Heaven's Gate

Its notoriously troubled production may have passed into legend, but Heaven’s Gate has finally emerged from its own tangled history to be regarded as a spectacular, if flawed, achievement. Michael Cimino’s hubris following his Oscar success with The Deer Hunter (1978) may have caused his downfall, but the skill with which he mounts this depiction of the Johnson County War somewhat justifies an unswerving belief in his own artistry.

Heaven’s Gate is more a collection of remarkable sequences than a great film. The characterisation and storytelling is too hazy and slight to support its four-hour running time; there are undeniable longueurs. But what lingers in the mind is Cimino’s vision and eye for detail, Vilmos Zsigmond’s atmospheric cinematography, and the thrilling climactic set-pieces, which are certainly worth waiting for. Heaven’s Gate may not be a masterpiece, but it certainly isn’t a disaster. It’s a singular American epic – one of the last of its kind. [Philip Concannon]