Hi Lee,
When you say in your online reply to the Candy defender that you're "about the only one who will admit to seeing some great things in Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate", do you mean the only in your house? The only one of Retro's editors? If not, I'd be amazed if you didn't know that the film has a large following of reputable critics who regard it (as I do) as one of the last great Hollywood movies. See, for instance, the chapter on it in Robin Wood's book Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan (in the Sight and Sound 1982 critics poll, Wood named it as one of the ten greatest films of all time).
On the other hand, I think you're right about Skidoo. But I know one academic critic who loves it! I don't think Rosebud is too bad either. I guess every film has its champion - and some have more than you might think.
Best,
Sheldon Hall
Retro Responds: Sheldon, my rhetoric was rather sloppy. I am aware that there are other defenders of Heaven's Gate. I believe there is a guy in Bayonne, New Jersey and a hermit living under a bridge in Kent. Seriously, while I am not aware of any significant number of prominent critics who defend Heaven's Gate, I do know that the film was accorded a much better reception in Europe, primarily in France and some other critics have warmed to it over the decades. Nevertheless, I would happy if there was a move to re-evaluate this fine film. It's one of those epics that was ill-conceived from a financial standpoint. Releasing a Socialist Western at the dawn of the Reagan era seemed to make it inevitable that the movie would be a box-office bomb. However, that doesn't negate it's value as a dramatic movie. In fairness, much of the virtriol leveled at the film was largely because of the many unfavorable stories in the trade press and mainstream media that presented Michael Cimino as a pompous egotist who had the audacity to not even show the finished movie to the studio that financed it until the night of the premiere. Adding to the film's sorry legacy was the bestselling book Final Cut by United Artists executive Steven Bach that provides in painful detail the amazing number of miscalculations that went into bringing the movie to reality. A modestly-budgeted Western morphed into an outrageously expensive marketing disaster. Nevertheless, your comments peak my interest in watching the film again. I smell a future article for Cinema Retro.. By the way, I'll use this opportunity to give you a gratuitous plug:
Sheldon Hall is the author of numerous books about the cinema, including Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It, The Making of the Epic Movie. His latest book is Widescreen Worldwide.
- Lee Pfeiffer