This year’s selection includes films that were produced with the intention of being blockbusters, but that fell short of most expectations and resulted in huge losses. The films include a live-action version of a popular video game and a film adaptation of a famous musical by the Shiki Theatre Company, all of which were disappointing failures despite the efforts put into their production. We will introduce five red-hot films that will leave their mark on the history of cinema. This is the first installment. (Text by Takeshi Terashima)
The Gates of Heaven (1981)
Director/Screenplay: Michael Cimino Casts: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert [Description] Abril (Kris Kristofferson) and Irvine (John Hurt) are best friends who studied together at Harvard University in 1890. Abril (Kris Kristofferson) and Irvine (John Hurt) are best friends who studied together at Harvard University in 1890. They meet again 20 years later, when Avril becomes a sheriff and Irvine a small-scale immigrant rancher in Wyoming. When Irvine learns of a plan to kill all the immigrant farmers, he asks Avril for advice… The film deals with the tragedy of Russian and Eastern European immigrants. The film was directed and written by Michael Cimino, who made his directorial debut in 1974 with “Thunderbolt” starring Clint Eastwood, and won the Academy Award for Best Director in 1978 for “The Deer Hunter,” a film about the Vietnam War. The story is a western based on the “Johnson County War,” which was reported as a tragedy of Russian and Eastern European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s and was considered a shameful part of American history. However, it is said that the actual Johnson County War did not involve such fierce fighting as depicted in the film. While the film was selected for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction and in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, it was a box-office failure, and the production company, United Artists, was forced into bankruptcy due to the length of filming and the huge production cost of approximately $44 million. The film is still talked about as “the troubled film that caused a cinematic disaster. The 219-minute version was released in Japan in 1988. However, the film was so poorly received that an even shorter 149-minute version was made and replaced the 219-minute version for general release. It was this shortened version that was initially released to the Japanese public in 1981. The original production cost was $11 million, but the cost was greatly exceeded because the completed set had to be reconstructed because “horses could not pass through,” an actual locomotive had to be procured to film the locomotive, extras were greatly increased, and the filming had to be reshot repeatedly. In 2012, a director’s cut version of the film was released, re-edited to 216 minutes. Director Michael Cimino returned to directing in 1985, five years after the film’s release, with “Year of the Dragon,” but his subsequent films were not successful at the box office, and he died at home in 2016.
Takeshi Terashima.