Rating: 
Summary: The most powerful motion picture I've ever seen.
Review: Kudos to the casting crew. Every actor fit his/her part brilliantly. Christopher Walken made an inpact on me with his exceptional acting - from the pool-cue dance to Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" to his blood-chilling russian roulette scenes. The way he moved, looked, spoke, it was all perfection. The epitomy of "Best Supporting Actor" (and I don't usually agree with The Academy). John Savage played his role with such excellence, I don't even know how to address it. One scene that sticks in my mind is the way he did a dance at the wedding reception - it was a dance which included jumping down and up again swiftly and gracefully. The best motion picture ever made.
Rating: 
Summary: A dramatic, distressing and extremely violent masterpiece!
Review: Strong, violent and extremely sad - The Deer Hunter is a furious critic on a cruel and unnecessary war that slew million of American people.The scene that synthesizes Cimino's hate for the Vietnam confront is the one in that Christopher Walken is tortured by the enemies: the director's camera exposes, documents and studies the brutality during the conflict.Even having a cheerful and entertaining beginning, The deer hunter becomes progressively sad and distressing. Starting from the three Pensilvannia friends' story,who are chosen to combat in Vietnam, Cimino analyzes the consequences and posterior trauma, not adopting the partiality: here, he evidences all his displease and riot for the violence, and the way that the film maker found to declare his repulse was exactly filming an extremely unpleasant and hair-raising scene: when De Niro and Walken have to play the Russian roulette with three bullets on the barrel. When you stare Walken's eyes in that moment ,they remind the look of a hunted animal, and the physical and psychological torture that he has to face are reflexes of the price that the innocents have to pay for the human ignorance. The magnificent performances (Walken received an Oscar for his acting) Vilmos Szigmond's exuberant photography (the man behind other great movies, such as Deliverance. One thing that I realized, in Deliverance, is that, like The Deer Hunter, Boorman's film is a kind of a critic on Vietnam, in the way that his film shows four men in a place in which they don't have anything to do with it) and the precise and tense Cimino's direction consecrates The Deer Hunter as one of the greatest films of the seventies, a dramatic, although extremely violent, masterpiece...
Rating:
Summary: A perfect movie
Review: It's a perfect movie. Every single scene, every dialogue, everything is exactly where it should be, exactly how it should be, even the scene of the marriage, often considered too boring and long. All what happens in this scene is useful to understands characters deeply. this movie is shocking, it expresses in a perfect way the sense of deep desperation and lack of hope of these people. The war is described exactly as it is: an horrible, not human thing. And those who come back from war are not human: cold, mad, ill and disappointed, unable to walk, or speak (see the scene with Walken in Hospital). An amazingly great performance by Christopher Walken.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic but go easy on the Vietnamese
Review: This is probably one of the few movies that successfully depicts the devastation of war off the battlefield. De Niro gives a superb performance as Michael. It's easy to believe in these characters not only because of the performances from De Niro, Streep, Walken et al but also because of the flaws in each character. De Niro is particularly good in this respect. He clearly hints at Michael's inner turmoil, possibly secretly glad that his friend has not returned which leaves him to concentrate on Streep, his absent friend's girlfriend. The De Niro/ Streep scenes are amongst the best in the movie and alone make the film worth watching many times. My biggest criticism of Cimino is the depiction of the vietnamese as ugly, sadistic people. The enforced russian roulette scene although powerful is unnecessary and I am still puzzled as to why it was included. In fact the acting and the overall theme of the movie certainly indicate that this is a film which would have succeeded without any war scenes at all. What is Cimino trying to show here? Noble, decent American boys being sent to fight the evil, ugly vietnamese? In an otherwise intelligent movie this is a huge flaw. Anyone visits Vietnam will find a graceful, gentle people who unfortunately have suffered greatly at the hands of others. Notwithstanding this criticism the movie was a huge achievement and certainly would have lead to a greater understanding of the traumatised vietnam veterans. It's such a shame that Rambo arrived on the scene a few years later. De Niro v Stallone......sorry Sly, no competition.
