Review – Heaven’s Gate

I wanted to watch this because of all the hoopla about how terrible it was. Honestly, it didn’t live up (or down) to the hype. Yes, it was terrible. The script was weak and the acting likewise uninspiring. Studio brass, critics and audiences alike correctly observed that half of its three hour and 40 minute running time would have been more than sufficient to tell the tale. I could have done without the rape scene. And sure, its monster budget and poor box office combined to push struggling Universal Studios into insolvency. But honestly, it’s no worse than any other boring, over-long western. Some of the visuals even manage to be pretty. And if nothing else, at least it wasn’t Year of the Dragon. Kris Kristofferson stars as an educated man who takes a job as “the law” in a middle-of-nowhere town afflicted with the usual cliché battle between small farmers and a cartel with brutal enforcers. See if desperate