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Back in print with a new introduction and epilogue by the author, this modern classic is "one of the few indispensable books about Hollywood." --Jack Kroll, Newsweek. "What altered Hollywood irrevocably was the notorious 1980 film Heaven's Gate." --Irwin Winkler, The New York Times, 1/14/99. Heaven's Gate is probably the most discussed, least seen film in modern movie history. Its notoriety is so great that it has become a generic term for disaster, for ego run rampant, for epic mismanagement, for wanton extravagance. It was also the watershed film of the '80s--not for its cinematic qualities, but for its effect on Hollywood and the way movies were and were not made for years afterward. For Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate did not merely fail; the film did the unthinkable: it sank a studio. Less than a month after the picture's second release, United Artists--the company founded in 1919 by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, D. W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin--for all practical purposes ceased to exist. What happened? Why? How? In answering these questions, combining wit, extraordinary anecdotes, and historical perspective, Steven Bach has produced a landmark book on Hollywood and its people, and in so doing, tells a story of human absurdity that would have made Chaplin proud.
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 Couldn't put it down - compelling story still relevant |
| Review Date: October 26, 1999 |
| Reviewer: James P. Lammers, Lees Summit, MO United States |
| Steven Bach's account of the "Heaven's Gate" fiasco has never been more relevant than now. With weed-like conglomerate corporate growth each day and the Dilbert-like stupidity spawned in most corporate environments, this book should serve as a lesson to many of us. His compelling story of divided responsibility, group thinking and diluted control goes a long way to explaining the excesses of Cimino and the movie. Bach writes beautifully and directly. He covers the machinations of the story from the corporate side only. I wished for more of the on-the-set stories - the book would have been improved with a few chapters by someone who witnessed the on-set story. One hilarious on-set story I heard about "Heaven's Gate" before reading this book described how the director needed more space in the street and wanted sets on both sides of the street destroyed and rebuilt 6 feet back. Someone suggested destroying and rebuilding one side only, 12 feet back, and saving half the cost. Cimino told him that it wouldn't have the same feel, and they commenced destroying and rebuilding the entire set! Although these sorts of on-set anecdotes aren't in the book, many other incredibly good ones from the management side are there. The book describes the history of UA, the history of the skirmish the movie is based on, and the entire before, during and after of the film's development from the viewpoint of Transamerica and UA. I read it cover to cover in just a few days, and laughed often. A great book! |
One of the Best Hollywood Books Ever
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| Review Date: June 12, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Susan Nunes, Reno, NV United States |
| This book, first published in the 1980s, is a classic textbook example of why Hollywood so often pours tens of millions of dollars into projects that ultimately go haywire. In this book, Bach, who as production head had information and sources only an insider could have, shows how a director, Michael Cimino, was given a virtual blank check on making a film United Artists hoped would duplicate the success of his Oscar-winning film, "The Deer Hunter." This new project was based on a script Cimino had written, called "The Johnson County War." It was based on an obscure event in 19th century Wyoming, but the moguls were impressed enough with the script to go forward with it. It wasn't long, though, before the project went awry. Bach provides the reader with many, many reasons why this was so. There was plenty of blame to go around, though certainly director Cimino deserves a large share of the blame. He reminds the reader of another self-destructive director, Erich von Stroheim, in that he couldn't stay within a budget and was obsessed with detail. Millions and millions of dollars were thrown into this project, now called "Heaven's Gate." By the time the film was released in 1980, it had become the biggest bomb in Hollywood since the 1963 flop "Cleopatra." It helped sink United Artists. Not surprisingly, Cimino has yet to duplicate the success of "The Deer Hunter." Bach is an excellent writer, and the book makes one almost nostalgic for the days of the old studio system of pre-1960s Hollywood. |
Watching a Studio Wreck
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| Review Date: July 7, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Michael Samerdyke, Big Stone Gap, VA USA |
| This is a book I can't put down once I start reading it, and I re-read it every few years. It starts when a new management team takes over United Artists. They have to put together a slate of films. "Heaven's Gate" is one of their choices, and we see how this film moves from one choice among many to the behemoth that wrecks the studio. Contrary to some of the reviewers who say the book doesn't get to "Heaven's Gate" soon enough, I think the book is well-structured. I also like the way Bach displays three different directors: Cimino, Scorsese and Woody Allen. Cimino is obviously the egomaniac out of control. Allen comes across as the "good director," always conscious that he is working with somebody else's money. Scorsese comes out between the two extremes. Hey, if this book were only about "Heaven's Gate," I wouldn't like it so much, but we also get some insight into "Manhattan" and "Raging Bull," two much better movies. |
Don't go in the cellar!
