Heaven's Gate

Starring:Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Isabelle Huppert, Joseph Cotten, Jeff Bridges, Ronnie Hawkins, Paul Koslo, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Masur, Rosie Vela, Mary Catherine Wright, Nicholas Woodeson, Stefan Shcherby, Waldemar Kalinowski, Terry O'Quinn, Jack Conley, Margaret Benczak
Director: Michael Cimino
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Based on the bestseller by Mitch Albom (Tuesdays With Morrie), The Five People You Meet in Heaven takes up where It's A Wonderful Life left off. In the Capra classic, George Bailey gets a vision of life without him. In this Hallmark Hall of Fame production, Eddie (Jon Voight), an amusement park maintenance man and war veteran, ends up in Heaven after an accident takes his life. There he meets five people from his past: the Blue Man (Jeff Richards), the Captain (Michael Imperioli), Marguerite (Dagmara Dominczyk), Ruby (Ellen Burstyn), and Tala (Nicaela and Shelbie Weigel). Each shows him how he impacted their life or they his--and not always for the better. (In these flashbacks, Callahan Brebner and Steven Grayhm play the young Eddie.) The point may seem simplistic--everyone is connected--but The Five People You Meet in Heaven finds a unique and engaging way to make it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Moving movie.......2007-07-05

I throughly enjoyed this movie its very moving and gives you a new perspective on heaven. I highly recommend this movie you will love it.

An Amazing movie.......2007-06-24

I thought this was such a beautiful film about life, love, and loss. It really made me cry, especially the part where Eddie sees his wife again and she says "Life has to end, Eddie. Love doesn't." And that even in heaven she still loved him and she still felt his love for her. Eddie is a old man who fixes amusment park rides. he feels his life is worthless. until he dies and finds out in heaven through meeting five different people who each had an inpact upon his life that his life was meaningful and that where he was in life was where he was supposed to be all long. it shows that even if you aren't famous, gorgeous, or rich your life is still worth something and each life is important and that the whole human race is conncected. As the Blue Man says: "Strangers are family we have yet to come to know." I mean, it's just such a beautiful movie and story and so powerful and timeless and I think it will touch viewers and readers of all ages. It's spiritual, meaningful, and gorgeous. I think probably every human being thinks that his or her life was worthless just because they weren't famous celebrities or something. But the truth is that every life is worth something, just like the old man Eddie did. He had touched so many lives and he never knew that until he died.

heavenly.......2007-05-31

interesting, thought provoking, less saccharine than I would have presumed and delightfully diverse in characterisation. It is about chance, about ho wlives are so inextricably entwined that we can have life changing events happen to other people due to our actions yet we can and do never know about them. It's a book about maturity, yes of life and death, but also about finding meaning and reason for being human at all. And if it's not to your taste it's still a nice visual few hours anyway.

Anything New?.......2007-05-21

Heaven Schmeaven. It's all the same. The story begins with the death of eighty three year old Eddie "Maintenance," when an amusement park ride goes wrong. From the start of the tale, Eddie's character is rather mysterious; the reader only learns that he is a hardworking, modest man, who dearly loves his wife, Marguerite, and thinks his job as "the ride man" at Ruby Pier is worthless. The seemingly ordinary story suddenly takes a sharp turn into a poor attempt to fantasy writing. Eddie magically flies through multiple color-changing skies- or supposedly, he is on his way to heaven. His well-guarded character then begins to reveal itself as he gains insight of his life in a journey through heaven. He learns how his actions affect and alter many other lives, just as the five people he meets affected his...

Sound familiar? First off, the whole flying ordeal is unreal. Yes, it is dealing with heaven, and heaven is considered a supernatural place where anything can happen, but come on. The events that occur in this novel are too far-fetched and unrealistic to be mere coincidences or an illustration of how our lives are connected. This leads me to another shortcoming. The underlying message of the novel is overused. Unoriginal. Trite. The lesson taught by this fable deals with the common idea that we are all connected in some way. All our actions affect others. They alter, set up, or have indirect influences upon other lives. Albom might as well transcribe the storylines of the movie "Crash" or the television show "Six Degrees," both of which revolve around the same theme, and call it The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Overall, the novel is just too predictable.

