Heaven’s Gate Review

Reviewed by David Savage

Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Jeff Bridges, Isabelle Huppert
Directed by: Michael Cimino
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 207/216 minutes (DVD/Blu-ray)
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Release Date: 25 November 2013
RRP: £15.99 (DVD) / £19.99 (Blu-ray)

Heaven’s Gate is an epic Western with a viewing time of over 3 hours. It is based on the infamous Johnson Country War in Wyoming, USA of 1892. The Johnson County War was a war between wealthy cattle barons and the poor settlers.

James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) is a Harvard graduate returns to Wyoming as a sheriff as tensions are mounting between the wealthy ranchers and the poor European immigrant settlers. The ranchers, backed by the government, have declared war on the immigrants who they have branded ‘thieves and anarchists’. In a meeting of the wealthy land owners they draw up a death list containing 125 names of immigrants to be hunted down and killed either by shooting or hanging. The hire 50 gunmen for $5 per day each with a bonus of $50 dollars for every name they kill on the list.

Averill gets hold of the list and reads out all the names on it to the local immigrant community which then results in all-out war between the rich and the poor which results in the intervention of the United States Cavalry.

Overall, Heaven’s Gate is a Western about greed and racism. With a lengthy running time I found it, at times, slow going and boring with overextended and drawnout scenes but overall it is a good story (based loosely on true events). Characters are well portrayed well with great scenery shots.

A tragic story that is worth watching.

Rating: 4/5

Available to buy on DVD & Blu-ray from Amazon here.