Michael Cimino

When a guy is perceived as macho, female editors aren't going to like it - because they all want to be men.

I wouldn't look pretty as a woman.

There's a need to dig up the past and analyze it.

There's nothing good that comes out of war. It's simply hell on earth, and people survive, and people don't.

Every great movie is about the people, even if it's a great popular success like 'Gone With the Wind.' It's really not about the Civil War. It's about Scarlett and Rhett. That's who you go to see. You're not going to root for the North or pull for the South, or, you know, it's the people you remember.

You can't look back.

I wish I was making movies back in the days when John Ford made movies and you were a director under contract to a studio. John Ford had years when he made three movies in a year.

There's no service ribbon for people who fought in Korea. We lost over 30,000 men between 1951 and 1953 - as many as we lost in 15 years in Vietnam.

I have no interest in making a 'Vietnam' film, no interest in making a direct political statement.

When the rich kids got together, the most we ever did was cross against a red light.

War is war. Vietnam is no different from the Crusades.

Being infamous is not fun. It becomes a weird occupation in and of itself.