The unrealistic nature of the novel makes it seem like Albom worked too hard to make his point. For example, the first person Eddie meets in heaven is the Blue Man. The Blue Man is a man (obviously) who also worked at Ruby Pier in the freak shows for his blue skin. His relation to Eddie's life is revealed through a story about a little boy who threw a ball too far across the street. The little boy and his brother run across the street to get it. They meet an incredibly obese woman and an incredibly hairy man from the freak show. They run away, scared. Now apparently, according to Blue Man, the little boy did not see a car that was coming his way. The man behind the wheel slams on the brakes and "somehow regains control," just like that. The car rolls on, but... Oh no! The adrenaline rush from the near-tragedy makes the man feel so dizzy that his "head drops momentarily" but somehow within that moment, he collides into a parked truck. He's bleeding, he's dizzy, and then he has a heart attack. He dies. Then Albom has Blue Man end his story by calling Eddie "little boy," revealing the unpredictable and unforeseen truth that Eddie was the little boy! Wow, didn't see that coming!

First, the chain of events is very unlikely. Second, the chain of events is very unsurprising. What's expected of a novel with an overplayed underlying message? The story tries too hard to evoke emotions or "pull at the heartstrings," and to elicit the notion that we are all connected to the point that it seems unreal. The trite idea is boring, and makes the storyline way too predictable.

--H. Choi

Very well done.......2007-05-15

I read the book and the movie is very true to the script. It is a little long but worth the time.

Average customer rating:

worst of revisionist rewrites of history
Beware! Non Anamorphic!
Title should be "In Heavens Name"
Far, far better than the idiot critics stated...the film was a victim of vicious and biased muckraking...
Sweeping Metaphorical Narrative

Heaven's Gate
Starring: Kris Kristofferson , Christopher Walken , John Hurt , Sam Waterston , and Brad Dourif
Director: Michael Cimino
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0792843584
Release Date: 2000-02-29

Amazon.com

Not many movies can take credit for bringing about the demise of a movie studio--but Michael Cimino's ego-driven, overblown Western is one of them. These days, its $40 million budget would barely cover the cost of an Adam Sandler film--but in 1981, it virtually put United Artists out of business. Cimino, fresh from an Oscar for The Deer Hunter, spent months assembling this ultimately gorgeous and confusing story of the Johnson County cattle wars of 1881, with a cast that included Kris Kristofferson, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, and many more. Almost four hours in its original form, the film was cut to less than three for an abortive commercial release, then restored for video. Anyway you look at it, this is a mess better viewed as a curiosity than anything else. --Marshall Fine

Description

"Richly textured and visually compelling" (The Hollywood Reporter), this lavish, epic Western retells the true story of Wyoming's infamous Johnson County Wara brutal conflict during which wealthy cattlemen, backed by the U.S. government, hired mercenaries to murder 125 immigrant settlers. From the incredible beauty of the magnificent landscapes to the explosive violence of the bloody battle itself, Heaven's Gate combines breathtaking cinematography, Oscar(r)-nominated* Art Direction and memorable performances by Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert and Jeff Bridges in a spectacular, panoramic and ultimately haunting look at the reverse side of the American dream.

Customer Reviews:

worst of revisionist rewrites of history.......2007-05-22

This is the worse movie I've ever seen! I knew the reviews were bad
but I got the movie finally because it was filmed in the area where my wife and I had once lived in a tipi with our three kids while I worked in the woods as a logger back in '78. Since I had not taken many pictures of the area I wanted something as a record. The area I worked is where the house of ill repute was ( actually filmed on the North Fork of the Flathead river across from Glacier Park). Some of my friends worked as extras during the filming. Anyway my wife and I viewed it some but found it hard to follow...I suppose because of the heavy editing.
Because I have worked on farms, and in the woods, and survived on venison and rhubard, and built cabins, and cooked over campfires... I found the themes pretty silly. The acting seemed to follow some revisionist theory of how things must have been.
If you want to learn about the Johnson County War, research it and read about it...don't bother with this movie.

Beware! Non Anamorphic!.......2007-04-29

At this stage of video technology development, one would think that a Widescreen label on the DVD should necessarily mean Anamorphic, Enhanced for 16X9 TVs, etc. If not, then what's the point of a widescreen release? Furthermore if studios are going thru the trouble of relasing movies in widescreen format, not making the transfer anamorphic is just plain dumb. In any case, if non anamorphic versions are still being released they should be clearly labeled NON ANAMORPHIC instead of placing the responsibility of finding out too late it's not on the unaware consumer. Heaven's Gate? Give it a chance and don't listen to the "critics". Time puts everything in its proper place. After all, it's taken movies like Mankiewicz' Cleopatra 45 years to claim its proper place in cinema history against the vitriolic reviews of the critics of the time (which to a large extent had nothing to do with its artistic merits). The Movie: 4 stars; The DVD: until a proper version is released, 1 star.

