Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate
by Steven Bach
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Description
Heaven's Gate is probably the most discussed, least seen film in modern movie history. Its notoriety is so great that its title has become a generic term for disaster, for ego run rampant, for epic mismanagement, for wanton extravagance. It was also the film that brought down one of Hollywood's major studios--United Artists, the company founded in 1919 by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, D. W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin. Steven Bach was senior vice president and head of worldwide show more production for United Artists at the time of the filming of Heaven's Gate, and apart from the director and producer, the only person to witness the film's evolution from beginning to end. Combining wit, extraordinary anecdotes, and historical perspective, he 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. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is basically the story of how Michael Cimino was able to charm, bluff, and bully his way to making the film "Heaven's Gate" his way, and the disaster that resulted not just for him, but for everyone involved in the debacle.
And all the way through, I was asking myself "WHY doesn't someone just say no???"
An intriguing, infuriating and, in the end, rather sad read.
And all the way through, I was asking myself "WHY doesn't someone just say no???"
An intriguing, infuriating and, in the end, rather sad read.
I really loved this. If you're interested in film, the film industry, egos or even just things-running-out-of-control through huge financial mismanagement, this is well worth reading.
my review is found here: https://niklas.reviews/2021/05/19/steven-bach-final-cut/
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ThingScore 75
Heaven’s Gate brought nothing but torment to the executives of United Artists, which is now virtually defunct. (Transamerica, humiliated by the publicity, sold the company to Kirk Kerkorian’s M-G-M, which wanted it because of its distribution apparatus, and dismantled the production side.) About the only good that has ever come from the movie is the new book Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster show more in the Making of “Heaven’s Gate” (Morrow), by Stephen Bach—perhaps the best account we have of American moviemaking in the age of conglomerate control of the studios, and (though this isn’t made explicit) in the druggy age. show less
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Author Information
4 Works 824 Members
Steven Bach is the author of the best-selling "Final Cut" & of "Marlene Dietrich: Life & Legend", both "New York Times" Notable Books of the Year. Before turning to writing he was a Broadway producer & head of production at United Artists. He teaches at Columbia University & Bennington College, & divides his time between New York, Vermont, & show more Europe. (Publisher Provided) Steven Bach was born in Pocatello, Idaho. After studying at the Sorbonne and receiving a degree in French and English from Northwestern University in 1961, he taught American literature at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. He moved to Los Angeles in 1966, worked in a public relations firm, and received a doctorate in film at the University of Southern California. Before becoming senior vice president in charge of worldwide production at United Artists in 1978, he worked as a story editor on theatrical and film projects with the producer Gabriel Katzka, and as executive story editor for Palomar Pictures International. While at United Artists, he helped bring to the screen such films as Raging Bull, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Annie Hall, and True Confessions. He is best remembered for taking the fall for the colossal failure of the western epic Heaven's Gate (1980). After being fired from United Artists, he wrote several books including Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend (1992), Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart (2001) and Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl (2007). He also taught in the film program at Columbia University and taught film and literature at Bennington College. He died from cancer on March 25, 2009 at the age of 70. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Related movies
- Heaven's Gate (1980 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- This book is for my mother and father
- First words
- Orson Welles once observed that a poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a film-maker an army.
- Quotations
- Within three years of the Heaven’s Gate debacle, with only one exception noted below, the management of every major company in the motion-picture industry had changed. Not one production head in Hollywood today is where ... (show all)he was three and a half years earlier. Such instability precludes continuity and development not only in the industry but in "the art form of the 20th century” itself, and one might fairly ask how discipline and responsibility can be expected from artists who know that the only continuities in the business are those of their own work and those derived from conglomerates who, for the most part, own Hollywood and are not, as we have seen, afraid to walk away.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It is available from a Manhattan real estate firm for $27 per square foot.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 791.4372 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Movies, TV, Video Motion pictures, radio, television, podcasting Motion pictures Films; screenplays Single films
- LCC
- PN1997 .H4153 .B3 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Motion pictures Plays, scenarios, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 353
- Popularity
- 89,162
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.84)
- Languages
- English, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 4
