Director Michael Cimino Dead at 77 – Won Two Oscars for THE DEER HUNTER

“A deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that but they don’t listen.”

Though his claim to fame was causing the downfall of a movie studio (United Artists), there’s no denying that, though he only directed a handful of films, Michael Cimino was a talented and visionary filmmaker. I had never seen HEAVEN’S GATE until I bought the Criterion last summer. I found it a fascinating if bloated Western, an epic panorama that contained some extraordinary moments. His THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT was one of the best road movies of the ‘70s and of course THE DEER HUNTER, which won him two Oscars in 1978, still holds up as one of the richest and most powerful films of that decade.

His behavior on the set of HEAVEN’S GATE is the stuff of legend and it’s a shame that he was effectively blacklisted from working in Hollywood. It would have been interesting to see what else Michael Cimino could have come up with. Cimino died today at age 77

From The Hollywood Reporter:

“Michael Cimino, who won Oscars for director and best picture for the powerful 1978 Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter, has died. He was 77. Thierry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, announced the news on Twitter. No other details of his death were immediately available.Despite his achievement with The Deer Hunter, his next project, Heaven’s Gate (1980), capsized United Artists with his profligate budget excesses. Subsequently, the words “Heaven’s Gate” entered filmmaking lexicon as an out­-of-control, over­budget production……”

Read the rest HERE

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-cimino-dead-deer-hunter-908188