Title should be "In Heavens Name".......2007-04-09

What in "heavens name" were they thinking? Probably the most gorgeous western ever filmed and they chose to release it in non-anamorphic format?
This is unthinkable! Never mind that this epic flopped because of a viewing public with the attention span of a gnat, this film deserved to be released in the best format possible. This edition is the best so far but sorely lacking English subtitles. After repeatedly backing up the scenes in busy downtown Casper I am still to decipher much of the dialogue. The audio mixing could have been better here. What has happened to the directors hand in this release? Was he banned access to this film for all time? This is not the only film for which I have been awaiting a deserving release. The studios often have themselves to blame for their losses when butchering a directors vision simply because they think that the public doesn't have the potential to appreciate. "Reds" was another epic film that failed at box office, yet here it is 25 years later with it's long overdue proper release on DVD. I hope it won't take that long to see the proper release of this film.

Far, far better than the idiot critics stated...the film was a victim of vicious and biased muckraking..........2007-03-04

I have now seen the film four times including twice on it's original run over 25 years ago and all I can say is that see it and judge for yourself - you will be pleasantly surprised. Apart from the first 20 minute sequence which tries to create a mood of halcyon days but fails somewhat, the rest of this beautiful film (and it is stunning visually) ranks alongside many other westerns favoured and promoted by the same critics who maligned this one. In fact, it presents a far truer picture of 'how the west was won' and shows how the social, economic and political factors mainly determined by greedy easterners were manipulated to their own ends although this is my own opinion as this elegiac western is actually ambiguous in pointing blame and much of the morality is anything but black and white. It does, however, clearly show how the stockholders were more than willing take advantage of their status, class and wealth to bend the law and even redefine it to achieve their objectives. So not much has changed in the last 100 odd years then since the events of the film.

Kristofferson, Walken and Huppert get the most screen time, individually and in pairs, but the rest of the cast is top notch too and both Waterston and Bridges shine in their smaller roles.

As I stated above the film is visually stunning thanks to Vilmos Zsigmond, but the emphasis is firmly on the story and characterisation. Although "Heaven's Gate" is nearly four hours long, it never feels like it and once you are immersed in the story and visuals the picture never wants for pace. The music is not overblown but actually plays a part in setting the mood more so than being suggestive of what emotions we should be feeling and being relentless as in most modern epics. Musical highlights include when Ella first drives the Studebaker carriage, the picnic and later during the roller derby line dance sequence.

There is much to enjoy in this fine film and I can honestly say that what the establishment critics said at the time of the film's initial release is unfounded and unfair and reeks of a witch hunt.

If you have a multi-region dvd player, I suggest you seek out the Region 4 version (Australia) as it is anamorphic.

Sweeping Metaphorical Narrative.......2007-02-27

It is hard to believe that this film almost took down a major film distributor. It virtually bankrupted United Artists and destroyed the career of upcoming and then "golden boy" director Michael Cimino for excessive expenditures on this production. I do not think HEAVEN'S GATE is a bad film. The negative press that Michael Cimino endured and the fact that the film was generally released in a heavily edited version actually hurt this film's acceptance on any artistic level. The diverse cast looks very seasoned, the detailed production designs are highly convincing, the photography is lush yet gritty and the script is visually enthralling and captivating. This is a big budgeted low key telling of a struggle for land, a place to live, yet where ideologies clash over the ownership and use of the environment. Some images of SHANE come to mind. It is the same ideological struggle of the West but devoid of the passion that George Stevens injected into SHANE. Cimino's vision is a bit muddled and seems rather self centered on some individualistic higher moral standard. The film is emotional but Kris Kristofferson's central character lives in an artificial world. This is metaphorically represented at the film's conclusion as Kristofferson is depicted living out his days in a mundane existence shown aboard an opulent steam launch in almost surrealist looking tranquil New England waters. The film never seems to come to a satisfactory conclusion or resolution of the conflict in the traditional sense of the Western. Kristofferson is a flawed character somehow having taken up a cause with never really understanding the fight.

Average customer rating:

If you liked Rose Red....
Loved this movie!
Spooky but good!
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer
Diary of Ellen Rimbauer

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer
Starring: Lisa Brenner , Steven Brand , Kate Burton , Tsidii Leloka , and Brad Greenquist
Director: Craig R. Baxley
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000C2IQQ
Release Date: 2003-10-14

Customer Reviews:

If you liked Rose Red...........2007-05-25

If you liked Rose Red, you will like this DVD. It is a great companion piece to Rose Red. There is suspense, a little campy, I really enjoyed it.