Rating:
Summary: They don't make them like this anymore
Review: The only thing wrong with this movie is that Micheal Cimino actually tried to pass the Grand Cascades for the mountains of Pennsylvania. The nerve. This move is a classic. A portrait of the lives of Russian immigrant steel workers in a American town shaken to their core by a horrible war. DeNiro, Walken and Savage at their best. Streep is hypnotic in her film debut, and Cazale will leave you biting your nails. They don't make actors like these anymore, and Hollywood doesn't produce stories like these anymore. It's far from sappy and truly provockative. The Deer Hunter is guranteed to put you to sleep after 11 pm, which makes it an instant classic. You'll have to put your thinking cap on. This is no Rambo and it's not Apolocalypse Now (another classic). So don't even compare. The Deer Hunter stands alone. Forget about "You talking to me?!". "This is This!" On a DVD note: The transfer is terrific. The sound is fantastic. A 20 year old classic is reborn. If they only waited 5 more years....A special edition would be nice.
Rating:
Summary: Emotional
Review: Stunning, but depressing, depiction of before, during, and after Vietnam with the main characters being a group of steel mill working buddies who live for drinking it away at a local bar after work. Outstanding performances, particularly by De Niro, Walken, and Savage. A bit overlong, but overall an outstanding motion picture. The last scene is very tearjerking.
Rating:
Summary: Classic film, one that will last down the years
Review: It's rare that a movie can justify being three hours long, but The Deer Hunter manages it. The slow build-up, showing the steelworkers' community and the traditional Russian wedding, is necessary because it makes the subsequent Vietnam scenes so shocking. One knows that the North Vietnamese did not make a habit of forcing US prisoners to play Russian roulette, but that is hardly the point. The movie is contrasting the futile, random violence of the Vietnam war with the order, dignity, compassion and fundamental decency of the three friends' civilian life back home - as symbolized by the ritual of the deer hunt. De Niro and Walken play their parts to perfection. It is a very sad film, in the end, but it is one that truly deserves the label "epic".
Rating: 
Summary: Good actors, but malicious presentation of the Vietnam War
Review: This film is blatantly racist. The Vietnamese were portrayed as totally inhuman or, at best, disgustingly moronic. The scenes were not in Vietnam, the so-called Vietnamese did not look like Vietnamese, and they played the Russian roulette game which is completely alien to the Vietnamese. Worse still, they could not speak correctly some simple Vietnamese words! The film makers were completely ignorant of the fact that the North Vietnamese had won the war mainly because they knew how to win the heart of the rural people - they stayed among the people like fish in water to conduct a guerrilla warfare against the Americans and the South Vietnamese. Thus, how could they stand successfully against the superpower USA if they threw grenades at children and shot women without a cause? Don't tell me that this is a movie, not a documentary. A novelist or film director can ignore facts and deal only with imaginary things, on condition that his/her imagination is meaningful or, at least, entertaining. But no one has the right to be so malicious and truth-distorting. What would you think if there was an Oscar-laden movie presenting the G.I.s in Vietnam as utterly ruthless and moronic? Though there were indeed the My Lai massacre and other wanton killings of smaller scales performed by US soldiers during their search-and-destroy operations, it would be unfair if we ignored the good guys and focused only on the Lieutenant Calleys.
Rating:
Summary: Now this one's hunting somebody down.....
Review: The Deer Hunter, by Michael Cimino was praised by the critics and it also was named for the best picture of the year. I personally think it was an alright movie. But some parts must have been cut.The first wedding scene was so long that ordinary movie maniacs couldn't stand the half of this film. Of course Cimino wanted to symobolize some dark parts of the movie.But there were pretty lots of scenes that should have been cut.But after that wedding part, all we can see is the shocking truth that we could've seen in the 60's-70's in America. The acting was very good, and the symbolizing things were great.THAT THING was a good thing for Cimino to do. My favorite part in this movie was the last scene. When the people sing 'God Bless America'. Because Cimino actually wanted to say god f@#$ America! I would give it 3 out of five.
Rating:
Summary: de Niro at his best!!!
Review: the deer hunter is one of my all-time favourites. de niro shows once more his great talent. his appearance was worth an oscar but in that year he did not get it. pike of movie is a scene when de Niro and Walken are involved in russian roulette.
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