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Reviews
Heaven's Gate (1980)
A good movie ruined by gossip
Not a bad movie at all; moments of it are great. The film has patience and a huge scope, but spreads itself a bit thin with too many characters not satisfactorily developed enough. Sometimes hard to hear the dialogue too, and the US DVD has no English subtitles. But it's gritty, beautiful stuff, and the actors play it like it's real -- it almost has a documentary feel to it. A surreal, long, foggy film. The landscapes are beautiful and the film stock is wonderfully saturated, like dust and gold and old newspaper. I enjoyed it quite a bit; Walken is very good, and his introduction is one of those great, dark Western moments. Watch out for Mickey Rourke in a bit part. Some of the facts from the real Johnson County War are fudged over for the film, but it was all meant to further the narrative. Wanted so badly to be a masterpiece that it could not help but fall somewhat short. Watch it and then read Steven Bach's "Final Cut" for a good, solid lesson on the ins-and-outs of the filmmaking business. You'll discover just how so many bad movies actually get made, and why.
Songwriter (1984)
An uncelebrated gem of cinema!
A film whose time has come. Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson essentially play themselves as a songwriter and a cock-of-the-walk country god, and do it perfectly. The plot concerns Willie's character, Doc Jenkins, attempting to liberate himself from a contract he committed to when he was younger, drunker and a little less immortal. The supporting players are top of the line aces, including a surly Rip Torn and the always-great Melinda Dillon. Lesley Ann Warren is the new singer who Doc hitches his stars to, and she's convincing enough. The dialogue is fast, funny and, I suspect, captures the inside angle of the Music Business to a tee. One of the most unheralded great, little movies of all time. A better version of all those other syrupy, sentimental inside music movies.