Loved this movie!.......2007-01-22

I loved this movie! It wasn't as scary as I had hoped but other than that it was fabulous! Lisa Brenner is gorgeous and she shines as Ellen Rimbaur! It is a great prequel to "Rose Red", which is also fantastic.

Spooky but good!.......2007-01-10

This was an excellent movie for those who liked Rose Red since it is a sequel or prequel or some such thing. My daughter and I went to visit the Thornwood Castle where this movie and the outdoor shots for Rose Red were made. The Tour was fun and having seen both movies and read the books made it even better.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.......2006-08-28

This is a prequel to Stephen King's ROSE RED, which I haven't seen or read. No matter. It's 88 minutes and I watched 18 of them. Great recreation of the early 20th century and a good spooky atmosphere, but the story just didn't pull me in. That probably says more about me than it does about the movie. Written by Ridley Scott, whose ALIEN franchise also does nothing for me.

Diary of Ellen Rimbauer.......2006-03-07

I read the book before seeing the movie. The book was good. The movie was terrible. I did not like it at all. The movie did not follow the book. The movie had inaccurate accounts compared to the book and the Rose Red movie.

Average customer rating:

Ultimate Westerns DVD Giftpack

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000NQQ0AK
Release Date: 2007-05-08

Amazon.com

This giftset includes 10 favorite classic westerns including: The Big Country, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Extended Cut (2-Disc Collector's Edition), Hang 'Em High, Heaven's Gate, Hour of the Gun, The Magnificent Seven (Collector's Edition), The Missouri Breaks and Red River.

Average customer rating:

An excellent movie that is now part of the Homicide Megaset
Over-crowded, But Worth the Watch
Slightly uneven
Awful end for a great series
A Fitting End!

Homicide - The Movie
Starring: Daniel Baldwin , Ned Beatty , Richard Belzer , Andre Braugher , and Reed Diamond
Director: Jean de Segonzac
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B00005AW04
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Amazon.com

A powerful coda to what many considered the best show on TV recalls Homicide at its best: prickly character tensions, sour office politics, raging emotions, and the camaraderie of the squad room. In Homicide, the Movie that squad room becomes unusually crowded when the entire cast, past and present, converges to hunt for the gunman who shot beloved former shift commander Al Giordello (Yaphet Kotto), now a controversial Baltimore mayoral candidate.

The class reunion could have easily turned into a gimmicky series of cameos, and with such a sprawling cast many familiar faces are indeed little more than walk-ons, but the fiercely intelligent script anchors the investigation in the even more anticipated reunion of the tetchy, intense retired detective Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and his former partner, Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor). Never quite friends yet intimately trusted partners, the relationship of the most compelling duo in the show's history is pushed to the brink as the morally sure Pembleton digs around the guilt that haunts Bayliss in a devastating climax. All the hallmarks of the show are here--the vivid location shooting, the nervous you-are-there camerawork, the effective use of popular music--and the episode comes full circle in a lovely coda in which even the deceased make their appearances. It's an uncompromising piece of American television and a moving end to a great series. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

An excellent movie that is now part of the Homicide Megaset.......2006-12-25

I see that most people are asking a pretty outrageous price for this movie whenever it comes available. It is a great conclusion to a great series, and not only brings the entire cumulative Homicide cast from all seven seasons together one last time, it also wraps up Tim Bayliss' story from the series finale. However, for under two hundred dollars, you can buy the "Homicide Life on the Street - Complete Series Megaset" and have all seven seasons of Homicide, the Law and Order cross-over episodes, bunches of extra features, and this movie all on DVD. I consider that to be a much better buy.

Over-crowded, But Worth the Watch.......2005-08-02

The premise of Homicide: The Movie is very simple. The former shift commander of the Baltimore Homicide unit is shot down by an unknown assailant while campaigning for the job of mayor. All of his past comrades rally to find the shooter. Problem is, there are just too many characters to fit effectively into the movie given the time frame. If you watch closely, you can tell that even the writers know which characters deserve more screen time. The two who receive the most (deservedly so) are Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor.) Their reunion is awkward and full of unspoken tension that eventually boils over into a rooftop confrontation that proves to be the finest scene in the entire movie. Its ironic that said confrontation doesn't deal directly with the plot of the movie, but has a sharp baring on the past series. In true Homicide fashion, the movie does wrap up some loose ends, but it poses new questions by answering old ones, especially where Bayliss and Pembleton are concerned. Its also worth noting that another ghostly scene involving two dead characters, Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito) and Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) is very effective as a closer, even though it seems to run contrary to the gritty realism of the entire series.

