{"id":15625,"date":"2013-11-26T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T14:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=15625"},"modified":"2013-11-26T14:14:05","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T14:14:05","slug":"heavens-gate-dvd-blu-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2013\/11\/26\/heavens-gate-dvd-blu-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven’s Gate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Isabelle<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most infamous commercial disasters in Hollywood history gets another re-release, but at the correct length there is much to admire in Michael Cimino\u2019s 1980 western.<\/p>\n

Heaven\u2019s Gate has a formidable legacy as the film that bankrupted United Artists<\/a>, virtually ended the high flying career of its director, and led to the major studios taking fewer risks as the sun finally set on the auteur-driven New Hollywood era.<\/p>\n

Although the truth may be more nuanced, it certainly came to symbolise the worst excesses and indulgences of the era, whether that was deserved or not.<\/p>\n

But how does it hold up now?<\/p>\n

Part of the problem is that ever since its New York premiere in November 1980 (when it clocked in at 219 mins), Cimino and the studio decided to pull it from release after just a week and then issue a drastically recut version later that April (148 mins).<\/p>\n

This makes it somewhat difficult to judge, given that most audiences haven\u2019t seen the longer version, but thanks to this new re-release on Blu-ray and DVD, we can see the version that has been personally approved by the director himself.<\/p>\n

There are numerous sequences that have been restored and one can finally say this is the version that should be seen.<\/p>\n

Set in Wyoming amidst the Johnson County War of 1892<\/a>, it depicts the brutal struggle of Russian immigrants, as the local cattle barons gradually try to exterminate them.<\/p>\n