Perhaps the main reason The Deer Hunter connects with me so much, emotionally, each time I watch it is because it's not really what I would call a "War Film".
Opening in the late 1960s, in a small working-class town of Pennsylvania, it tracks three Russian-American steel workers, Michael ... Read review
Winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director,The Deer Hunteris ... more
simultaneously an audacious directorial conceit and one of the greatest films ever made about friendship and the personal impact of war. LikeApocalypse Now, it's ...
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An astonishing and powerful film about a group of Pennsylvania steelworkers whose lives ... more
are changed irrevocably by the Vietnam war. Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter won no less than five Academy Awards in 1978 including Best Picture, Best Director and ...
The Deer Hunter is an astonishing powerful and vivid epic about three men steelworkers ... more
from Pennsylvania whose lives are changed irrevocably in the tragic devastation of the Vietnam war. When Michael Steven and Nick are captured by the Vietcong ...
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The Deer Hunter is an astonishing, powerful and vivid epic about three men, steelworkers ... more
from Pennsylvania, whose lives are changed irrevocably in the tragic devastation of the Vietnam war. When Michael, Steven and Nick are captured by the Vietcong, they are forced to play Russian Roulette by their brutal captors, who make bets on their survival. The experience of capture leaves them with terrible physical and spiritual wounds and when Michael returns to Saigon to fulfil an old vow to one of his friends, he makes an unexpected, horrific discovery. Director Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter won no less than 5 Oscars in 1978, for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing and Best Sound.
An astonishing and powerful film about a group of Pennsylvania steelworkers whose lives ... more
are changed irrevocably by the Vietnam war. Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter won no less than five Academy Awards in 1978 including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken.When Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage) and Nick (Christopher Walken) are captured by the Vietcong, they are forced to play Russian Roulette by their brutal captures, who make bets on their survival. The experience of capture leaves them with terrible physical and spiritual wounds, and when Michael returns to Saigon to fulfill an old promise to one of his friends, he makes an unexpected, horrific discovery.Also featuring astonishing performances from Meryl Streep as the woman both Michael and Nick fall in love with, and John Cazale (The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon) as their unhinged and insecure friend Stan, The Deer Hunter is widely acknowledged as one of cinema's great masterpieces and contains some of the most memorable scenes in film history.
Production Year: 1998 - Drama - Director: Carl Franklyn, Carl Franklin - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Meryl Streep, William Hurt, Renee Zellweger, Tom Everett Scott, Nicky Katt, Lauren Graham
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Drama - Director: Chazz Palminteri - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz, Paul Walker, Alan Arkin, Marcus Thomas, Donna Hanover, Robin Williams
Production Year: 2007 - Drama - Director: Mike Binder - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, Donald Sutherland, Mike Binder
Advantages: Performances. Disadvantages: Requires your undivided attention.
Perhaps the main reason The Deer Hunter connects with me so much, emotionally, each time I watch it is because it's not really what I would call a "War Film".
Opening in the late 1960s, in a small working-class town of Pennsylvania, it tracks three Russian-American steel workers, Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken). The lives of these characters occupy the screen for a large majority ... ...to the jukebox at their local bar, dancing at their friends' wedding, and going on hunting trips into the mountains.
The reason the film chooses to focus upon these hard-working people is to show the importance of human bonding; how one chooses to celebrate his life by surrounding himself with friends and family. The Deer Hunter never attempts to make its characters seem flawless; instead, they each are out just to have a good time ... more
Perhaps the main reason The Deer Hunter connects with me so much, emotionally, each time I watch it is because it's not really what I would call a "War Film".
Opening in the late 1960s, in a small working-class town of Pennsylvania, it tracks three Russian-American steel workers, Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken). The lives of these characters occupy the screen for a large majority of the movie: we see them drinking and singing along to the jukebox at their local bar, dancing at their friends' wedding, and going on hunting trips into the mountains.
The reason the film chooses to focus upon these hard-working people is to show the importance of human bonding; how one chooses to celebrate his life by surrounding himself with friends and family. The Deer Hunter never attempts to make its characters seem flawless; instead, they each are out just to have a good time before they depart to Vietnam with the army. When they meet a soldier at the bar of the wedding party, they can’t understand why he isn't proud of serving his country in war; they appear patriotically naive. But we don't hate them for it, because the film doesn't really reveal an answer until we see the horrifying sequences that follow.
It isn't till at least an hour in that the film cuts to Vietnam, and we, as well as the characters, are forced to discover how violence can psychologically manipulate the lives of those involved. Captured, and forced to participate in a deadly game of Russian roulette, Michael and Nick somehow have to find the physical and mental strength to escape.
They do escape, just barely. Michael manages to make it home to his friends, but feels uncomfortable by the subdued praises of his heroism that he receives when walking down the street. Meanwhile, Steven has lost both his legs and has no choice but to stay in the hospital, and Nick (for a reason never really explained) is still in Vietnam, haunted, by the games of Russian roulette.
Evoking the agony of Vietnam, The Deer Hunter is more concerned with the emotions of its characters than it is with the politics of war. Particularly, the scenes involving De Niro and Walken are so intense and emotionally-disturbing that it'll be very difficult for me to find another film that unsettles me just as much as this one did (Walken truly deserved his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor).
Unlike a majority of war films, which I tend not to favour, here explains what the situation meant for soldiers, rather attempting to justify the carnage from one country's side of the argument. No one is innocent in war, that's the film's point- not even the characters of The Deer Hunter, which we sympathise with for the tragic events they endure.
