History YMMV / HeavensGate

--> '''Canton''': Not in here!

* OlderThanTheyThink: The story of the Johnson County War had already been featured in a few films before ''Heaven's Gate''. In fact, a 1976 MadeForTVMovie called ''The Invasion of Johnson County'' (with Creator/BillBixby and Creator/BoHopkins) hit a lot of the same story beats Cimino would later use, including Frank Canton and Nate Champion as characters amid the fictionalized storyline. In general, the stock Western plot of settlers versus cattle barons was an echo of the Johnson County events, with ''Literature/{{Shane}}'' (novel and film) especially taking the central Johnson County conflict and giving it a mythicized treatment.

* WTHCastingAgency: This was the producers' initial response to Cimino wanting to cast French actress Creator/IsabelleHuppert as the female (American) lead. Few people would argue that Huppert is in any way a bad actress, but her role in this film is probably the one that divides critics the most; in particular, the producers and many critics shared the opinion that her dialogue is fairly incomprehensible at times. Of course, one of the producers tried ExecutiveMeddling. Cimino's response? "Go fuck yourself." According to Steven Bach in ''Final Cut'', the executives fought him every step of the way on Huppert, since she was practically unknown to most Americans, and didn't have leading lady looks (the most flattering description for Huppert that Bach can muster is "mousy"). They finally gave up once they realized he was infatuated with her. Depending on who you want to believe, either Cimino was prepared to quit if they didn't agree to Huppert, or UA was prepared to drop the project if he didn't back down, before UA president Andy Albeck stepped in and supported Cimino. David Field, Bach's co-head of production at UA, feels that winning the battle over Huppert marked the point where Cimino basically took control of the film once and for all.

%%* TooCoolToLive: Nathan Champion.
* ValuesResonance: The film is ultimately about a privileged oligarchy that feels entitled to do whatever it wants to an impoverished minority; a [[TruthInTelevision reality]] that became a defining feature of TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties.

* SoOkayItsAverage: What some viewers now see the film as. While the cinematography, sets, and production design are generally seen as absolutely beautiful, the story and characters aren't viewed as being relatable or all that interesting.

* ValuesResonance: The film is ultimately about a privileged oligarchy that feels entitled to do whatever it wants to an impoverished minority; a [[TruthInTelevision reality]] that became a defining feature of TheNewTens.

* DesignatedHero: Several viewers have found themselves rooting for the Association, as the immigrants, what with their lack of CharacterDevelopment and rather annoying voices, come across as less likable.

** Other observers point out that the similarly TroubledProduction ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was a box-office success and that ''Heaven's Gate'' was also accompanied by other expensive films like Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979'' and Creator/WarrenBeatty's ''Film/{{Reds|1981}}'', the former being a critical failure, an out of control production and a modest success, while the latter being successful and preserving Beatty's reputation. Spielberg himself enjoyed a couple of expensive flops in TheEighties and TheNineties such as ''Film/{{Hook}}'' and ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun'' yet his career did not quite sink as drastically as Cimino's. In many ways, Cimino's behavior was not especially excessive for his time, and he had success with ''Film/TheDeerHunter'' to justify his ambition and grit, yet this one failure ruined his Hollywood career for good.

** A big issue in the film's reputation is that Steven Bach's book ''Final Cut'' shaped a lot of the public perception of its TroubledProduction, but, while it's a very well-written and candid book, Bach, as the UA exec in charge of production, wasn't an impartial observer, and one of the subtexts of the book is actually really important in understanding what happened: five UA executives quitting at the start of 1978 to form Creator/OrionPictures, leaving a less-experienced group (including Bach) to take over at UA. The UA leadership giving Cimino free reign, then bungling the release, needs to be kept in mind in the whole situation (Bach to his credit admits this, but focusing the book on Cimino's excesses, entertaining though they were, deflected too much of the blame). Bach's co-head of production, David Field, also felt that Bach used ''Final Cut'' as an attempt to deflect blame away from himself.

* AccidentalAesop: A meta example. This film's production is a good cautionary tale of how being a {{Perfectionist}} can blow up in your face, even when you're DoingItForTheArt. Had Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} been a bit more pragmatic about how to achieve his artistic goals for the film, a lot of its issues could've been avoided. It's also a great reminder about keeping your ego in check and just as quickly as you can be on top, you can also just as quickly lose it as Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} went from being a major name in the movie making business to having his career destroyed by this film.

* BrokenBase: Either it's one of the worst films of the 1980's or a misunderstood masterpiece.

