Michael Cimino's controversial epic of corrupted idealism, set during the bloody Johnson County Wars of the 1890s, was detested by a majority of film critics upon its release and is now the subject of the "re-revisionism" that affects the reputation of many films and works of art. Some critics now regard "Heaven's Gate" (the film that almost brought down an American film studio) as a masterpiece...a film ahead of its time. The enormous cast includes Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston, Isabelle Huppert, John Hurt, Brad Dourif, Joseph Cotten, Jeff Bridges, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Masur, Terry O'Quinn, Mickey Rourke and Willem Dafoe. The extraordinary cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond.