Can We Talk 2

Heaven's Gate

         On one of my free premium channels, Heaven's Gate ran the other night. It was a 1980 film. I sometimes wonder why the premium channels run old movies that can be run on any channel, but then I realized this one doesn't usually play on other channels. There is a good deal of violence and nudity in it. And then I began to recall the name of it and that it was considered a flop at the time, an expensive flop, but I couldn't remember more. It starred Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken.

         Almost immediately, I had bad feelings about it. The graduation scenes of a very young Kristofferson and John Hurt were way too long. The singing, the yelling, the dancing went on beyond boring. Instead of thinking about the beginnings of the story, I was musing over how much of it should have fallen to the editing floor. Maybe the director thought it was artistic. If it was art, it eluded me. I wanted it to move on and have substance.

         Finally, it jumped twenty years to the year 1890. Kristofferson looked more like his true age of the time. He was about 50 when the movie was made. The character would have been 45 tops, so you can imagine how ridiculous he looked in the college scene. Although they referred to him coming from St. Louis, and much of the story takes place in Casper, Wyoming, he is employed by Johnson County in Wyo., and resides in a barely existing community. His true love is a foreign born madam. He is a lawyer who still has good personal wealth. He keeps a photo of himself and his college girlfriend in his meager room. This section of the story begins with him bringing an elegant Studebaker carriage and a fine black horse to his girlfriend as a gift. She later points out to him that he gives her things, but not his heart.

         I have studied Wyoming history a little. I know about the Johnson County range wars. This particular story is fictional with little in common with the history other than a range war took place. This story involves a very large European immigrant population. It pits the stock owners association against not only "sodbusters" and other farmers, but also merchants and craftsmen. The dialog is more about the government versus poor people, which is not the basis of the range wars. (Sodbusters lived in houses made of sod, whether they grew plants or raised animals.)

         Before the big battle takes place, they have a big roller skating party at a rink that is called Heaven's Gate. Granted the music is good, and they did some cool skating stunts. But like the college dance rituals, it was way too long and boring. There is one other big scene at Heaven's Gate, and that is where Kristofferson tells them he has obtained a copy of the hit list and reads the 125 names on the list, which includes all the leading citizens of their community. They conclude that they are going to fight rather than flee. So the battle begins shortly thereafter. There is a bloody aftermath.

         Every time I thought the movie was ending, it went on to yet another segment. With Walken dead, and the madam dead, they jump ahead another 13 years or so to a yacht off Nova Scotia. Kristofferson is drawn and gaunt. Below deck there is a fragile, weak woman who asks for a cigarette. She can't even light it herself. Presumably, this is the old college girlfriend. He goes back up top, obviously still rich, retired from the legal profession, and removed from the western struggles. It seemed like a superfluous ending.

         So I had to look it up, to test my memory. It was a flop financially. It went way over budget, and eventually led to the demise of the studio. The director won a reputation for being difficult and his career died, even though he had enjoyed some earlier successes and awards. What I learned is that historically, movies had been in the control of the studios. For about a 12 year period, including most of the 60's and early 70's, films had become director driven. This movie helped shift that control back to the studio, so that budgets and artistic temperaments didn't destroy them again.

         If you have the time for a really long movie, and don't expect any historical truth, you might enjoy this one. There is a love triangle with Walken that actually holds it together. If they had made that the major thrust of the film, they may have fared a little better. The movie is getting more approval now that time has passed, and the expense forgiven.