By CHARLES ELTON (Abrams; 2022)
A frustrating and inconclusive book, although that’s an inevitability given its subject: Michael Cimino (1939-2016), a notoriously hermetic filmmaker best known for HEAVEN’S GATE (1980), the quintessential Hollywood flop. That film’s (un)making takes up the majority of this book, which purports to offer a biography of Cimino, a man who had very few close friends and kept the particulars of his existence a closely guarded secret.
…a biography of Cimino, a man who had very few close friends…
We learn that Cimino may or may not have had a difficult upbringing, that he may or may not have been a prolific ladies’ man, and that he may or may not have single-handedly whipped up a script for and completed preproduction on the multi-Oscar winning THE DEER HUNTER (1978) in a mere four months. His later years were spent in an exile that may or may not have been self-imposed, during which time Cimino may or may not have married his longtime partner/enabler Joann Carelli, and may or may not have transitioned.
The Deer Hunter Trailer
Author Charles Elton does what he can to provide a fully-rounded profile. He scores an interview with the highly elusive Carelli, who’s not very forthcoming about the “private world” she and Cimino shared (with Elton reduced to analyzing her body language at the 1979 Academy Awards telecast in order to provide insight into their relationship). The late film critic and longtime Cimino pal F. X. Feeney is also interviewed, but has little in the way of pertinent information to disclose (admitting, for instance, that during his and Cimino’s thirty year friendship Feeney never once met Carelli). Of Cimino’s day-to-day life all we really learn is gleaned from a third party anecdote about a nearly-bare refrigerator in his Hollywood Hills home.
Of Cimino’s day-to-day life all we really learn is gleaned from a third party anecdote about a nearly-bare refrigerator in his Hollywood Hills home.
Elton’s coverage of HEAVEN’S GATE is strong. He persuasively refutes the myths surrounding the film, such as the widespread claim that its failure “brought down” United Artists (which it didn’t), and that Cimino’s egocentric behavior on the production was unprecedented (which it wasn’t). Steven Bach, the late United Artists executive whose 1985 memoir FINAL CUT is considered a canonical film text, gets a long-overdue reevaluation, with Elton revealing that Bach was not the angel he presented himself as, and had far more to do with HEAVEN’S GATE’s failure than he let on in FINAL CUT.
Heaven’s Gate Trailer
In recent years HEAVEN’S GATE has of course been rebranded a misunderstood masterpiece. Those who agree with that assessment would do well to read this book, which provides an excellent overview of HEAVEN’S GATE’s production and reception, even if its portrayal of the film’s maker leaves something to be desired.