Heaven's Gate (1990)

Check out this scene—it’s right around the 3:30 mark.
Mann manages to pull more eroticism out of a single conversation than ten porn flicks combined. I honestly don't get what it takes—what kind of specific talent does a director need—to make actors feel that natural. It's wild.

Dennis Hall41 said:Of course he is. Mann is a total master of atmosphere, especially when things get dark at night. Just look at those nighttime scenes in L.A. during Heat, or that general vibe in Manhunter.

One more thing—since you brought up his work with actors, I’d say he has this incredible knack for highlighting the beauty of his cast, or at least their most striking physical traits.

Think about Amy Brennemann and Diane Venora in Heat, or even how Al Pacino and Robert De Niro looked more glamorous in the 70s than ever before. Then there's Susan Sarandon and Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans, the whole crew in Manhunter—especially that quirky wife and weird son from Willow—and the entire cast of Miami Vice, which is such an underrated flick...

Yeah, but look—he builds that atmosphere specifically by leaning on the actors and making sure the audience actually gives a damn about the characters.

Take Heat, for example. That movie would never have been as good or as atmospheric if he hadn't managed to flesh out and characterize every single person in that lineup. He pulls off this brilliant move where he shows the killers and robbers in these private moments, dealing with real problems and desires, and that's where the atmosphere comes from. You get atmosphere when you actually care about what's happening, not when the villains are just cardboard cutouts getting shot at the end of the movie.

Even that massive final showdown on the streets—it only works because you don't see just some robber, killer, or cop in every character; you see actual flesh-and-blood people with real personalities. If he had just focused on the technical side of things, it wouldn't have hit nearly as hard.

It feels like you and I are saying the exact same thing, just from different angles, Dennis Hall41. 🙂

True, I'm with you on Miami Vice. It feels like the movie paid too much homage to the TV show, so everyone assumed they were the same thing, when really, they aren't even close.

I mean, yeah—but I’m mostly talking about how the camera and photography actually work.

Just to give you an idea—when I think of the absolute masters of atmosphere, I'm looking at guys like Carl Dreyer, Alfred Hitchcock, Antonioni, Tarkovsky, Polanski, Rohmer, David Lynch, or Haneke.

I just finished watching the Criterion version—which I assume is the definitive one—and honestly, it’s nothing less than a megalomaniacal epic from a truly manic auteur. It is a fantastic piece of cinema, a relic from an era when filmmaking felt bolder and more distinct. The cinematography is stunning, packed with incredible shots.

What are you talking about when you mention Michael Mann? He's not even in the conversation...
If Jasmila Žbanić had directed it...

Now, Heaven's Gate—that is exactly the kind of film it needs to be...

Watching this and seeing that whole rooster fight sequence actually triggered a memory of another film with a similar fate, one that also featured a cockfight. I went looking for it online, but man, it’s nearly impossible to find...
It belongs in the exact same category. It tackles those deep-seated taboos within American society...

The Day of the Locust

Just another relic from that golden era when directors actually had the final say...
I remember catching this one back when I was a kid, watching it on a local station in Washington, D.C., probably shortly after its release. Back then, we used to see some truly incredible cinema on TV...
The ending just stuck with me, seared into my memory...
😁

In Hollywood, you really only had that golden ten-year stretch—from about '67 up to the late '70s—where directors actually ran the show.

Before that, though—man, producers and censors actually had decent taste back then.

Check out this interesting review. I have a feeling even Stjepan Radić might actually dig this movie.

https://www.portalnovosti.com/filmsk...ravdano-zgazen

It’s actually quite remarkable how many Academy Award winners and nominees we see packed into this one cast list:
Three Oscar winners: Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, and T Bone Burnett
And seven nominees: Kris Kristofferson, John Hurt, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke, Isabelle Huppert, Sam Waterson, and Brad Dourif.

Joshua Kern said:This movie holds the record for the sheer number of cast and crew members who have either won an Oscar or been nominated for one:
3 winners: Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett
7 nominees: Kris Kristofferson, John Hurt, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke, Isabelle Huppert, Sam Waterson, and Brad Dourif.

That’s an interesting stat. It probably deserves a double-check, though.

Wes Anderson has a new film coming out this year, "The French Dispatch," featuring:

6 Oscar winners: Tilda Swinton, Anjelica Huston, Frances McDormand, Christoph Waltz, Adrien Brody, and Benicio Del Toro.

6 nominees: Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson.

Looking at those numbers, I realize "The Grand Budapest Hotel" actually has 15. 😁

My apologies for drifting off-topic.

Just watched it. Honestly, pretty impactful stuff. Though, if I’m being real, I still think Hunter S. Thompson hits harder... definitely need to give that one another watch soon. Anyway, Cimino is just top-tier filmmaking, but I won't get all bogged down in the details since we already touched on that earlier here.

One thing I noticed, though... Christopher Walken kind of established a certain vibe in this role that he’s been playing in different ways in almost every movie since, all the way up to now. Not that it's a bad thing at all! He’s had some absolute masterpieces later on, but there's just that unmistakable quality where you see him and immediately think—it's Walken.