Other past regulars are a welcome sight. John Munch (Richard Belzer) and Stan Bolander (Ned Beatty) have an easy time resurrecting the antagonistic banter that was often a comical relief point in the early part of the series. Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) and Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) prove rock solid and don't seem to have missed a beat since the series went off the air. Other newer and lesser liked characters such as Paul Falsone (Jon Seda) and Renee Sheppard (Michael Michele) receive very little screen time and this just can't be a coincidence. Bumping the wormy Stew Gharty (Peter Gerety) up to shift commander was understandable, given the dirty nature of office politics often high-lighted in the show.

While the movie does bring us classic Homicide drama, it also mixes in some of the gimmicky plot elements that proved to be the show's undoing in its final year. The idea of Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) being shot is certainly believable, but its hard to understand why he'd run for mayor when he was always disgusted by upstairs politics. Its also hard to care about his son, Mike (Giancarlo Esposito), as we watch him grieve for his father. Mike was a bad plot point from the beginning and is a waste of screen time when there are better characters on which to focus. Such characters include Megan Russert (Isabella Hofmann), Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond), Juliana Cox (Michelle Forbes) and J. H. Brodie (Max Perlich), who receive mere seconds of camera exposure by comparison. Still, with all of its flaws, and with no DVD extras to speak of, Homicide's final movie is worth the watch and is a must for any fan's collection.

Slightly uneven.......2005-07-30

Homicide-The Movie is a nice wrapup to a fantastic seven-year run of the best show on TV. I like the idea of all the characters returning and the clever way it was handled. The movie, while it lacks the emotional intense punch of the first six seasons of the show, is good. it's just a bit uneven in the writing and acting. It seems like the writers tried too hard to combine the stellar writing and performances of seasons 1-6 with the less intense workings of season 7.
For fans of the show, this is a great way to say goodbye to pembleton, bayliss, bolander, giardello and the rest of the squad. It's a worthwhile addition to the collection.

Awful end for a great series.......2005-07-15

I've been a huge fan, read the book, watched all the episodes when first run, and now purchased and watched all 7 seasons on DVD.

The movie was simply terrible. The writing was bad. Melodrama at its worst. I wish I had never watched.

A Fitting End!.......2005-06-27

The HOMICIDE MOVIE WAS A FITTING END TO A GREAT SERIES. The HOMICIDE Movie was great because it was anchored in a grabbing central storyline involving the beloved Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) while still allowing for subplots that helped tie up loose plot ends from the series, all without becoming a cheesy reunion show. I have always been a fan of detective shows, but HOMICIDE grabbed me in a different way. The stories were so gritty and examined many elements of the human condition in the cops and the criminals, alike. Executive Producer Tom Fontana managed to carry this feeling over to his HBO hit OZ, which I highly recommend to HOMICIDE fans. While the earliest seasons of HOMICIDE (1-3) were the best, all of the seasons have merit, because the acting always stayed strong and the plots intriguing. My favorite episodes of all time are the "the pilot"(Season 1) and "crosetti"(Season 3). I was dissapointed when I heard HOMICIDE was cancelled, but I was exicited when I heard this movie coming out. I thought to myself, how are they going to have all of the HOMICIDE characters return in this movie? Well, they pulled it off with class and grace. Seeing the ghost of the little girl, Adina Watson (the first case in season 1, which remained unsolved), and how deceased detectives Felton and Crosetti fit into the plot, managed to put the whole series in perspective, again making me realize what a great television show HOMICIDE had been. It was great because it made me care about the characters; I loved the banter that certain pairs such as Munch and Bolander, Bayliss and Pembleton, and Crosetti and Lewis shared. The HOMICIDE MOVIE allows fans of the show to say a proper goodbye to our favorite characters.

Average customer rating:

Positively operatic
Racist tripe...
Why I didn't care for this movie
Heaven's Burning
A little strange but watchable

Heaven's Burning
Starring: Russell Crowe , Youki Kudoh , Kenji Isomura , Ray Barrett , and Robert Mammone
Director: Craig Lahiff
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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No Way Back
For the Moment
Prisoners of the Sun
Rough Magic (1995) (Full)
Breaking Up

ASIN: B00004YA78
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Description

Three troubled lives, two desperate lovers, one inescapable fate. Russell Crowe stars in an action-packed, suspense thriller that skirts the fine line between love, loyalty and deadly obsession. While honeymooning in Australia, Midori (Youki Kudoh) deserts her husband to run off with her lover. When he gets cold feet, she's left alone and bewildered in a strange country. A trip to the bank to exchange money results in her being taken hostage, only to be saved by Colin (Crowe), the getaway driver. On the run, Midori's jilted husband and the authorities in hot pursuit, the pair set off on wild ride across the country, falling in love along the way.

