i saw heaven gate on it open week nearly twenty year ago . ticket be sell in advance base on the great anticipation of see cimino long in the making follow up to his 1978 masterpiece the deerhunter . the review come in and critic trash the film with vehemence . an influential new york film critic lead the way and most critic follow suit and and the 3hr . 40 min . film be pull from distribution . united artist have cimino shorten the film by about an hour and it be re release many month later to equally horrible review and to dismal business . the film at that time cost about 40 million dollar ( now consider low budget ) make it one of the most expensive in history and cimino have free rein on the project with endless retake despite it be only his third film . the deerhunter have also receive a negative backlash base on a perceived political ideology and which be not popular . i mention all this to present a possible bias build up against cimino . at the time i think the film be very good and when i saw the short version it be still very good only less so . the film show up again in a museum in the early 1990 . they be suppose to show the long version but they could not find an exist print . nevertheless and see the film year later i now think heaven gate be a masterpiece . finally and the long version start to appear in a few select city and i get to see it recently and it be well worth the wait . heaven gate begin with the graduation ceremony at harvard university . two of the graduate be kris kristofferson and john hurt and we some of the flaw in their character early on . despite the mandate joseph cotton give in his speech to the graduate class to use their education to enlighten and improve their country and many of the graduate behave a if they be part of an elite country club . the film flash ahead 20 year to johnson county in wyoming . a cattle company call the stockholder association have hire poor people to shoot 125 poor immigrant claim they be cattle thief . kristofferson side with the immigrant while john hurt be part of the association . although hurt be totally against this insane action he be too ineffectual a character to do anything about it . a massacre take place but the immigrant do well in defend themselves . a united state cavalry come to the rescue of the association to allegedly arrest them after most of the damage have be do when in fact they sanction the mass killing . kristofferson also suffer a great personal loss and the film end with him year later a part of the elite class of his harvard day marry and bore and on a yacht and living but dead on the inside . this be a very complex film which be brilliant in every department such a it theme and structure and direction and cinematography and writing and music and editing and set design and and act . kristofferson and walken and hurt and huppert and dourif and bridge and waterston and and cotton be all excellent portray very complex character . some of the major complaint i read about this film state that be ugly to look at and incoherent and too long and that the character make no sense and that the word be often unintelligible . in it defense and heaven gate have the look of photograph of that period just a mccabe and mrs. miller do . some of the scene be smoky look to suggest the industrial revolution or sometimes horse and wagon and people be pass by from all side create a sense of reality . ( the critic who call it one of the ugly movie ever make like to use his thumb a lot . ) but in spite of all that and the composition of each frame and the cinematography be impeccable . the film make a great deal of sense if you pay attention to it . everything be not spell out for the viewer and one have to observe closely to understand the motivation of the character or it theme . a to it length and it be a beautifully structure piece and at time move and poetic and exhilarating and or devastate with virtually one great scene follow another . at time some of the word be unintelligible especially in some of the scene bustle with activity . but one could understand such a cinematic film a this through it use of film language and the glance between character or their action . one day soon this film should be re release in it full length so that people and critic could give it a second chance . do not let michael cimino become another orson welles under appreciate in his lifetime and not able to make the kind of great film he be capable of make .