Rating: 
Summary: Half a work of genius.
Review: 'The Deer Hunter' is a flawed film, but the first half is magnificent, for so many reasons. Future events are pre-empted, so that the violent noise and flames of the industrial plant look forward to the more harrowing inferno of Vietnam; or, of course, the idea of the deer hunt, the one-shot.The first half is so brilliant because it schematically isolates the various parts of an organic community that cohere to create that community. Here opposites complement each other to create a whole - work/play, woman/man, young/old, city/nature, Russia/America. The film emphasises the schizophrenia caused by the Vietnam war by showing how this community had previously reconciled two seemingly irreconcilable opposites - Americanness and Russianness; the immigrant and the nation; the individual and society. Cimino is not sentimental about this community - it is full of wife-beaters, drunks, liars, losers: there is a pervasive sense of dissatisfaction or failure. But is there anything in cinema more joyous than the friends joking, dancing, swearing, singing in the pub, or the whole of that intoxicating wedding sequence, one big lie covered up with music and drink? Two big lies, actually - with those haunting, Soviet-style images of the three boys going to Nam presiding over everything, already ghosts in this present. The second half is, for me, a failure. The first works because its symbolism is not detachable from its subject - the individual, family, town etc.: these are strong metaphors, but they exist in their own right, they can carry whatever weight is put on them. Everything is lovingly detailed, and through some brilliantly unshowy acting, true. But the Vietnam metaphor of Russian Roulette is thin and lazy, an excuse not to examine the war in the same depth. The early use of the roulette simply as a local form of torture is effective, but as a prolonged metaphor becomes silly. The performances stop being richly naturalistic and become more ACTORly. The film's portrayal of the Vietnamese is racist, but no more stereotyped than, say, Meryl Streep's dad. if the film can be compared to updated John Ford, than the first half is as complex and rich and ambiguous as 'The Searchers', while the second is the equivalent of all those faceless, whooping Indians.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing story and a great film
Review: The performances by Chris Walken and De Nero are career-making. This Vietnam adventure uses flashbacks to tell a disjointed tale of the adventures of four friends from a small U.S mid-west town. The critics didnt like the length of this film, which is over three hours, but if any scenes were to be cut out you would hear viewers scream for a restored directors cut anyway. Meryl Streep hams it up a bit too much here, a few years before she starred in Sophie's Choice (a fantastic war based film that is also too long) with Kevin Kline.
Rating:
Summary: Emotionally shattering drama
Review: I loved this movie. I believe it is Robert De Niro's finest performance. Christopher Walken was great as well. This is probably the secong best war film of all time behind Apocalypse Now. The DVD exibits fine picture and sound quality especially for an older movie (actually it's not that old, 1978 wasn't that long ago.)
Rating:
Summary: wow!
Review: Wow!!! this movie is incrediable! i myself served in Vietnam for ten months as a grunt, and let me tell you it was ten months of hell. this film is horrifyingly real, despite the made-up Russina roulette scene. as far as i know, it never happened. i have seen many films on Vietnam, and this is by far the best. i saw this movie in theatures nearly a decade after my time in the war, but it was almost being there. if there is one thing this film cannot create, it is the sheer terror of battle. i was no hero in that war, but i served my country, just as that band of friends did. kudos go to the brilliant De Niro, an ice cold Walken, and, of course, Streep, Cazale, and Savage. Michael Cimino may be a little-known director, but he certainly proved himself. winner of five Academy Awards for 1978 - including Best Picture - this film is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. i recommend it everyone, but this is definately NOT for children.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful picture, De Niro shines.
Review: Winner of 5 Academy Awards, this powerful motion picture lets us experience war to the fullest. This three hour movie starts us of with one full hour of getting to know the characters. We meet a group of six buddies who all know eachother through working in a steel plant and through their love of hunting. We get to know three of these men especially and find out they are going to war in Vietnam. They all are leaving behind many friends and loved ones. Namely Stevey, who just got married. The three friends, Stevey (John Cazale), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Mike (Robert De Niro) go off to war and end up in a horror life and death situation of Viet-Comm and Russian Roulette. From here they split up and the movie shows us where all of the friends are now and gives us a vivid display of the undermining torment that causes someone to go crazy afrer war. This movie is a must have for anybody who wants to see the true effects of war on friends and family. This picture does not foccus on the war itself, but the people and how it changes their lives.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful picture, De Niro shines.
Review: Winner of 5 Academy Awards, this is by all means a very powerful motion picture. The movie starts at a steel workshop and we are introduced to a group of buddies who work, hunt, drink, and are friendly with eachother. Early on we find out that one of the friends, Steve or "Stevey" is getting maried the next day. And him, along with 2 other friends Mike (De Niro) and Nick (Walken) are going to the war in Vietnam soon. The entire first hour of this movie is devoted to letting us know the characters, who they are, and how they act. At the end of their last hunt and Stevey's wedding we begin to feel like we, outselves, know them. When Mike, Nick, and Steve, goto war we only actually see about 30 mim of actual footage but those minutes are horror filled. It really makes you wonder what you would do in their horrible life or death situation with Russian Roulette. The rest of the movie is dedicated to show you what has happened to the three after they split up in the war. It concludes with several twists and harsh reality of what it is like for a veteran going home. This is a must see movie for anybody who wants to get a real crisp taste of the effects of war can be one friends and how it can destroy one's world.
Rating:
Summary: Good Morning, Vietnam!
Review: "The Deer Hunter" is, bar-none, the best Vietnam film ever to come to the silver screen. Unlike films such as "Platoon" and/or "Apocalypse Now" which would have us think that the entire US Army consisted mainly of druggies, drunks, sex-crazed, paranoid, and racist American men, this film shows us a discreetly AMERICAN look at Vietnam. It dedicates an amazing amount of time to looking at the people back home, and becomes as psychologically amazing as "Apocalypse Now" without losing it's opinions to "maddness." Indeed, the other Vietnam flicks are good, but this is BETTER.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie ever
Review: This is simply one of the best films ever. The film doesn't get as much attention because when it came out (although won best picture but academy knows what its talking about)the average movie goer didn't like it because they found it very depressing. The U.S. was still trying to get over Vietnam. If those people would go back and watch this again they would realize what a masterpiece it is. Also, kids of this generation should take a look at it. If they think movies are violent and depressing now, they are in for a real wake up call. The 70's were THE decade for film. With such classics as Deer Hunter, Godfather 1 and 2, Taxi Driver, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, A Clockwork Orange, Rocky, American Grafiti, Jaws, Apacalypse Now, Star Wars, Dog Day Afternoon, Chinatown, Nashville and Network. The DVD is very good quality. It has good video and audio. Never seen it look better and I love that widescreen.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Epic
Review: This is the crowning achievement of moviemaking for 1978 atleast, and one of the best films of the Seventies. The scenes in the POW camp are amazing and haunting. Cimino is a little-heard-of director but he sure proved himself in this film.
Rating:
Summary: 'The Deer Hunter' is THE star-making movie.
Review: "Will this film ever get to the point - the war in Vietnam"? you wonder, as the long wedding scene streches on and on. But Pittsburgh Polish weddings were just like in the film - see the photographs of W.Eugene Smith. But get to the action it sure does in no uncertain manner.The bamboo jail sequence must be the most terrifying and realistic in cinema history. Forget their other films, Christopher Walken and Robert deNiro have never been better than here. The ice cold Walken, the naked terror of the prisoner whom deNiro must persuade to 'go up' and his own lunatic ferocity show these actors at their peak. This sequence must rate as the best I have ever seen in a movie and justifies adding it to you classics collection.
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