The Deer Hunter

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN
Review: THIS IS THE MOST POWERFULL FILM THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN, MAYBE IT IS THE CHARACHTERS, THE SETTING... I FELT SUCH A STRONG CONNECTION TO THIS FILM THAT I IT TOOK ME DAYS TO RECOVER

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest.
Review: Michael Cimino, though his later re-teaming with Walken was a complete failure for Heaven's Gate, did NOT fail with The Deer Hunter. De Niro and Walken are perfectly cast as the two close small town friends who join the army. With them, Steven (played by John Savage) joins as well. The movie follows a group the group of friends, which also includes John Cazale in his last film performance before his death by cancer (as Stan), Meryl Streep (as Linda), George Dzundza (as John), and Chuck Aspegren (as Axel). The Deer Hunter deserves the five star rating because of its acting, direction, music and story.

Rating:
Summary: Boring.
Review: A decidedly boring film that takes 3 hours to painfully wend its way to its desultory, but ultimately entirely predictable conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: A cinematic masterpiece
Review: The tale of American steel workers whose lives are overshadowed by the Vietnam war is one of the greatest emotional experiences imposed by any film. This film provides a look at the effects of Vietnam on the men and their lives afterwards. Not for the weak at heart, this film left a painful feeling in my chest long after its conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: One shot, that's what it's [life]all about
Review: The Deer Hunter is the story of how the lives of four steelworkers, their famlies and friends are irreparable damaged after their tour of duty in the Vietnam War. This movie goes far beyond the autrocities of the conflict in Vietnam by delving into man's ability to cope with severe stress. Although we all deal with stress in different ways, Cimino depicts that no one is immune from it. Some of us are delt good cards in life, others are not. The Deer Hunter portrays macabre truism that all we have is 'one shot, and that's what it's [life] all about.'

Rating:
Summary: Emotianally amazing!
Review: DeNiro gives the best performance of his career in this emotianally powerful film about war and redemption.

Rating:
Summary: too slow
Review: This movie is just too slow and makes you bored.Except of some scenes (in vietnam)i can`t find something to keep my interest.Classic but.......

Rating:
Summary: Deniro's best performance
Review: OK, i suspect that many will come away from this film thinking it's yet another anti-war statement by hollywood. But if one looks deeper into this film, they will see differently (notice the final scene in which "God Bless America" is sung). Deniro gives perhaps his most powerful performance as the silent, yet emotional Michael. While his performance may not have the flamboyancy nor the extra 100 pounds as "raging bull", Deniro brings out a truly realistic character. The scene in which he finds his best friend NIcky (played wonderfully by Christopher Walken) will bring tears to your eyes as it did for me. I believe that during the shooting of one particular scene (with a crippled John Savage), Cimino was forced to do several retakes because Deniro couldn't keep himself from weeping. This is perhaps THE most powerful depiction of war that has ever been put on film.


Rating:
Summary: Overrated, Dated
Review: The DEER HUNTER deserves neither the fawning praise nor the Academy Awards people have lavished on it. Despite the remarkable cast and the performances they turn in, the DEER HUNTER is lacklustre at best, a meandering and sloppy piece.

The film is supposed to be about deep, solid friendships forged in the fires of a blue-collar steel town, and how the savagery of war rends them apart. OK, sounds good, but the film does not focus enough on this. Instead, we get a PBS documentary on Russian-American wedding rituals, and gratuitous Vietnam "this was the worst, most immoral war in human history" scenes.

Why are these guys friends in the first place? Why are de Niro and Walken so especially close? Why is Cazale's character so insecure? And what, exactly, is so special about deer hunting? I realize that the intention was to demonstrate the deep spirituality and respect for life that is often associated with hunting, but it was so superficially treated in the film that it seems like an afterthought. It's the title of the film, for chrissake, and it's hardly dealt with.

None of these questions are answered. The cinematography is fantastic, and the acting is even better. God, how do I love Meryl Streep. But this movie is a failure. Forget the roulette, forget its alleged "slowness," this movie is bad on too many other levels. Best director? Do people know what it means to direct?

On paper, DEER HUNTER could have been one of the greatest movies of all time. In the hands of a self-indulgent director however, it ends up being shallow and unsatisfying. It's status as "best picture" of '78 illustrates more the political nature of the Oscars than its mission to publicly honor true art.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: Obviously the Deer Hunter is a whopper of a movie. But I think that it has in the time since it has been made, the legend of this movie has largely eclipsed its reality. This is an ambitious movie, with great performances by de Niro and Walken. I'm not going to deny that. But anyone who is serious about movies for what they are, rather than what people say about them, should acknowledge that perhaps they like it because they are supposed to and because the silly russian roulette scene (wow that sure got everyone talking right?) - rather than because this is such a great movie. It is good, sure, but true greatness eludes it by a considerable margin. It is too long, too complicated, and too wrapped up in its own politics (was the roulette scene "racist"? who cares!). What I mean to say is that Deer Hunter got too much attention for the wrong reasons, and that when one actually puts the hype aside and tries to see the movie for what it is, it is a remarkably melodramatic, boring, tedious, and overly complicated movie. When I consider Deer Hunter on its own merits, what I personally perceive the most strongly is the influence of some very overbearing filmmaking (forcing the nonsensical and dubiously famous "marriage scene" as well as the silly prisoner of war scenes on the viewer). I mean, it is almost heretical to disparage this movie, and I don't want to disparage it, but rather to balance what I think are some jaundiced opinions.