year to complete. the director s whose deer hunter film was a great success got a free hand. his producer said he was out of control. the rule a three and a half hour bomb. heaven s gate is a stake through the heart in hollywood. it s the cautionary tale that s all about to say, no, no, the studio s going to step in here and this is not going to be another heaven s gate and that s how you get the movies of the 1980s. you knew where you were when you first saw the empire strikes back. because it was the star wars movie that took the whole thing to a whole another level star wars was huge but empire strikes back was phenomenal. these established characters, you saw them intermix in a way you hadn t in the previous film. where there is this budding romance going on between han solo and princess leia. i love you. i know.