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Michael Cimino, 'Deer Hunter' and 'Heaven's Gate' Director, Dies at 77
Variety ^ | July 2, 2016 | Tim Gray

Posted on 07/02/2016 7:28:22 PM PDT by EveningStar

Michael Cimino, who won Oscars as director and a producer of "The Deer Hunter" before "Heaven's Gate" destroyed his career and sped up the demise of 60-year-old United Artists, has died. He was believed to be 77.

(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: cimino; cinema; deerhunter; film; heavensgate; michaelcimino; movies; obituary; thedeerhunter
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Wikipedia

IMDb

Although Heaven's Gate has recently earned new respect in some quarters, it was originally trashed unmercifully.

From Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide: Writer-director Cimino's now-notorious spectacle is missing just one thing: a story.

From Vincent Canby in The New York Times: "Heaven's Gate," ... fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to the Devil to obtain the success of "The Deer Hunter," and the Devil has just come around to collect... Mr. Cimino's approach to his subject is so predictable that watching the film is like a forced, four-hour walking tour of one's own living room.
1 posted on 07/02/2016 7:28:23 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: Borges; DollyCali; Perdogg

ping


2 posted on 07/02/2016 7:29:30 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar

The Deer Hunter was horrible. It started out with the characters in PA and jumped them to the far west. Then, in Nam they started out serving in the military and were mysteriously discharged while in Nam. That’s not what I heard while serving stateside in’68 and ‘69. The process was to ship the troops home on troop transports and release them for active service once they were stateside.


3 posted on 07/02/2016 7:36:53 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: libstripper

The deviants in Hollywood have a standing “right” to ignore the truth. Never let the truth get in the way of the agenda.


4 posted on 07/02/2016 7:48:14 PM PDT by Fungi (Make America America again.)
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To: Fungi

What are you talking about?


5 posted on 07/02/2016 7:49:57 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: EveningStar

There is a tremendous book called “Final Cut” by Steven Bach, the executive producer on “Heaven’s Gate” whose job it was to keep Cimino within the budget. Bach noted that Cimino, while already shooting in beautiful Wyoming valleys, insisted the grass wasn’t green enough and installed a massive underground irrigation system. He constantly was over budget.

My favorite part of the book is where Bach goes to Paris to meet Cimino to discuss the leading lady. Cimino says he wants Isabelle Huppert. Bach says “Isabelle Huppert has a face like a potato” and the other executive director kicked him under the table, because obviously Cimino and Hupper had a “thing.”

It’s a fantastic read. Cimino individually drove United Artists-—the company founded by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin-—into bankruptcy with that movie.


6 posted on 07/02/2016 7:53:51 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: EveningStar; DollyCali; Perdogg

See my post above. I should add that Cimino’s interim film-—between “Deer Hunter” and “Heaven’s Gate”-—was “Year of the Dragon,” a darn good movie about cops and Chinese criminals featuring Mickey Roarke before plastic surgery.


7 posted on 07/02/2016 7:55:40 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: libstripper

That’s a pretty trivial objection.


8 posted on 07/02/2016 7:56:31 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Fungi

Huh?


9 posted on 07/02/2016 7:56:58 PM PDT by Borges
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To: LS

Dragon was made well after both films.


10 posted on 07/02/2016 7:57:56 PM PDT by Borges
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To: libstripper

I agree. Deer Hunter was not all that.


11 posted on 07/02/2016 7:58:57 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: LS

Apocylpse Now didn’t help either.


12 posted on 07/02/2016 8:00:22 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Borges

Right. 85, and Gate was 80. But Gate still broke UA.


13 posted on 07/02/2016 8:03:56 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: EveningStar

RIP.


14 posted on 07/02/2016 8:20:36 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: LS

Read it once several years ago. I enjoyed it but don’t remember a lot of the details.

Nowadays I’m not even sure UA exists except as an owned imprint of MGM, which itself barely exists anymore as a viable entity.


15 posted on 07/02/2016 8:35:55 PM PDT by Galactic Overlord-In-Chief (Domo Arigato, Mr. Rubio. Domo Arigato, Mr. Rubio.)
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To: libstripper

Sorry for the loss but both of those movies were Blech!


16 posted on 07/02/2016 8:42:26 PM PDT by Bullish (Blame others for your failures? Take credits where none are do? Who made you Pharaoh?)
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To: EveningStar

Deer Hunter was hard for me to watch when it first came out; but I’m more settled with it now. What a cast!


17 posted on 07/02/2016 8:43:15 PM PDT by Migraine (Diversity is great -- until it happens to YOU.)
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To: EveningStar

I thought “Heaven’s Gate” was a pretty good film.


18 posted on 07/02/2016 9:26:12 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: libstripper

The Deer Hunter was horrible.

...

I’ve never seen it. I recently read about it, which made me glad I’ve never seen it.


19 posted on 07/02/2016 9:51:41 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: EveningStar
The original true story would have done so much better. I don't understand why they thought they had to tinker with it.
20 posted on 07/02/2016 9:56:45 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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