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| Review Date: March 9, 2006 |
| Reviewer: R. Dixon, Sydney, Australia |
This is one of the finest books ever written about the movie business. Bach explains, step by step, why he and the other UA execs did the things they did, and the disaster that unfolded. He's honest about his own failings, but at every step, as he outlines the choices available, you realise that - in his place and without the benefit of hindsight - you'd probably make the same mistakes. It's fascinating.
Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see the experience as a kind of horror movie. Each time UA concedes a point to Cimino, you feel like yelling "Don't go in the cellar!" (or, in this case, "Don't cast Isabelle Huppert!"). Of course, down they go into the cellar, where there are even more zombies lurking. The high point is the part where Cimino demands the installation of an irrigation system to ensure the grass looks properly green - but of course it's his land!
I have read this book several times since it was first published, and lent my copy to at least a dozen people who are also in the business. Everyone I know who knows anything about moviemaking has loved it. |
The Big Money Movie Business, Blow By Blow
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| Review Date: August 26, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Moldyoldie, Motown, USA |
Wanna detailed blow-by-blow account of the behind-the-scenes business machinations surrounding the production of a big-budget (and bank-breaking) movie at a major Hollywood studio? Look no further than this book!
Perhaps "surrounding" isn't the appropriate term since author Steven Bach, who was head of production at United Artists during the time immediately preceding the original publication of this book (its original title was Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate), really couldn't get his hands around the major film project which was writer/director Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate.
Following the lengthy but fascinating back history of United Artists, Bach presents a matter-of-fact but truly stomach-churning description of how the elusive sense of creative unity in the sincere quest for timeless cinematic art butts heads with the realities of capitalism. Though he rarely dwells on it as such, Bach gives the reader a visceral sense of the ulcer-inducing frustrations that can befall such a project.
How is it possible that a film's original budget can balloon so exponentially without a clear sense of the market's need or want for such a project? How is it possible that financial disaster can be predicated on the faith afforded in the talents of a single man whose reputation rests solely on a single well-received film? You'll find out by reading this book.
It's perhaps too easy to make Michael Cimino the fall guy in this scenario; there were plenty of corporate politics apart from the Heaven's Gate project, and which Bach thoroughly delineates, which "might" have been circumstantially responsible for UA's downfall. But what Bach rightfully chooses to focus on is that area for which he was ultimately responsible. It's painfully obvious that Cimino's exploits on location in Montana were "allowed" to get out of hand. It was Cimino who formulated the original budget and made certain assurances. It was Cimino who built, destroyed, then rebuilt a large exterior set of late 19th century Casper, Wyoming. It was Cimino who chose to print upwards of fifty takes of scenes. It was Cimino who promised a roughly two-and-a-half hour film that eventually came in at over five hours. These are personal shortcomings which are simply impossible to overlook...up-and-coming Academy Award-winning cinematic genius or not.
Granted, Cimino's own account of the happenings on location are not to be found here. Bach does, however, give accounts of the many meetings and conversations he, the producer, and Cimino had during the entire gut-wrenching process. Perhaps one day Cimino will bravely come forward and explain, in writing or in film, his personal culpability and reasoning. That his career in Hollywood took a downward spiral following this escapade is most unfortunate--he is obviously a director with talent and a vision.
It's well known and understood that in the world of entertainment, luck and timing can count for an inordinate amount toward success or failure. Indeed, success and failure can only be quantified in ways which are hardly tangible apart from dollars and cents. From Bach's account, it's plain to see that with a little judiciousness on the part of many important decision-making people, this financial disaster need not have occurred.
I can't imagine a better read than Final Cut if one wants a detailed dissection of torment in the pursuit of corporate American art. |
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