Similar films, such as First Blood and Harsh Times, have attempted to explore the psychological effects of war, but none have effectively absorbed me into the lives of the characters as much as The Deer Hunter has. An astonishingly intense exploration of the human psyche. This still stands as one of the most hauntingly memorable films of those affected by violence and destruction, in a world fuelled by ugly cynicism, that I’ve seen.
On a final note: much like The Godfather, The Deer Hunter really does require your undivided attention. At three hours long, it definitely isn't a quick ride around the park. People tend to criticize its length, but if you are willing to sit down, in silence, for the evening and give it a watch, you won't be disappointed. Powerfully disturbing and utterly compelling.
Advantages: Fantastic story line, Keeps you glued to the screen! Disadvantages: Quite long
...of his mother. After the marriage he and his best friends Michael (Robert De Niro) and Nick (Christopher Walken) will join the Army and go to Vietnam… When all three are fighting in Vietnam the are captured as prisoners of war who finally escape their ordeal, although with several complications… The terrible experiences that they are subjected to change their whole life… Over the course of 182 minutes of screen time, "The Deer Hunter" presents outrageous ... ...devastating effect on one of the main members of the movie) while the prison guards bet on the result… Whatever his intention, Cimino goes courageously forth, staging with power his big end during the fall of Saigon showing the sad but true scenes of what occured in the vietnam war, depicting the trauma of war and the effort of one friend to rescue the other at all costs. ...
rector_21 26.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Deer Hunter (DVD)
Advantages: no other words for it fantastic Disadvantages: nil
...missed.
robert de niro in THE DEER HUNTER.a winner of five academy awards.
also starring john savage and christopher walken and a small part with meryl streep.
as a group of steel workers from pennsylvania lives are changed irrevocably by the vietnam war.
when michael (robet de niro) steven(john savage) and nick(christopher walken) are captured by the vietcong.
they are forced to play russian roulette by there captors.
who make bets on there ... ...the experience of capture leaves terrible physical and spiritual wounds.
when michael returns home to fulfill a promise.
he makes an horrific discovery.
the DEER HUNTER is widely recognised as one of the greats.
and contains one of the most memorable scenes in film history.
you can imagine what these guys went through.
by watching this film.
but dont take my word for it go watch it.
great film by michael cimino ...
mark422 26.03.2008 (28.03.2008)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Deer Hunter (DVD)
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Advantages: A classic benchmark film of its type and era Disadvantages: Writer's irony hasnt translated well from book to screen
The DeerHunter is one of those in which you must really read E.M Corder's original book before seeing the film (published by Jove, New York), otherwise you stand to miss out on the unexplained parts.
American culture has been one in which the masses support their Government in war both through taxation and moral support. The parallels between the McCarthyism of "reds under the bed" from post World War 2 and the Bin Laden under the bed today (of the war on terror fear) is identical in Government persuasion of the masses. During the ten year ideological war in Vietnam between the communist Vietcong and the American representatives of Capitalism are reflected in the book from an American perspective, but questions whether the American version is any better than the Vietcong version.
What the book and film do is to take a distinct ...
Advantages: Masterpiece of the affects of war Disadvantages: long and slow, deep and requiring thought.
Michael Ciminos, the DeerHunter has rightly become a classic of the modern cinema, a masterful study of the affects of war, in this case Vietnam, on three friends and the community they come from. But it is so much more than that, if you look hard enough into the imagary and subplots there is communication to the watcher that at first dont become apparent.
The film is based around three friends, Michael (Robert DeNiro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven, members of a steel working community in Pennsylvania. The Film is divided into three distinct parts which follow the friends lives over a number of years. The first act is set in the small community and develops the relationships between the main characters. There is the marriage of Steven (John Savage), a long portrayal of a Russian Orthodox ceremony as he marries his, already ...
Michael Cimino's epic looks at the effects of the Vietnam war upon a small community through the experiences of three close friends from that small industrial town. The DeerHunter rightly received enormous critical acclaim on its release and has continued to do so ever since although it has been criticised for its failure to question America's involvement in the war and its overtly racist view of the Vietnamese people. Nevertheless, this is still one fine movie, perhaps not the finest made based around the Viewnam war, but up their with them.
The first section of the movie is where the movie gains its title. It introduces the characters, their lives and loved ones and draws you into their relationships. The friends go on a hunting trip up into the mountains, Steven gets married, we see wives, girlfriends, families and the camaraderie ...
Commentary by director Michael Cimino, Interview with Cimino, Interview with actor John Savage, Interview with director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond , Trailer, None, Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer, Stills Gallery
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen, 2.35 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Award information
OSCAR
Best Actor In A Supporting Role 1978 (Christopher Walken)
OSCAR
Best Director 1978 (Michael Cimino), Best Actor In A Supporting Role 1979 (Christopher Walken), Best Director 1979 (Michael Cimino)
Professional reviews
Review
Hell is war in Michael Cimino's decade-defining classic (Total Film, 02/10/2006)
The film remains intense, powerful and fascinating for more than three hours....The acting, throughout, is outstanding. Walken's performance is a marvel (Variety, 02/10/2006)
DVD Description
This epic look at the Vietnam War and its effects told through the lives of a tight knit group of friends from a Pennsylvania town was Michael Cimino's second film and established him in the pantheon of American directors. Complex and emotionally raw performances from Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep earned each an Academy Award nomination, and Christopher Walken's portrayal of Nick, who survives capture but is unable to escape its trauma, is a tour de force that earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. With a keen eye for nuance and a carefully structured script, Cimino interweaves the rituals great and small that make up the lives of his characters, creating a poignant sense of what remained constant and what was forever changed by their experience of the war.
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