Few box-office failures have altered cinematic history as much as the 1981 American Western Heaven’s Gate.
Starring Kris Kristofferson and Christopher Walken, it’s known as one of Hollywood’s most infamous commercial and critical failures, with backlash so severe it was pulled from theatres after the first day of its release. One New York Times theatre critic even described the film as “an unqualified disaster.”
© Getty ImagesWhat is Heaven's Gate?
Heaven’s Gate is an American Western film inspired by the Johnson County War, a land dispute between cattle farmers and European settlers in Wyoming in the 1890s.
The film follows a fictionalised version of Sheriff James Averill, played by Kris Kristofferson, who attempts to resolve the dispute and act on behalf of the European settlers.
© Ron Galella Collection via GettySome of the cast went on to have successful careers
While United Artists and the film’s producer and director, Michael Cimino, would never recover from the film’s financial and critical failings, some of the Western’s cast would go on to enjoy later success.
Kris Kristofferson
The American musician, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson played the film’s protagonist, Sheriff James Averill. Already an established actor, Kris had made his film debut some ten years earlier in The Last Movie. But despite his later success, he admitted in a 2004 interview with the Los Angeles Times, that for a while his role in Cimino’s film made him “unmarketable.”
Christopher Walken
Starring alongside Kris in Heaven’s Gate, was the Academy and BAFTA award-winning actor, Christopher Walken, best known for his roles in Catch Me If You Can, Batman Returns, Pulp Fiction and more.
Just a few years before Heaven’s Gate, Christopher had worked with Cimino in The Deer Hunter, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In Heaven’s Gate Christopher played Nate Champion, a cattleman and hired gun based on a real figure in the Johnson County War.
Yet for all its criticism, Walken admitted in a 2012 interview with IndieWire that he “always thought it was good.”
He said: “That movie always seemed disproportionately beat up at the time ... I never understood it.”
Isabelle Huppert
While Kris and Christopher were already established American actors prior to the release of Heaven’s Gate, the Western film marked an international film debut for French actress Isabelle Huppert who played the film’s heroine, Ella Watson. Isabelle has since gone on to feature in other English-language films, most recently in 2022 as Claudine Colbert in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris.
© Ron Galella Collection via GettyHeaven's Gate was pulled from cinemas after just a day
More damaging than the film’s criticism, however, was its $44 million budget (four times more than what was initially planned). It’s estimated that filming, location and acting fees cost the studio around $200,000 per day, with Cimino’s close attention to detail often resulting in as many as 50 retakes of the same scene.
Heaven’s Gate only earned $3.5 million and was so poorly received that United Artists decided to pull it from cinemas just a day after its release in November 1980.
© Getty ImagesCharlie Chaplin founded United Artists in 1918
United Artists was originally founded in 1918 by Charlie Chaplin along with other Hollywood stars and directors.
Prior to Heaven’s Gate, the studio boasted an extraordinary earlier success, winning the Academy Award five times for Best Picture between 1969 and 1977 and producing a number of highly acclaimed films, including West Side Story, Goldfinger and Rocky.
© Bettmann ArchiveThe fallout saw United Artists sold to MGM
Heaven’s Gate not only ruined United Artists’ Hollywood reputation but resulted in their acquisition by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
United Artists’ massive overspend on Heaven’s Gate, meant it had little option but to agree to an acquisition by MGM’s owner Kirk Kerkorian in 1981 for $350 million.
