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The Deer Hunter (1978)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
23 February 1979 (USA)
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Tagline:
Best Picture 1978 more
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. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won 5 Oscars.
Another 16 wins
&
19 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(31 articles)
Their Best Role: Meryl Streep
(From Cinematical. 18 November 2009, 9:02 AM, PST)
Movies I Saw as a Kid (That I Shouldn't Have)
(From Momlogic. 17 November 2009, 2:00 AM, PST)
(From Cinematical. 18 November 2009, 9:02 AM, PST)
Movies I Saw as a Kid (That I Shouldn't Have)
(From Momlogic. 17 November 2009, 2:00 AM, PST)
User Comments:
to call it masterpiece is to state the obvious
more (707 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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 |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
The Man Who Came to Play (USA) (original script title)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
182 min
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
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:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The church used in the movie was Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio. One can clearly see the name plaque in one scene.
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Goofs:
Continuity: Reversed negative. In the last hunting scene, while chasing the deer, Michael changes from being left-handed to right-handed and back again.
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Richard Benjamin/Rickie Lee Jones (#4.16)" (1979)
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Soundtrack:
DROP-KICK ME, JESUS (THROUGH THE GOALPOSTS OF LIFE)
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FAQ
Who's the father of Angela's baby?Has the movie inspired suicides?
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
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Of the first two American films about the Vietnam war with a priceless artistic weight, "the Deer Hunter" wins hands down over "Apocalypse Now" (1979) although Francis Ford Coppola's work is very potent too.
But would it be judicious to pigeonhole Michael Cimino's work in the category of the war movie? Unlike Coppola's visual nightmare, only the central part takes place in Vietnam and the filmmaker barely shoots one fight sequence before Mike (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Stevie (John Savage) are prisoners of the enemy and are forced to play Russian roulette in the notorious unbearable scene. Actually "the Deer Hunter" is a film straddling two movie genres: the war movie and the social drama. Rather than shooting a political film, Cimino chose to represent us the deadly impact this nightmarish war had on an American community whose hopes and values disappeared.
Dividing his work in three parts: before, during, after and thanks to symbolical images, scenes or even eloquent details, Cimino used and honed his own cinematographic language to set out his stalls and the result can only command respect and admiration. Each sequence could be separately taken and carefully studied like the representation of the humdrum but reassuring living standards of the blue-collars with their everyday rituals (Cimino's obsession with rites and customs) revolving around factory, bar, friends and hunting (you have to admire the startling contrast between the dirty little town and the gorgeous, wild landscapes). Archetypal sequences that epitomize life and it reaches its height in the famous, unusually long wedding sequence. Perhaps Cimino wanted to stretch this sequence to make his characters take advantage of this rapture moment. But even during this state of bliss that lives inside them, the imminent tragedy ominously lurks: Mike and Nick gently laugh at an officer who remains dumb and when Stevie and his wife have to drink in a dish, some drops fall on her wedding dress. This sequence also epitomizes the polar opposite to the sequence of the Russian roulette in which death is just around the corner. After the war when Mike comes back to the small town, he's completely altered. Before, a devotee of deer hunting; after his traumatizing experience, he can't kill one. He's unable to talk about about what he went through and for his sidekicks, the experience of a war like this one is incomprehensible. Cimino eschews classical, predictable storytelling and hasn't recourse to psychological study. Nearly everything occurs in gestures and looks while the suggested has a meaty part in the dialogs. Besides, during the whole movie the topic of the war is barely mentioned by the characters. A lyrical whiff blows on the film, dovetailed by Cimino's astounding directing.
Cimino was consumed with ambition and went at it hammer and tongs to get his crew completely involved in his project. He was hard on his actors (Robert De Niro has often said that "the Deer Hunter" was his most grueling role to date) and was obsessed with absolute control. But the efforts weren't vain at all and gave a heartfelt, invaluable yardstick in war movie, even American cinema which reached the streets when America rose from its ruins. It was also the beginning of the end for Cimino, a filmmaker ahead of his time and on the fringe of cinematographic trends.