Heaven's Gate

Friday I bought a DVD of the movie, "Heaven's Gate". Who would have thought a DVD would be released of one of the largest box office failures in history?! I was surprised to come across it.

Even though I had seen the movie the very short time it was in the movie theaters back in 1980, I had to buy the DVD. While it may be a bad and muddled movie, and one that brought down the United Artists movie studio, I have a connection to the movie. Parts of the movie were filmed in Kalispell, Montana back in 1979 when I was there.

Here is a link to a listing of the locations where the movie was filmed.

The roller rink and "town" set was built north of Kalispell a few miles from where I live. The set was built at the edge of the ridge that runs north/south west of where I live. The background was the Swan Mountain range. A beautiful view, but ironically mountains from Wyoming were added to the movie replacing views of the Swan Mountain range. I say ironically because the movie is set in Wyoming.

I have memories of riding my bicycle by the set close enough to see it but not close enough to be on it. The location of the set is now a housing development.

I also passed by the Conrad Mansion when filming was done there. All I saw were the large lights on the lawn outside the windows shining light into the mansion's interior. Impressive. Strangely though, my memory when watching the movie is that all the interior scenes are too dimly lit and I had trouble seeing much.

I tried to get a part as an extra in the movie. However I was young and dumb. I never got a part. I had long shoulder length hair and glasses with black plastic frames... the glasses were a "birth control device". It makes sense now that the movie wouldn't hire a person with these kind of glasses for a western set in the 1890s. I still have a copy of one of the Polaroid pictures taken of me and submitted with my application for a movie part. I'd include it but the photo is back in Montana.

I remember that when I dropped off my application and photo at the Outlaw Inn hotel where the movie production were staying, the hotel staff confused me as being a member of a rock 'n rock band scheduled to play and stay at the hotel. Umm... no...

Later a friend of my dad's got me the phone number of a casting crew member and I had a phone interview.

No, I could not:

• ride a horse,
• drive a buckwagon,
• sing,
• play a musical instrument, or
• roller skate.

Roller skate?! Well, this was 1979 and roller skating to disco music was all the rage at the time. So... the movie had a roller skating scene. Mercifully not to disco music.

Needless to say I didn't get a part as an extra. I know, modus operandi for getting a part in a movie is to lie and say you can do it, but I couldn't do that. It didn't feel right. I guess that is why I am not an actor.

So, sometime when I have a spare 3 hours 39 minutes, I will watch the movie again and see if it is as bad as I remember it being.

Here is a link to trivia about the movie if you are interested. For example, due to the abuse of animals when filming this movie, the American Humane Society now monitors all animals in filmed media.

Another bit of trivia not on the previous web site. In 2002 or 2003 another movie was filmed near Kalispell (I didn't get a part as an extra for a wedding scene in that movie either - I was too old as they wanted 20-somethings). Ironically the initial title of that movie was "Heaven's Pond". After the disaster of "Heaven's Gate", having the word "Heaven" in the title of a movie filmed near Kalispell was not a good idea. The movie was instead released as "Devil's Pond". The movie went straight to video and was not released in the theaters. I have not seen this movie.