Customer Reviews:

Positively operatic.......2004-06-26

For some reason, revenge tragedies have gotten a bad rap ever since the ancient Greeks stopped writing them. Even Shakespeare's big attempt at a revenge tragedy, Titus Andronicus, generally draws sneers from critics, even though it is a very powerful play with some beautiful poetry (see the film Titus when you get the chance). In a number of ways, Heaven's Burning might be considered a revenge tragedy and it turns out to be surprisingly good.

I'll be the first to admit that this isn't the kind of film that I would normally watch. And the film seemed a non-starter to begin with, with none of the characters seeming particularly interesting to me. Of course, that all changed when Russell Crowe as Colin made his first appearance onscreen. I've seen him in several other films in much higher-profile roles (The Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander) and I can't honestly say that he made more of an impression on me in those films than he did in this little film that most people have probably never even heard of.

This movie started out extremely slowly and gathered steam as it went along. I was uncertain at first whether I would be able to sit through the whole thing, but when it got to the part where getaway driver Colin bumps off the guy who is about to kill bank robbery hostage Midori (Yoki Kudo) even though she didn't do anything wrong (other than a lot of crying, moaning and whining), I knew I was going to stay tuned until the end. That's one of the things that distinguishes revenge tragedies; the hero does some act that sets in motion most of the other acts that eventually lead to his downfall. In this case, the man killed by Colin has a father and a brother who are not amused. I was reminded of Verdi's opera La forza del destino, where the hero Alvaro accidentally kills the father of the heroine Leonora in the course of an elopement, setting off the chain of events that ends with Alvaro also killing Leonora's hell-bent-on-revenge brother Carlo, who nonetheless manages to kill Leonora just before he dies. Getting back to Heaven's Burning, Midori also plays her part in her ultimate fate by running off and leaving her newlywed and rather boring husband Yukio (Kenji Isomura). Many folks have commented on the racist aspects of the plot; however, the fact that Midori and Yukio are both Japanese adds an additional layer to the story that would not be present otherwise, since Yukio's attempt at revenge is not only motivated by love but much more by the fact that he has been dishonored (he even tells his friend that he can't return to Japan from Australia, where he took Midori for their honeymoon). So both Colin and Midori have done things that lead to their ultimate downfalls, and just to make sure their fate is sealed, they have gotten the cops involved by robbing a bank.

One other point where I was not certain I would be able to sit through the movie was the graphic torture scene. I couldn't even take comfort in the fact that Colin had to live through it because they couldn't kill Russell Crowe off, because I wasn't certain he was a big enough star by this point that he would be considered indispensable to the rest of the plot (he was). And other reviewers have pointed out that there is an awful lot of violence in this movie, some of it gratuitous. Was it really necessary, for example, for Yukio to shoot the friend who managed to dig up for him a gun that could not be traced?

The plot continues to build in intensity as the movie progresses, with a very few scenes of relief: the sex scene with its initial hints of bondage (there's probably some sort of symbolism here) and the delightful comic relief of Colin Hay as Jonah, the wheelchair-bound accordionist who drives everyone crazy with his playing of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, another one who for no discernible reason gets killed. Surely his playing wasn't that bad...

And speaking of Wagner, what really grabbed my attention was the final six or so minutes of the movie, played to the accompaniment of the Liebestod (love-death) music from the composer's Tristan und Isolde. Crowe, having been shot by Yukio before Yukio in turn is killed by Midori, is really superb here. It's very moving to watch the dying Colin try to reassure Midori by talking to her about the healing qualities of the beach where she is taking him, while smoking a cigarette at the same time (and he even has his seat belt on!). I won't give away the final part of the plot, other than to say that Wagner fans will recognize G?tterd?mmerung in the ending. I didn't think it was possible to make a more effective use of the Liebestod than Jean Negulesco did when he used it to accompany Joan Crawford's walking off into the ocean at the end of Humoresque; however, I found myself watching the ending of this movie over and over again, and I'm sure it was mostly for the music.

Overall a fascinating film, which I've given four stars to instead of five because of some of the gratuitous violence. Four-and-a-half is really more like it. Anyway, it's a film that I'd be more than happy to watch again--and in fact I'm going to have to get the DVD just to turn on the subtitles and catch Crowe's final words, which are covered up by the swelling Liebestod. Nothing Russell Crowe does deserves to be missed.