* AccidentalAesop: A meta example. This film's production is a good cautionary tale of how being a {{Perfectionist}} can blow up in your face, even when you're DoingItForTheArt. Had Creator/MichaelCimino been a bit more pragmatic about how to achieve his artistic goals for the film, a lot of its issues could've been avoided. It's also a great reminder about keeping your ego in check and just as quickly as you can be on top, you can also just as quickly lose it as Creator/MichaelCimino went from being a major name in the movie making business to having his career destroyed by this film.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Creator/MichaelCimino argued that he simply wanted to make a compelling story, not a political one. That didn't stop some critics from calling him a Communist and the film left-wing propaganda. Granted, the film was about poor immigrants being unfairly slaughtered by rich elitists with full support from the American government; surely Cimino must have known how politically-charged that subject matter is. It didn't help when he gave an interview around the time of the edited version's release saying that he wanted to show the birth of the American mentality that ultimately led to Vietnam.

* AccidentalAesop: A meta example. This film's production is a good cautionary tale of how being a {{Perfectionist}} can blow up in your face, even when you're DoingItForTheArt. Had Creator/MichaelCimino been a bit more pragmatic about how to achieve his artistic goals for the film, a lot of its issues could've been avoided. It's also a great reminder about keeping your ego in check and just as quickly as you can be on top, you can also just as quickly lose it as Creator/MichaelCimino went from being a major name in the movie making business only to have his career destroyed by this film.

* AccidentalAesop: A meta example. This film's production is a good cautionary tale of how being a {{Perfectionist}} can blow up in your face, even when you're DoingItForTheArt. Had Creator/MichaelCimino been a bit more pragmatic about how to achieve his artistic goals for the film, a lot of its issues could've been avoided.

* AccidentalAesop: A meta example. This film's production is a good cautionary tale of how being a {{Perfectionist}} can blow up in your face, even when you're DoingItForTheArt. Had Creator/MichaelCimino been a bit more pragmatic about how to achieve his artistic goals for the film, a lot of the its issues could've been avoided.

* AccidentalAesop: A meta example. This film's production is a good cautionary tale of how a successful filmmaker [[DoingItForTheArt trying to make their passion project literally perfect]], with little concern for the [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome realistic restraints]] of time, money and even human capability, can blow up in one's face.

* EndingFatigue: With a runtime of three hours and 46 minutes, this is one of the biggest complaints, with the view that the film doesn't have nearly enough plot to fill out its running time. In particular, the epilogue,[[spoiler:--a DistantFinale with Averill back among the New England aristocracy--]] a wholly disconnected scene that Cimino added purely for artistic gravitas, is viewed as completely unnecessary.

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/KrisKristofferson later starred in the MadeForTVMovie ''Sodbusters'', directed and co-written by Creator/EugeneLevy, a comic {{Western}} based on a PlayedForLaughs "cattle baron vs. settlers" storyline.

* CommonKnowledge: "''Film/HeavensGate'' bankrupted Creator/UnitedArtists" isn't exactly what happened. In a nutshell, in 1981 UA's parent company Transamerica decided to refocus on their core business of insurance and investments, and started selling off their other assets. ''Heaven's Gate'' had certainly been a major contributor to UA's recent underperformance, but there were other factors like many of UA's former clients preferring to do business with the old UA regime now at Creator/OrionPictures, plus other questionable moves by UA's new regime, presiding over several other flops and paying exorbitant amounts to acquire film rights for high profile books. Even then, thanks largely to the success of ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', plus smaller hits like ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/{{Caveman}}'', the studio was breaking even. Then Creator/{{MGM}} owner Kirk Kerkorian suddenly swooped in and offered Transamerica $380 million (over a billion dollars in today's money) to buy UA, and it was simply too good of a deal for them to pass up.

* CommonKnowledge: "''Film/HeavensGate'' bankrupted Creator/UnitedArtists" isn't exactly what happened. In a nutshell, in 1981 UA's parent company Transamerica decided to refocus on their core business of insurance and investments, and started selling off their other assets. ''Heaven's Gate'' had certainly been a major contributor to UA's recent underperformance, but there were other factors like many of UA's former clients preferring to do business with the old UA regime now at Creator/OrionPictures, plus several other flops that the newer UA execs had presided over. Even then, thanks largely to the success of ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', plus smaller hits like ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/{{Caveman}}'', the studio was breaking even. Then Creator/{{MGM}} owner Kirk Kerkorian suddenly swooped in and offered Transamerica $380 million (over a billion dollars in today's money) to buy UA, and it was simply too good of a deal for them to pass up.

