Heaven's Gate (1980)
The Johnson County War:
Outrageous Acts in the Name of the Law
in Michael Cimino’s Western Epic
Harvard, 1870. James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) runs through the streets to join a group of students. They are following a band playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." The all-male, all-white students are the graduating class of ’Seventy. They are being watched, from first-floor windows, by elegant young women.
At the graduation ceremony, the class orator is James’ friend Billy Irvine (John Hurt). After the ceremony, the class celebrates in Harvard Yard. As an orchestra plays "The Blue Danube Waltz," the young women join the graduates in a swirling, intoxicating dance. Then, the women watch as the graduates battle for a bouquet of flowers placed high in the tree in the middle of the Yard.
Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate begins, like no other Western, with this extended look at the best and brightest—and most privileged—enjoying their privileges.
Then the movie shifts abruptly—to 1890 and to James, asleep on a train traveling to Casper, Wyoming. He has become Marshall of Wyoming’s Johnson County. He is returning from St. Louis with an elegant horse and buggy, a present for his mistress Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert).
Further back in the train wagons are overflowing with poor immigrants from Eastern Europe. Before leaving Casper, James visits the Stockgrowers’ Association—a group of wealthy cattle barons, one of whom is the now-alcoholic Billy. The Association, led by Frank Canton (Sam Waterston), is unhappy at the ever-increasing numbers of immigrants who are encroaching on the grazing lands used by the cattlemen. James discovers that the Association is planning to raise a mercenary army and eliminate 125 people in Johnson County.
On returning to Sweetwater, the main town in Johnson County, James warns the community’s leader John Bridges (Jeff Bridges). And when he gives Ella the horse and buggy, he tries to persuade her to leave Johnson County with him. But, she is one of few immigrants who is making money—she runs a frontier brothel—and is reluctant to leave. Ella is also involved with Nate Champion (Christopher Walken), a man of immigrant stock who is working as an enforcer for the Association.
Heaven’s Gate was a commercial disaster on its release in 1980. Its original running time was 205 minutes. It was cut by 56 minutes and re-released, but the second version also failed. Now, the original version has been restored, allowing its rich complexities to emerge.
Cimeno tells the personal story of James, with his wealth, Ella, who is attempting to gain her independence, and Nate, who is caught between his origins and hopes and the escalating violence of his employers.
Cimino contrasts the actions of the privileged—James, who attempts to help, the immigrants, Canton, who tries to eliminate them (demonizing them as “thieves and anarchists” when he issues the list of 125 names), and Billy, whose education has left him unable to deal with the issues that confront him.
Cimino also exposes the social and political implications of the perceived threat the immigrants pose to the wealthy cattle barons. The cattlemen respond by taking the law into their own hands. Then they obtain sanction for their actions from the military (the cavalry) and from politicians (the State Governor and the President).
Heaven’s Gate also has extraordinary set pieces. "The Blue Danube Waltz" dance at Harvard is contrasted with the exuberant roller-skate dance that takes place in “Heaven’s Gate”—Sweetwater’s community hall. And the Harvard mock-battle foreshadows the savage battle between the immigrants and the mercenaries (with cavalry riding to the aid of the wrong side).
[Note: Abyone who doubts the movie’s historical basis should check out The Democratic Experience (Volume Three of Daniel J. Boorstin’s history The Americans, published by Random House).
—John Bloomfield (September, 2004)
Outrageous Acts in the Name of the Law
in Michael Cimino’s Western Epic
Harvard, 1870. James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) runs through the streets to join a group of students. They are following a band playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." The all-male, all-white students are the graduating class of ’Seventy. They are being watched, from first-floor windows, by elegant young women.
At the graduation ceremony, the class orator is James’ friend Billy Irvine (John Hurt). After the ceremony, the class celebrates in Harvard Yard. As an orchestra plays "The Blue Danube Waltz," the young women join the graduates in a swirling, intoxicating dance. Then, the women watch as the graduates battle for a bouquet of flowers placed high in the tree in the middle of the Yard.
Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate begins, like no other Western, with this extended look at the best and brightest—and most privileged—enjoying their privileges.
Then the movie shifts abruptly—to 1890 and to James, asleep on a train traveling to Casper, Wyoming. He has become Marshall of Wyoming’s Johnson County. He is returning from St. Louis with an elegant horse and buggy, a present for his mistress Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert).
Further back in the train wagons are overflowing with poor immigrants from Eastern Europe. Before leaving Casper, James visits the Stockgrowers’ Association—a group of wealthy cattle barons, one of whom is the now-alcoholic Billy. The Association, led by Frank Canton (Sam Waterston), is unhappy at the ever-increasing numbers of immigrants who are encroaching on the grazing lands used by the cattlemen. James discovers that the Association is planning to raise a mercenary army and eliminate 125 people in Johnson County.
On returning to Sweetwater, the main town in Johnson County, James warns the community’s leader John Bridges (Jeff Bridges). And when he gives Ella the horse and buggy, he tries to persuade her to leave Johnson County with him. But, she is one of few immigrants who is making money—she runs a frontier brothel—and is reluctant to leave. Ella is also involved with Nate Champion (Christopher Walken), a man of immigrant stock who is working as an enforcer for the Association.
Heaven’s Gate was a commercial disaster on its release in 1980. Its original running time was 205 minutes. It was cut by 56 minutes and re-released, but the second version also failed. Now, the original version has been restored, allowing its rich complexities to emerge.
Cimeno tells the personal story of James, with his wealth, Ella, who is attempting to gain her independence, and Nate, who is caught between his origins and hopes and the escalating violence of his employers.
Cimino contrasts the actions of the privileged—James, who attempts to help, the immigrants, Canton, who tries to eliminate them (demonizing them as “thieves and anarchists” when he issues the list of 125 names), and Billy, whose education has left him unable to deal with the issues that confront him.
Cimino also exposes the social and political implications of the perceived threat the immigrants pose to the wealthy cattle barons. The cattlemen respond by taking the law into their own hands. Then they obtain sanction for their actions from the military (the cavalry) and from politicians (the State Governor and the President).
Heaven’s Gate also has extraordinary set pieces. "The Blue Danube Waltz" dance at Harvard is contrasted with the exuberant roller-skate dance that takes place in “Heaven’s Gate”—Sweetwater’s community hall. And the Harvard mock-battle foreshadows the savage battle between the immigrants and the mercenaries (with cavalry riding to the aid of the wrong side).
[Note: Abyone who doubts the movie’s historical basis should check out The Democratic Experience (Volume Three of Daniel J. Boorstin’s history The Americans, published by Random House).
—John Bloomfield (September, 2004)
posted by John Bloomfield at 9:02 PM
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