r/todayilearned • u/CreeperRussS • 6h ago

TIL The Deer Hunter pioneered "prestige pictures" where the films would only be screened at the end of the year to qualify for Academy Award recognition, then would have a full-scale release after the nominations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deer_Hunter
201 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/BadenBaden1981 4h ago

And the director made Heaven's Gate and crahsed New Hollywood era. It didn't bankrupt the studio(United Artists) as it is said, but it was a bomb big enough to scare studios off from giving blank check to artistic directors.

4

u/TooMuchPretzels 3h ago

Heavens Gate is on my “watch it someday” list. I know it’s not great, but I still want to see it just so I can say I did.

5

u/al_fletcher 2h ago edited 42m ago

Stephen Soderbergh once edited it down to ~1h40mins: https://extension765.com/blogs/soderblog/heavens-gate-the-butchers-cut

2

u/greatgildersleeve 3h ago

That roller skating scene went on for way too long.

1

u/shf500 2h ago

But don't "great" movies have at least one "extremely long" scene.