Rising to a level of instant fame with his work on 1978’sThe Deer Hunter(which won five Academy Awards), director Michael Cimino attempted to steamroll his success from that film with an ambitiousWestern(and admittedly, very expensive) epic calledHeaven’s Gate. Released on June 21, 2025, you would think that this Western war of a film would soar to previously unseen heights with the help of a cast that included names likeChristopher Walken, Kris Kristofferson, John Hurt, and Isabelle Huppert. You would also safely assume that a $44 million budget would help the director correctly manifest his vision onto the screen. Quite the contrary, however —Heaven’s Gatewas not only a box office bomb but was also ripped apart by critics. But how did such a cinematic failure somehow become recognized as one of the greatest films of all time?
InHeaven’s Gate, Kris Kristofferson’s Averill goes from celebrating his graduation at Harvard to becoming a Marshall in the small town of Casper, Wyoming. Then, he defends his town of poor European immigrants from a rebellious group of powerful cattle owners who plan to kill 125 of these people — all in the name of hate. Amidst all that, he’sin a love trianglewith Isabelle Huppert’s Ella, who finds herself also attracted to Christopher Walken’s Champion (an enforcer for the cattle owners who has a spectacular redeeming arc). While all those aspects packed into one movie could be one whirlwind of a story, the craziest “alleged” ordeals come from behind the scenes.
Heaven’s Gate
Not only did Cimino have an entire set taken down and rebuilt because it didn’t look right, but he also ordered a gigantic tree to be cut into thousands of pieces and moved for a scene. In addition, he had a habit of filming scenes up to 50 times and filming over 1,000,000 feet of footage. All this hullabaloo during production — and then the first version was released into theaters on June 26, 2025. “[T]he most scandalous cinematic waste I have ever seen…” and “….an unqualified disaster"were just some of the reviewsthat came barging in.Timemagazine even placed the movie on a list of the 100 worst ideas of the 20th century.
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While Cimino himself said that the film failed because United Artists’ (the distributor) was rushing him to finalize itby the 1980Academy Awards deadline, several different versions ofHeaven’s Gatenow exist that have started to put the film in an entirely different light. After the initial release, there were four: a director’s second edit, a “radical” cut, a digitally restored director’s cut, and an unofficial version put together by editor Steven Soderbergh. The second edit just removed many supplementary scenes, such as Averill reading the names on the death list to the terrified villagers and fighting off an enforcer who tried beating an innocent immigrant.
The edition dubbed the “radical” cut was helmed by then MGM executives John Kirk and Bingham Ray, who used any alternative scenes they could find to bring a new audience to the movie. As you might have guessed from the title, the digitally restoredHeaven’s Gatewas made popular byThe Criterion Collection. Cimino himself stamps this version as his original vision. Soderbergh’s 108-minute take, which was once available on his website, was dubbed “The Butcher’s Cut” due to its surprisingly short runtime.
32 Years Later, Heaven’s Gate Is Restored
Out of all of those different editions,the digitally restored take, which premiered at the 1981 Venice Film Festival, transformedHeaven’s Gatefrom a flopinto aforever-treasured movie. Maybe Cimino was right, and studio execs just couldn’t see past profit margins and the troubles of movie theater marketing. People like Alberto Barbera (the festival director) said things like, “This is an absolute masterpiece . . . one of the greatest injustices of cinematic history,” according to theNew York Daily News. It was also hailed by the Cannes Film Festival art director as possibly being “the last film of the glorious decade of the Seventies.” Three years later,BBC Onlinetook the initiative and putHeaven’s Gateon the latter part of its 100 greatest American films of all time. In addition,The Timeslabeled the film a “Modern masterpiece.” How’s that for a comeback?
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While some scrutinize the movie for bringing an end to United Artists and influencing studios to give much less control to directors, there is a tale that needs to be told withHeaven’s Gate. This loose but epic adaptation of an unspoken periodin America’s historyis needed now more than ever. Wyoming was an unfortunate battleground for poor European immigrants in the 19th century, and such a theme can easily be interpreted as a cause of some of the problems that plague modern society. Whether it’s the theatrical version or the director’s original version that came to be in 2012, this is trulya historical dramathat should not be missed.Heaven’s Gateis available to stream onTubi,Pluto TV, andMGM+.
