugely enjoyable scene.
There are many scenes in the film where there are hundreds of people on screen which are well handled by Cimino. For instance, an early scene shows John Hurt and Kris Kristofferson walking in as a part of a procession into a college auditorium where there are hundreds of people standing on all tiers shouting and cheering . This is an impressive feat of crowd control ! In another scene where Kristofferson is arriving back in Wyoming, we see hundreds of people rushing about with loads of horses and carts thundering through the streets at very high speeds. It is both exhilarating and terrifying to watch. It looks mighty dangerous on those streets, a man could easily be trampled underfoot. I hope it wasn't as dangerous as it looks for the actors ! The sheer hustle and bustle is so loud and powerful, and much more intense than similar set-ups in other films. Indeed the noise from the horse and carts is so loud that it drowns out some of the dialogue in these early scenes. This may or may not be intentional, but I found it quite a nice touch.
My favourite character in the film is the Irish railway station man, Cully, played wonderfully by Richard Masur. His is one of the best performances in the film, no mean feat since we see very little of him. His first scene when he talks to James Averill, an old friend, as he arrives off the train in Wyoming, is very impressive. As he walks alongside the track with James, he talks away to his old friend in a calm and friendly manner, despite the barely organised chaos around him which he is doing his best to keep under control. As far as I know Richard Masur is not Irish, but his mastery of the Irish accent is magnificent. The dialogue he is given by Michael Cimino is extremely well written with some wonderful Irish phrases that I hear frequently amongst my own family. Richard Masur imbues Cully with a deep humanity and this is strongly felt in his final scene later in the film where he is killed by the Association (presumably because he is kind to the immigrants). I felt truly sad when he was killed, and this scene deftly showed the depths to which the men of the association had sunk to.
Kris Kristofferson is good as the man of conscience, James Averill. James is a man of few words and he ably conveys this on screen. Isabelle Huppert is very charismatic as Ella and gives a very charming performance. John Hurt suffers from a having to deliver a weak character who despite delivering a strong speech in the opening of the film and openly opposing the death list proposed from his fellow Stock Growers , turns into a slightly preposterous figure at the end when , during the furious battle between the immigrants and the Association, he merely stands around sardonically saying how he wishes he were in Paris. This is not John Hurt's fault, far from it. I feel that his character was poorly developed by Michael Cimino. Given his strong feelings against the death list it would seem strange that he still turned out for the battle at the end. Surely, he would have withdrawn long before this point. Then again, maybe it just shows how truly weak this man is and therefore my criticism is unfounded.
Geoffrey Lewis gives a wonderfully comic performance as Trapper, who looked almost like a parody of the type of grizzled men you often see in Westerns (which I suppose is a genre that HEAVEN'S GATE could be said to fall into, with the immigrants taking the part of the American Indians). Trapper is a man whose face is quite literally caked in mud. His appearance is truly hilarious. Geoffrey Lewis has a wonderful scene where he tells a story about fighting a wild fox , to a dumbfounded and naive young man, played by a young (but instantly recognisable) Mickey Rourke. Christopher Walken is also in this scene and his face is a picture, as he can barely control his mirth as Trapper spins his tall tale. Trapper also raises a laugh, at least I laughed, when he is collared by the Association as he approaches a river. The Association men ask him what he is up to. He innocently replies he is about to take a bath. This is likely true, but his appearance would suggest his face has not seen running water for some years !
I saw this film in a packed cinema at London's National Film Theatre where this rarely seen full length version is being shown . It was great to see so many people turning out to see this wonderful film. I gather it has been doing strong business in this limited run which is lasting about a week. I only hope that Michael Cimino gets to hear about this wonderful show of interest his film is getting. I personally thought long and hard about whether I would go along to see such a long film that had been so poorly received upon release. I wondered whether I'd get bored early on and wish I'd never gone and end up feeling trapped in my seat out of respect to Michael Cimino. The film ran approx. 3 hours and 40 minutes with a 20 minute interval at the 2 hour mark. I can honestly say that I am pleased that I went along because I thoroughly enjoyed the film and never once got bored. This is some achievement, since many films which run for a fraction of this time have me stifling yawns within half an hour ! After the interval, there was approximately 2 minutes of soundtrack played without pictures which ran into the second part of the film.. This was a great idea and gently lulled you back in to the mood of the film. I assume this was what Michael Cimino planned himself, either way it worked wonderfully. I can't help but feel that the story could have been told in far less time, but the slow and stately pace was effective and lent greater weight to the film as a whole.
As befits an epic of a film this has been a bit of an epic of a review (at least in terms of length). I hope that other people will take any opportunity they get to see the full length version of this much maligned film which is no way deserving of its initial poor response. It is a great film and I thoroughly recommend that people check it out for themselves.
Review written by Vince Deehan on Wed, 19 Feb 1997. E-mail : vince@deehan.demon.co.uk.
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