Deer Hunter (The)

Genre: psychological drama

With: Robert De Niro (Michael Vronsky), John Savage (Steven), Christopher Walken (Nick), John Cazale (Stan), Meryl Streep (Linda), George Dzundza (John the bartender), Rutanya Alda (Angela)

Director: Michael Cimino

Screenplay: Deric Washburn (from a story by Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker)

Release: 1978

Studio: EMI Films, Universal Pictures

Rating: 18+

MBiS score: 8.8/10

Can Life Ever Be The Same Once You’ve Tasted War?  

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Story-line: during the late 1960s, three young men from a rugged industrial town in Pennsylvania attain personal milestones: marriage for one and a tour of duty in Vietnam for all three.  

Pluses: fabulous performances by a virile Robert De Niro, a fresh-faced Christopher Walken, the brilliant Meryl Streep and an evenly professional cast (notably the Asian actors), a logical and sensible screenplay providing emotional power, surprising twists and moments of humour, adept directorial work (the wedding and party scenes in particular), gritty photography by Vilmos Zsigmond, a measured musical theme (Stanley Myers).    

Minuses: the combat episodes are very intense (more so than in APOCALYPSE NOW, for instance). The final sequence may seem a bit too patriotic – in view of history’s judgment on the Vietnam war – but it does reflect a viewpoint shared by many at the time.   

Comments: THE DEER HUNTER stands as a sober examination of personal lives altered by global events and a poignant statement about friendship and respect. Michael Cimino’s masterwork is a fine companion piece to ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, that great old classic depicting one soldier’s fate on and off the battlefield.   

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