Racist tripe..........2004-06-18

Crowe adds to his litany of race-bashing films (see Romper Stomper) with this drivel about an unhappy Asian woman who takes off with Crowe while pursued by her unhinged, Yakuza-like Japanese boyfriend. The stereotyping in this film sets a new high for cinema in the last 25 years. Not even Romper Stomper showed Asian men being this animal-like and inhuman (makes you think of the old John Wayne war movies). And of course, as always, it is the strong, virile white man who must rescue the waif-like oriental princess from evil yellow clutches. Disgusting. One scene has an old Aussie telling the evil "jap" that his tiny island nation with all its "little people" will be swallowed up by earthquakes and floods because of what they did in WWII. Jesus... And in the penultimate scene we get the Japanese gal telling off her hubbie: "You don't know what love is" before blowing him away. God... This film, like Romper Stomper (along with Rising Sun and Sixteen Candles) is basically just every racist white guy's fantasy -- nab the geisha gal while showing how asexual and hideous Asian men are. For once, I'd like to see the stereotype inverted -- let's see a strong, virile Asian dude get the white chick while blowing away racist rednecks. Now I'd pay to see THAT!

Why I didn't care for this movie.......2004-01-04

What's the point of all this killing and violence in a movie? It slurs Japanese and Arabs. People are murdered like popping corn, one after another continuously. Last I checked violent injury is pretty unpleasant, yet in this movie it is treated like candy, kill this one then that one pop pop pop. An utterly pointless movie and a waste of film. Next to Caddy Shack 2, this is the stupidest film ever. They talk about karma, but I would hate to have the karma of having made Heaven's Burning.

Heaven's Burning.......2003-09-23

Russell Crowe gives a great acting performance along with the other cast members who I thought were all great.
I read 25 other reviews and all I have to say is this is a great well-made movie with wonderful filming and scenery.
After seeing the film once I thought it was ok, but after seeing it twice I saw how great it really was.

This movie has one man out to kill his wife with little interest in asking questions and an Afgan and his son out for extreme vengence against Colin (very disturbing lines come from the Afgan).

Oh, and guess what? They are both on the run together!
These two characters predictivly fall in love and the film gets exciting from start to finito, with funny bits, love and serious buisness.

I gave this film 5 stars for scenery, plot, film and acting perfomance.

A little strange but watchable.......2002-04-22

Got this film because I love Russell Crowe...The film was a little strange, but he played the role great, I was hoping for a happier ending though...

Average customer rating:

This movie went South, straight to Hell right from the beginning.
This one's pretty bad
This movie sucks beyond belief
Semi-intriguing but lame.
Mostly Unwatchable

South of Heaven, West of Hell
Starring: Luke Askew , Natalie Canerday , Matt Clark , Bud Cort , and Joe Ely
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005LMAL
Release Date: 2001-08-21

Amazon.com

If you've never heard of South of Heaven, West of Hell, there's an excellent reason. If you have heard of it, it's probably because you stumbled upon the information that it marks the directorial debut of singer-actor Dwight Yoakam, who managed to sweet-talk a spectacularly quirky cast into abetting the enterprise: current girlfriend Bridget Fonda and her papa Peter; indie-world luminaries Vince Vaughn and Billy Bob Thornton (for whom Yoakam made a memorably loathsome villain in Sling Blade); character-acting stalwarts Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Luke Askew, and Scott Wilson; and such icons of the florid fringe as Bud Cort, Paul Reubens, and Michael Jeter. All should file for workman's comp and alienation of audience affection because they got themselves mired in one of the dumbest, most inept, most tediously self-indulgent messes in the history of showbiz hubris.

Yoakam stars (you guessed?) as a U.S. marshal whose tiny Arizona town is literally annihilated by a clan of outlaws from his past. He and they used to be family. Now he has to track them down, even as they go on making life hell on earth for anyone in their path. That includes a hapless government man (B. Cort) whom they're keeping alive for sport, and a traveling lady (B. Fonda) who ... well, who's blonde and is mostly photographed in slow motion because she's the director's girlfriend (see above). It is beyond the scope of mortal man to describe how primitive are Yoakam's notions of dramaturgy (mostly there is just shouting and hair), how any coherent grasp of time or geography eludes him, how little difference it makes whether these gargoyles start killing each other in any given scene. It's just awful. And while we're at it, offal. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

This movie went South, straight to Hell right from the beginning........2007-06-27

The dialogue is artificial. The acting is ridiculous. The photography is beautiful. That's the only good thing about it.
Don't even rent this one.

This one's pretty bad.......2007-01-06

This has to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Bad acting, bad, dialogue, nonsensical plot; one can't begin to describe all of the things that are wrong with this movie. Paradoxically, the cinematography is pretty good, so in a way you end up thinking that you're not watching a movie as bad as it really is. I guess that's why I endured about 45 minutes of it before finally giving up on it--something I very rarely do, even with the worst of them.

