Rating: 
Summary: Movie to love and hate.
Review: I first saw this film in a miserably cut two-and-a-half hour version in 1981. Later on I finally saw the original cut, which is far superior--though it is still a film with some very serious problems. It is unquestionably a self-indulgent film, with some wonderfully memorable scenes (the roller skating sequence for one, & great sound-track for another). It definitely needed a better script. The cinematography, though at times stunningly beautiful, also got a bit excessive with the sepia filter--making scenes look a little too murky! Some wonderful historical detail, mixed with some incongruous corny dialogue. Scenes intended to be oblique come off opaque instead. With all its serious problems, however, I still like to view the film from time to time--I much prefer it to blockbuster movies like Titanic!
Rating: 
Summary: Quantitative Evaluation
Review: Audio Merits:8/10; Video Merits:7/10;Scenario Merits:4/10; Cinematographic Merits:4/10;Overall Artistic Performance:3/10;DVD Extras:5/10; Recording Total Quality:5/10. Professor's Comment:Its unique interesting speciality is its 219 minutes run time.
Rating: 
Summary: At Last...The Director's Cut On DVD!
Review: Imagine my surprise in finding the 219 minute version finally put on the shelves. Am I dreaming! I just ordered the DVD and cannot wait to view this much appreciated film by the few, but growing number who regard it as a modern American classic.
Rating:
Summary: Heaven's gate
Review: I ordered the DVD of Cimino's masterpiece as soon as I knew it was to be released, but alas I should have waited. I know that Heaven's Gate is meant to have a sepia-toned feel ( I was responsible for getting the BBC's print of the film acceptably transferred to tape some years back ) but the grading here is bizarre to say the least. At times it looks truly magnificent and at others ( such as Chapter 22, directly after the famous and titular skating scene ) it looks like washed monochrome covered in dirt. There's no detail, no subtlety and the change from the interior to exterior is SO shockingly terrible that it just makes me think that I wasted my money. It's a real shame, because - as the DVD liner notes state - Heaven's Gate is a 'Visual masterpiece'. Well it should be, but not on the strength of this mastering. Shame on you MGM.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring's Gate
Review: Hard as it must have been to make Wyoming's Johnson County War boring, these people managed to find a way.
Rating:
Summary: A great film.
Review: I was on location at Two Medicine Lake (Glacer National Park)Montana in June 1979 while on vacation there during the filming. After the film was released I saw it the first week in NYC .It was so long there was an intermission midway in the film. But it was interesting enough that the almost four hours went by without being bored. A few years later I seen the two hour version and I think it would have gotten better reviews by movie critics because of a different ending. Cimino also filmed Thunderbolt and Lightfoot with Clint Eastwood in Montana . I have pre-ordered the DVD version of Heavens Gate and it will be interesting to see how it is edited.
Rating:
Summary: Cimino went ker-plunk
Review: Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" and "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" were both very great films, both succeeded in getting their point across. Unforunatelly, "Heaven's Gate" had no point to get across in the first place! The scenery? Beautiful! The cinematography? Beautiful! The characters? Hollow! The Plot? What plot? Cimino fell off the bandwagon. The ending was terrible too, that is for anyone who knew anything about the actual incident. In history: around two people were killed. In hollywood: It was a hell of a lot more than 2 people. The Deer Hunter is one of my favorite films, Cimino had talent when it came to that, but I don't know what he was thinking when he did this. I just have to speak for any Cimino fans that think this film will be a great, step back and keep that great appreciation you have for Cimino because this could destroy it! (I myself had to go back and watch "The Deer Hunter" quite a few times to get the appreciation back)
Rating: 
Summary: Heaven's Gate
Review: Like another of the reviewers on this service, I was in the audience during the opening week of Heaven's Gate in Manhattan. When I read in the newspapers a week or so later that it had been panned and was considered a "disaster," I was puzzled. I still am. The most puzzling comment of all that I have heard through the years is that the film is "incomprehensible," or "has no plot." I have no earthly idea why anyone would say that. Is it because we have become so used to short films that don't require us to think? The film's plot is very simple and very easy to follow. I don't know how anyone could be confused by it. I'm also puzzled by negative comments about the acting. I had always loved Kristofferson's music, but until this film I felt that he was a lazy actor. Heaven's Gate made me a fan. The final expression on his face, frozen in pain, is exquisite. Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Jeff Bridges, Isabelle Huppert, Geoffrey Lewis, and Richard Masur are superb. This film is a perfect comment on the Reagan years in American politics, although it was released only a month after his election. The idea of government troops swooping down on the side of big money has never been portrayed better. To those who have never seen the film, or those who inisist that it has no plot, I recommend that you rid your minds of all prejudice, and become ready to watch a film that will challenge the mores of American society.
Rating:
Summary: Unjustly villified
Review: Over the years this film has become synonymous with Hollywood overindulgence and excess. What it should be synonymous with is grand, epic storytelling in the David Lean tradition. This is one of the most beautiful, elegiac films I know. Sure, it's slow at times, but it unfolds like a rich, complex novel. There are three or four set pieces, including the Harvard graduation at the top of the film and the shoot-out at the end that are simply some of the most magnificent film making I can remember. Judge it for yourself and prepare to be pleasantly surprised. WARNING: DO NOT SETTLE FOR THE SHORTER, EDITED VERSION.
Rating:
Summary: Pass me the Prozac!
Review: I was in the audience the night Heaven's Gate premiered here in Manhattan in l980. I can still remember how people began streaming out of the theater after more than 3 hours of gorgeous photography, knock-out costumes--but totally wretched performances and zero story line. There had been a year of hype and controversy. Everyone said it was a disaster not to be believed. After that first screening, we all believed it. The cast members--Kris Kristoferson, Isabel Hubbert, etc. were loathed. The movie reeked of "Look at me! Look at this Great Scene!" None of us could understand that never-ending sequence of people dancing wildly, maniacally around that goddamn tree (which the great artist, Michael Cimino, had uprooted and transported from somewhere at a cost of millions). I wanted terribly to at least like this movie on a technical level. I stayed until the bitter end and went straight home took two aspirin and dared anybody to call me in the morning.
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