10 Most Ambitious Westerns Movies Ever Made

Michael Cimino's ill-fated but ambitious Western marked the end of an era for Hollywood; after all, this was the film that bankrupted United Artists, signalling the end of director-led projects and increased studio control over the following decades.

The film is an epic in very sense of the word, concerned with disputes between land barons and immigrants in 1890s Wyoming, and featuring a massive ensemble cast with the likes of Kris Kristofferson (there he is again!), Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, and many, many more. In terms of sheer epic sweep, few films can rival Heaven's Gate, evidenced by the film eventually coming in at a then eye-watering $44 million dollars (approximately $117 million dollars today).

The film's reputation has been revised of late, with some championing it as an overlooked classic and one of the finest works in the genre. Upon release, however, the film was not only a financial bomb, but was roundly abused by critics who took issue with its length and unconventionality. No one, however, could doubt the film's ambition, and certainly recent estimations would say that it is ambition the film more than lives up to.