This movie sucks beyond belief.......2006-05-18

This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen. I would rather push a nail through my finger then ever watch this movie again. Everyone please trust me when I say that you should not waste one penny on this film or take one second out of your lives to watch a moment of this film.

Semi-intriguing but lame........2006-05-01

There are some very intriguing scenes here, mostly underdone, to include fresh takes on the western perspective, nice landscape shots and setting with potentially great characters, but the dialogue was diseased with an excess of modern day cussing/linguistics and as such was absurdly out of historical context - noted lack of enthusiastic acting/acting skills /enough to make this a lame sort of semi-intriguing unintentional spoof.

Mostly Unwatchable.......2006-01-26

Rebecca: This is so bad it's almost good.

Enid: This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again.

We rented this DVD shortly after Noble Willingham's death, thinking that we would watch it as a tribute. There were two problems with this idea. Noble's character gets killed off very early and the DVD was defective. It was missing the scene that explains what's going on. I have to assume that the handful of positive comments were from people who watched an obscure director's cut that had this explanatory scene.

But seriously, the writers of the screenplay were totally inexperienced (at screenplays) and the director was totally inexperienced (at writing screenplays and at directing screenplays), so the roadkill that resulted should be no surprise. Let this comment serve as a warning to potential viewers, just because a lot of actors who have performed in excellent films are part of this ensemble does not make it worth viewing. There are some decent performances but the whole is a lot less than the sum of its parts, which in fact adds up to less than zero.

Bizarre (in an uninteresting way), sadistic (in a vaguely boring way), foul-mouthed (in a grammar school way), half-baked (in a bad raw egg way), and disorganized (in a director should burn in hell way). It is mostly unwatchable, as even the isolated parts that could be entertaining are burdened with Yoakam and Bertheaud's comically false dialogue. Although this at least gives the production its only hint of unity and should dispel the temptation to blame the result on excessive improv.

Imagine inserting clips of "El Topo" in no logical order into "Tombstone" and you can approximate the product Yoakam inflicts on us unsuspecting Noble Willingham fans. He gave himself the lead role as Valentine Casey, a U.S. Marshall in 1907 Arizona. Casey's old gang and surrogate family keeps popping up and a lot of people are killed and Casey goes after them and eventually everything gets sorted out, although even after just watching the whole thing I couldn't have told you how. Don't understand why the gang keeps turning up or why the Marshall left them to become a lawman or why Pee Wee has put on so much weight. Don't really care either, I think we will just stick to "The Corndog Man" and the real "El Topo".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Gate to Heaven (Tor zum Himmel) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Germany ]

Average customer rating:

Gate to Heaven (Tor zum Himmel) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Germany ]
Director: Veit Helmer
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Germany released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: German (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0), German (Dolby Digital 2.0), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: With the help of airport technician Dak, Alexej breaks out of the holding area for refugees. Dak puts up the Russian, who yearns to become a pilot, in an underground labyrinth of pipes and vents. The young Indian woman Nisha is an aircraft cleaner who dreams of being a flight attendant, but the only time she ever boards a plane is to clean it. One night Alexej and Nisha meet inside an empty jet as they are both acting out their dreams... SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Music Video,

Average customer rating:

worst of revisionist rewrites of history
Beware! Non Anamorphic!
Title should be "In Heavens Name"
Far, far better than the idiot critics stated...the film was a victim of vicious and biased muckraking...
Sweeping Metaphorical Narrative

Heaven's Gate [Region 2]
Starring: Kris Kristofferson , Christopher Walken , John Hurt , Sam Waterston , and Brad Dourif
Director: Michael Cimino
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005LO7F

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Customer Reviews:

worst of revisionist rewrites of history.......2007-05-22

Beware! Non Anamorphic!.......2007-04-29

Title should be "In Heavens Name".......2007-04-09

Far, far better than the idiot critics stated...the film was a victim of vicious and biased muckraking..........2007-03-04

Sweeping Metaphorical Narrative.......2007-02-27

Average customer rating:

worst of revisionist rewrites of history
Beware! Non Anamorphic!
Title should be "In Heavens Name"
Far, far better than the idiot critics stated...the film was a victim of vicious and biased muckraking...
Sweeping Metaphorical Narrative

Heaven's Gate [Region 2]
Starring: Kris Kristofferson , Christopher Walken , John Hurt , Sam Waterston , and Brad Dourif
Director: Michael Cimino
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video