Heaven's Gate (Criterion Collection) (DVD)

A visionary critique of American expansionism, HEAVEN'S GATE, directed by Oscar winner Michael Cimino (THE DEER HUNTER), is among Hollywood's most ambitious and unorthodox epics. Kris Kristofferson (LONE STAR) brings his weathered sensuality to the role of a Harvard graduate who has relocated all the way to Wyoming as a federal marshal; there, he learns of a government-sanctioned plot by rich cattle barons to kill the area's European settlers for their land. The resulting skirmish is based on the real-life bloody Johnson County War of 1892. Also starring Isabelle Huppert (WHITE MATERIAL) and Christopher Walken (THE DEER HUNTER), HEAVEN'S GATE is a savage and ravishingly shot demystification of western movie lore. This is the full director's cut, letting viewers today see Cimino's potent original vision.

Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Isabelle Huppert, Roseanne Vela, Stefan Shcherby, Anna Levine, Elizabeth McGovern, Gordana Rashovich, Jarleth Conroy, Judi Trott, Paul Koslo, Rosie Vela, Stefan Scherby, Willem Dafoe, Joseph Cotten, Jeff Bridges, Ronnie Hawkins, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Masur, Mary Catherine Wright, Nicholas Woodeson, Waldemar Kalinowski, Terry O'Quinn, John Conley, Margaret Benczak, Jim Knobeloch, Erika Petersen, Robin Bartlett, Tom Noonan, Marat Yusim, Jarlath Conroy, Allen Keller, Caroline Kava, Mady Kaplan, Anna Thomson, Pat Hodges, Mickey Rourke, Kevin McClarnon, Kai Wulff, Steve Majstorovic, Gabriel Walsh, Norton Buffalo, Jack Blessing, Jerry Sullivan, Jerry McGee, Cleve Dupin, Stephen Bruton, Sean Hopper, David Mansfield, T-Bone Burnett, Dave Cass, Paul D'Amato, Peter Osusky, Ivan Kormanik, Michael Christensen, Anatoly Davydov, Nina Gaidarova, Wally Mccleskey, Gary Vezane (Buzz), H.P. Evetts, Bruce Morgan, Bobby Faber, Judi Trot, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra (The New York Philharmonic Orchestra)

Director: Charles Okun, Joann Carelli