** A big issue in the film's reputation is that Steven Bach's book ''Final Cut'' shaped a lot of the public perception of its TroubledProduction, but, while it's a very well-written and candid book, Bach, as the UA exec in charge of production, wasn't an impartial observer, and one of the subtexts of the book is actually really important in understanding what happened: five UA executives quitting at the start of 1978 to form Creator/OrionPictures, leaving a less-experienced group (including Bach) to take over at UA. The UA leadership giving Cimino free reign, then bungling the release, needs to be kept in mind in the whole situation (Bach to his credit admits this, but focusing the book on Cimino's excesses, entertaining though they were, deflected too much of the blame).

* WTHCastingAgency: This was the producers' initial response to Cimino wanting to cast French actress Creator/IsabelleHuppert as the female (American) lead. Few people would argue that Huppert is in any way a bad actress, but her role in this film is probably the one that divides critics the most; in particular, the producers and many critics shared the opinion that her dialogue is fairly incomprehensible at times. Of course, one of the producers tried ExecutiveMeddling. Cimino's response? "Go fuck yourself." According to Steven Bach in ''Final Cut'', the executives fought him every step of the way on Huppert, since she was practically unknown to most Americans, and didn't have leading lady looks (Bach calls her "mousy" at several points). They finally gave up once they realized he was infatuated with her and that if they didn't agree, he would walk.

* EndingFatigue: With a runtime of three hours and 46 minutes, this is one of the biggest complaints, as the plot isn't especially viewed to be enough to fill out the running time. In particular, the epilogue is viewed as extraneous and could have been cut.

* WTHCastingAgency: This was the producers' initial response to Cimino wanting to cast French actress Creator/IsabelleHuppert as the female (American) lead. Few people would argue that Huppert is in any way a bad actress, but her role in this film is probably the one that divides critics the most; in particular, the producers and many critics shared the opinion that her dialogue is fairly incomprehensible at times. Of course, one of the producers tried ExecutiveMeddling. Cimino's response? "Go fuck yourself." According to ''Final Cut'', the book Steven Bach wrote on the making of it, the executives fought him every step of the way against casting Huppert, finally giving up when they realized that he was infatuated with her and that if they didn't agree, he would walk.

** Other observers point out that the similarly TroubledProduction ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' was a box-office success and that ''Heaven's Gate'' was also accompanied by other expensive films like Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/NineteenFortyOne'' and Creator/WarrenBeatty's ''Film/{{Reds|1981}}'', the former being a critical failure, an out of control production and a modest success, while the latter being successful and preserving Beatty's reputation. Spielberg himself enjoyed a couple of expensive flops in TheEighties and TheNineties such as ''Film/{{Hook}}'' and ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun'' yet his career did not quite sink as drastically as Cimino's. In many ways, Cimino's behavior was not especially excessive for his time, and he had success with ''Film/TheDeerHunter'' to justify his ambition and grit, yet this one failure ruined his Hollywood career for good.

* CompleteMonster: [[CattleBaron Frank Canton]], here [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade lacking any of his more sympathetic qualities]] is the head of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association who intends to kill 125 immigrants and claim them as anarchists, with the support of the President of the United States. Canton ambushes and murders the train station master when he tries to warn the town about his arrival. Canton then has his men [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] Ella Watson. When his enforcer Nathan D. Champion [[EveryoneHasStandards discovers this]], he kills the one rapist who escaped in front of Canton, [[BadBoss who shows no concern]] over his death and personally executes a captured immigrant. While fighting with the immigrants, Canton brings in the cavalry to rescue his own men, and threatens to shoot [[TheHero James Averill]] for insurrection when he points this out. Canton later ambushes Averill, Ella, and John H. Bridges, the only survivors of the battle, killing both Ella and Bridges before he himself is shot by Averill.

* CompleteMonster: [[CattleBaron Frank Canton]] is the head of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association who intends to kill 125 immigrants and claim them as anarchists, with the support of the President of the United States. Canton ambushes and murders the train station master when he tries to warn the town about his arrival. Canton then has his men [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] Ella Watson. When his enforcer Nathan D. Champion [[EveryoneHasStandards discovers this]], he kills the one rapist who escaped in front of Canton, [[BadBoss who shows no concern]] over his death and personally executes a captured immigrant. While fighting with the immigrants, Canton brings in the cavalry to rescue his own men, and threatens to shoot [[TheHero James Averill]] for insurrection when he points this out. Canton later ambushes Averill, Ella, and John H. Bridges, the only survivors of the battle, killing both Ella and Bridges before he himself is shot by Averill.