{"id":11889,"date":"2026-05-03T01:52:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T06:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=11889"},"modified":"2026-05-03T01:52:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T06:52:42","slug":"you-cannot-sell-michael-cimino-short-he-had-united-artist-by-the-and-squeezed-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=11889","title":{"rendered":"You cannot sell Michael Cimino short…….he had United Artist by the …. and squeezed hard……"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Cimino-Talented Director of Heaven\u2019s Gate<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Some filmmakers have great talent and produce many money-making films in their lifetime. \u00a0Michael Cimino\u00a0 directed just a few movies, which have received mixed reviews, yet I consider him one of the best directors of his short time in the business. \u00a0Winning the Best Director Oscar for The Deer Hunter<\/span> in 1978, a great movie of the seventies, Cimino knows how to bring violence and emotion to the big screen. \u00a0Add Magnum Force\u2019s screenplay with John Milius, throw in his other two wonderfully directed flicks, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and The Year of Living Dangerously<\/span>, and <\/u>you pretty much named his successful movies. But you cannot forget Heaven\u2019s Gate<\/u>,<\/span> the cost-override movie that put United Artists out of business. Directing the $44,000,000 movie in 1990, Cimino killed his career as a director. But don\u2019t give up on this flawed \u201cmasterpiece.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Heaven\u2019s Gate<\/u><\/span> is a film everyone must see. \u00a0It\u2019s not a good movie, but that is not the whole story.\u00a0 \u00a0A film that has scenes that you will never forget, no, don\u2019t give up on it. Don\u2019t see it in one setting either.\u00a0 If you do, make sure you have at least one six pack per person.\u00a0 It is long and it \u201cdusty.\u201d Forget the pecan sandies. You won\u2019t need them.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Want to know what Wyoming was like during the Johnson County War in 1892 or what it was like to graduate from Harvard in the 1870\u2019s?\u00a0 Beautifully shot film, but dusty through a haze covered lense, unlike the crisp cinematography of the Deer Hunter<\/span>. This movie features Christopher Walken and a great cast.\u00a0 Kristofferson, Hurt, and Huppert are there, choking up the dirt. Even Jeff Bridges, did I mention?\u00a0 And Sam Waterston, his Rancho Delux<\/span> co-star.\u00a0 That, by itself, makes it a must-see, with such talent. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Again, violence, the director\u2019s main event card stopper, \u00a0is extreme. \u00a0The sex is hard, and then it gets harder. Huppert can and does.\u00a0 This movie is tough to chew. Hell, it is downright torture to sit through in one setting. \u00a0It\u2019s not a good movie, as I repeat myself. But god damn it, Heaven\u2019s Gate is an unforgettable movie. Not forgettable.\u00a0 No, no, no, no, no.\u00a0 F\u2019n unforgetable What you see, what you get, you won\u2019t forget it, and you won\u2019t be able to take it back, block it out, that\u2019s for sure. It is one of my favorite movies, yes.\u00a0 Did I say that many today call it a masterpiece of filmmaking?\u00a0 They do, but some do so under their breath. I am in that group. It is, and it\u2019s still not a good flick.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

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\u201d\u00a0On the basis of his track record, Cimino was given free rein by United Artists<\/a> for his next film, Heaven\u2019s Gate<\/a> (1980). The film came in several times over budget. After its release, it proved to be a financial disaster that nearly bankrupted the studio. Heaven\u2019s Gate became the lightning rod for the industry perception of the loosely controlled situation in Hollywood at that time. The film\u2019s failure marked the end of the New Hollywood<\/a> era. Transamerica Corporation<\/a>, the owner of United Artists, lost confidence in the company and its management and sold the company.[20]<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nHeaven\u2019s Gate was such a devastating box office and critical bomb that public perception of Cimino\u2019s work was tainted in its wake; the majority of his subsequent films achieved neither popular nor critical success.[21]<\/a> Many critics who had originally praised The Deer Hunter<\/a> became far more reserved about the picture and about Cimino after Heaven\u2019s Gate. The story of the making of the movie, and UA\u2019s subsequent downfall, was documented in Steven Bach<\/a>\u2018s book Final Cut. Cimino\u2019s film was somewhat rehabilitated by an unlikely source: the Z Channel<\/a>, a cable pay TV<\/a> channel that at its peak in the mid-1980s served 100,000 of Los Angeles\u2019s most influential film professionals. After the unsuccessful release of the re-edited and shortened Heaven\u2019s Gate, Jerry Harvey<\/a>, the channel\u2019s programmer, decided to play Cimino\u2019s original 219 minute cut on Christmas Eve 1982. The re-assembled movie received admiring reviews.\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michael_Cimino<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Michael Cimino-Talented Director of Heaven\u2019s Gate Some filmmakers have great talent and produce many money-making…<\/p>\n

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