383 - Heaven's Gate, United States, 1980. Dir. Michael Cimino.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

383 - Heaven's Gate, United States, 1980.  Dir. Michael Cimino.

Skating.  A moral and exhilarating experience.

So says the sign above the door at the Heaven's Gate skating rink, owned by John L. Bridges, played by Jeff Bridges.

The good people of Sweetwater, Wyoming, agree with him.

When the young Skating Violinist, John DeCory (played by David Mansfield), plays his fiddle while skating around the rink, they fill the place to capacity.

And everybody skates.  And everybody dances.

Young John is backed by his band, comprising real musicians Cleve Dupin, Jerry McGee (accordion), Stephen Bruton (guitar), Sean Hopper (bass) (from Huey Lewis and the News), Norton Buffalo (harmonica and scrub board), and T Bone Burnett (drums).

David Mansfield was a teenager when Bob Dylan invited him on the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour, and Mansfield stayed with Dylan for three years.  T Bone Burnett was also on that tour, and the two of them added Steven Soles to form The Alpha Band.  Mansfield was 22 when hired to compose the soundtrack for Heaven's Gate while also playing the role of John DeCory, the Skating Violinist.

The music has a Cajun feel and uses lots of stringed instruments.  Like the mandolin.  And the mandocello.

The town's Marshal, Jim Averill (Kris Kristofferson), is at the skating dance with his girlfriend Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert).  Ella is French Canadian, from Quebec, so she speaks with a French accent.  (Isabelle Huppert is French, from France.)

After the skating is over and everyone leaves, including proprietor Bridges, who gets motion sickness from skating, the band plays on and Jim and Ella have a private dance.

These are the moments of grace in Johnson County, just before the Johnson County War begins.

A range war.  A fight over property and cattle rights.  An effort by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association--led by Frank Canton (Sam Waterston) and supported by Jim's friend Nathan D. Champion (Christopher Walken) while tolerated by his Harvard classmate William "Billy" Irvine (John Hurt)--to rid the County of its European immigrants, mostly Slavic and German.

The cattlemen are squeezing out the immigrants and the immigrants are starving.  They in turn have resorted to stealing in order to survive.  Once they do, the cattlemen now have the law on their side and they can press charges.  Or in their case, take the law into their own hands.

Billy was the valedictorian of the Harvard graduating class of 1870, and as class orator he gave an inebriated counter speech to The Reverend Doctor (Joseph Cotten).  Twenty years later he lives in Johnson County and is a member of the Association.  He runs into his old pal Jim in Casper when Averill is moving from St. Louis to Sweetwater.  They are thrilled to run into each other again.

Billy sits in on the meeting where Frank Canton proposes a death list.  A death list with 125 names on it.  125 names of European immigrants.  Whom they intend to kill.  Outright.  Claiming legal justification.  For cattle rustling.  Billy is horrified.  He stands up and protests.  No one sides with him.  Canton puts it to a vote.  All vote Yes.  Irvine leaves.  He goes upstairs in the private clubhouse.  Averill is playing pool alone.  Canton kicked Averill out of the club in the past and has the legal right to have him arrested for trespassing.  Even though Averill is the Marshall.  These men know how to work the law.  Billy informs Jim of what they intend to do.  Jim goes downstairs and confronts the men.  Canton threatens him.  Averill walks out after punching Canton to the floor.

Jim loves Ella but he is concerned about her.  He tells her a war is coming, and he asks her to leave.  He intuits that they are going to come after her.  Ella is a businesswoman.  She runs the brothel, and she keeps her books balanced to the penny.  But her clients sometimes pay with cows instead of cash.  Cows that the Association deems to be stolen.  Making her an accessory.  Probably qualifying her for the death list.

Ella loves Jim and does not understand him.  If he loves her, why is he asking her to leave?  Why would they not stay together?  He wants her to leave because he loves her.  Because he wants her to be safe.  And not killed.  And because he has a duty to stay behind and protect the town.  He can come and join her later, when everything settles down.  Everything he does is motivated by love.  But he does not articulate it in a way that she can understand it.  They are stuck.

Meanwhile, Nathan cares for her too.  He comes to her.  She makes him pay.  Jim is the only one ever who does not pay.  She loves Jim.  Nathan, however, suddenly proposes to her.  At least he starts the proposal.  She responds to it.  And he falls asleep.  But she heard him.  Now what to do?  The man she loves is asking her to leave, and the man who is fighting against her people has just proposed to her.

The Heaven's Gate skating rink does not stay moral and exhilarating for long.

The people begin to meet there.

What is going on?

Tensions mount.  

They are being attacked.  A war is coming.  They must do something.

Averill is able to get a copy of the death list from Canton.  The first thing he does is check for Ella's name.  He confirms it.  Her name is on there.  He goes to the skating rink.  He addresses the townsfolk.  He reads them the names on the list.  It is practically all of them.

Something happens to make Nathan realize how bad Canton is.  And that he has been fighting for the wrong side.

The war comes.

And blood is shed.

And good wins.  And bad wins.  And nobody wins.

Well, money wins.

Heaven's Gate is a sweeping epic drama of the American West.  It was lensed by Vilmos Zsigmond, whom we just watched and discussed yesterday with Bette Midler in The Rose (1979).  He made this movie immediately after that one.

The Rose
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2018/01/382-rose-united-states-1979-dir-mark.html

While watching Heaven's Gate, you may think of Terrence Malick's Day's of Heaven (1978) and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) for their epically sweeping views of 19th century Americana, and indeed Zsigmond worked as the DP on McCabe and Mrs. Miller as well.  (Consider that both involve a man moving into a small, new Western town and getting involved with the local madame.)  He also worked with Michael Cimino on The Deer Hunter (1978), for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography.  He would work with The Rose's Mark Rydell again on The River (1984), and he won the Oscar for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978).  He started working in 1953 and kept working until he passed away two years ago.  His last film, The Bombing, starring Bruce Willis, is scheduled to be released this year.

Days of Heaven
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/02/039-days-of-heaven-1978-united-states.html

McCabe and Mrs. Miller
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/12/362-mccabe-mrs-miller-united-states.html

Heaven's Gate was filmed in Panavision, in Technicolor, in a wide aspect ratio of 2.40:1, and printed on a blow-up 70mm print from the 35mm negative, with 6-track audio.

It is rich in color, deliberate in pacing, expansive in scope, precise in detail, thoughtful in message, nuanced in characterization, and effective in dramatic impact.

It is the singular vision of a determined artist.