Posted on 07/06/2016 11:54:11 AM PDT by C19fan
Michael Cimino died last weekend. If you recognize his name at all, it's probably because you remember that he was the guy who won the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for The Deer Hunter in 1979.
Cimino directed just seven feature films in 42 years—a pace that makes Terrence Malick look like a workhorse. But he was so much more than just a lazy director. He was one of the great American hucksters.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
So, did, or didn’t you, pay attention to the telephone call about the curse? /joke from the article
How horrible. A huckster among all the wide-eyed, earnest innocent schoolboys of Hollywood.
I never saw Heaven’s Gate, but I saw the Deer Hunter and hated it.
Cimino had given himself the full Michael Jackson treatment before he passed. I didn’t even recognize who is was at first. I recall hearing a lot about The Deerhunter when it came out, and years afterward.
I never did see it. Why?
Because it sounded too depressing, too predictable and too liberally biased. Something written by Walter Cronkite and approved by Jane Fonda. I like to be entertained at the theatre, not served up someone’s idea of ‘the dystopia I really deserve’. I can even become interested in what make appear to be a sad topic, if it is presented in a new and intriquing way, a way that makes me care about the characters.
Both Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini were good for this. Even some early John Waters films were interesting for their originality and confidence.
I don’t hate the movie at all - some of the scenes are beautifully filmed. There is a documentary about the making of Heaven’s Gate, saw it years ago - Brad Dourif said the roller skating scene took like 57 takes. The director went wild of course, but I’ve seen far worse products from Hollywood.
Of course, the article overlooks that Deer Hunter was a really excellent movie. I saw in on the upper westside of Manhattan and the audience was gripped beyond belief. So let’s admit it: Mr. Cimino had talent. It’s always the work that counts, not the nonsense that goes on behind the scenes.
I had ‘special seats’ to the premiere of Heaven’s Gate. All watching it knew it was a disaster as it was unfolding. What a shock!
But the article is wrong on Isabelle Huppert being ‘unknown’. At the time, this poker-faced actress was at the height of her career in French films - known to all who followed movies religiously. No doubt, unknown to the general public. Also, John Hurt - a most peculiar pick for a western - was at the height of HIS fame with Elephant Man, The Naked Civil Servant and I, Claudius within this period. So, in a weird way, the cast was loaded with stars.
But it was a terrible movie.
Marlon Brando wrecked MGM but he went on to a lengthy career. I guess Michael Cimino was no Brando!
Cimino was very conservative....hated Clinton & Obama. Don’t know what the Weakly Standard is even trying to expose here ? This situation between the studios & Ciminio was a private business deal. There’s a recent interview Cimino gave in 2015 that’s on the internet & he comes across as a guy who likes his privacy & hates the press...and the liberal puke who interviewed him.
Have never seen Heaven’s Gate but have always wanted to and was pleased to see it’s on TCM this month in the wee early hours of the 28th for those that want to take a look.
Maybe you’re young but The Deer Hunter was excoriated by Jane Fonda at the time because it shows the Viet Cong as brutal torturers. It is not liberal at all although it plays fast and loose with some facts - but it’s a movie after all. The Russian Roulette sequence plus DeNiro’s wonderful performance is something not to be missed. What a powerhouse! Add in a very young Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep (when she still had her long blond hair) and John Casale and it’s also a study of American acting in the late 70s, early 80s.
A friend of my worked a couple of days as an extra on Heaven's Gate. I always give him a hard time about it only taking two days of his acting skills to create the worst movie in history. I ask him how bad would the movie had been if he had been on the set for a week.
I agree. What’s wrong these days at the Weakly Standard? Who cares about this?
This was a nothing article....cheap hit job. Cimino was a great friend of Clint Eastwood & he praised Clint’s empty chair stunt for Romney.
Well, I felt bad when he passed away. All that talent! And yet they never forgave him for Heaven’s Gate. The problem is these studios, after one hit, tend to give away the store to ‘auteurs’. Look at Kevin Costner and Waterworld!! I knew John Landis slightly (a relative of mine knew him very well) and he was a very nice guy. His career was ruined as well although parts of Twilight Zone are excellent.
The Deer Hunter was a good film, but so depressing I only saw it once. I never made it through Heaven's Gate, but should probably try again. I know some people hail it as a masterpiece. I thought Year of the Dragon was pretty terrible. Thunderbolt & Lightfoot was good, but also rather dark. Apparently, Cimino did a version of the script for The Dogs of War, a mercenary film I've always liked. He was talented, but seemed to need a tight leash.
True. I really liked Dogs of War. I’m a fan of Walken’s early movie work. Less so in the last 25 years.
Thank you for explaining your take on that film. I was a preteen during most the Viet-Nam years. I recall my mom rejoicing that I was both too young to get drafted (yet), and too young to drive the family car to one of those demonstrations we were seeing on the news every night. I was going by what I have been told or gleaned over the years from second hand opinions I’ve read. Not the best reporting technique, I will admit.
It’s not easy directing such a movie raw in its’ depictions. Clint Eastwood has a good eye for those who have undisclosed talents worth polishing up.
Creative people can be a bit difficult, but it does not make Ciminio some kind of huckster like the WS tries to imply. The Cimino interview with Seth Abramovitch is on-line & it’s worth a read.
Good article. Very informative; thanks for posting.
I haven’t seen the movie in many years - I saw it once on television and it was still gripping. I do remember the hysteria in the theater during the roulette sequences and that lib audience going wild with happiness when...well, no spoilers. Check it out. It’s good. It didn’t win those Oscars for nothing. Gorgeous score as well.
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