Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.
Writing
May's script is precision-engineered anti-comedy gold.
Acting
Beatty and Hoffman's terrible singing is committed art.
Production
That $40M budget is *right there* on screen, baby.
Director
Elaine May
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Heaven's Gate of comedies' — its $40M budget and Elaine May's battle with the studio became legendary Hollywood gossip that buried the film for decades.
Beatty and Hoffman did their own tone-deaf singing live on set, and May reportedly shot millions of feet of desert footage trying to capture 'the right nothing.'
US
