The Deer Hunter (1978)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Michael Cimino

Writers:

Michael Cimino (story) &
Deric Washburn (story) ...

Release Date:

23 February 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Best Picture 1978

Plot:

An in-depth examination of the way that the Vietnam war affects the lives of people in a small industrial town in the USA.

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Russian Roulette | Escape | Pennsylvania | Wedding

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Michael
John Cazale	...	Stan
John Savage	...	Steven
Christopher Walken	...	Nick
Meryl Streep	...	Linda
George Dzundza	...	John
Chuck Aspegren	...	Axel
Shirley Stoler	...	Steven's Mother
Rutanya Alda	...	Angela
Pierre Segui	...	Julien
Mady Kaplan	...	Axel's Girl
Amy Wright	...	Bridesmaid
Mary Ann Haenel	...	Stan's Girl
Richard Kuss	...	Linda's Father
Joe Grifasi	...	Bandleader

Also Known As:

The Man Who Came to Play (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

182 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Russian | Vietnamese | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:16+ (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/18 | Finland:K-15 (2001) | Finland:K-16 (1989) | Finland:K-18 (1979) | Brazil:18 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 (video rating) | New Zealand:R18 (DVD rating) | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

993 N. 7th Street, Steubenville, Ohio, USA

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

Michael Cimino spent six months shooting his film, and a further five months mixing the soundtrack. Since this was his first Dolby film, he was eager to exploit the technology to its fullest potential. A short battle sequence, for example, (200 feet of film) took five days to dub. For the re-creation of the American evacuation of Saigon, he accompanied composer Stanley Myers to the location and had him listen to the sounds of vehicles, tanks, and jeep horns as the sequence was being filmed. Myers then composed music for the sequence in the same key as the horns, so that it would blend with the images creating one truly bleak experience.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Michael comes back from Vietnam he has a full beard while in uniform. He would not have been able to leave Vietnam in uniform until haircut and facial hair complies with uniform regulation AR 670-1.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Michael: Hey, watch out, Axel. We'll be calling him old fireballs after tonight.
Axel: Fuckin' A.
Michael: Not bad.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mongoland (2001)

Soundtrack:

TROIKA

As great as ever

I've now seen this film three times with a decade or more between viewings, and every time I see it I come away feeling that movies can't get any better than this. People always comment on the Viet Nam scenes, and it's true that they are as powerful and intense as any war scenes ever filmed. The Russian-roulette betting game, in both its up-river and Saigon venues, may be the most riveting, shattering plot device ever invented, as measured by the pounding of the heart.

But it's the 'home front' scenes that stick with me through the years. I think all the steel town scenes are nearly perfect, untoppable. And that very much includes the Eastern Orthodox wedding and its sequel. When anyone tells me they were bored I just shake my head. There's no arguing with short and shallow attention spans. You're either capable of appreciating art or you're not.

I do have a quibble or two. The deer-hunting scenes looked like nowhere I've ever seen in Pennsylvania, or anywhere else East of the Rockies. I think Cimino deliberately picked an ethereal location above the clouds as a contrast to the steel town. When John Cazale and the others get loaded and act like jerks it jars on Michael, because they have brought the stupid distractions of ordinary life to an extraordinary place. This would matter less if the 'genius loci' were not so strongly present in the other home front scenes. I wish he had used the soft, green forested hills of Pennsylvania for the hunting.

And some of the dialogue--Meryl Streep's in particular--wouldn't work on the page, and only first-rate acting by an inspired ensemble--has there ever been a better cast of young actors?--pulls it off. But these are forgivable errors in one of the finest films ever made.