This volume offers an inside look at the making of "Heaven's Gate", a 1980 American epic Western film written and directed by Michael Cimino. There were major setbacks in the film's production due to cost and time overruns, negative press, and rumors about Cimino's allegedly overbearing directorial style. It is generally considered one of the biggest box office bombs of all time, and in some circles has been considered to be one of the worst films ever made. Due to this fiasco, studio control of budgets and productions became tighter, ending the free-wheeling excesses that had begotten Heaven's Gate.