Rating: 
Summary: The best....
Review: Seeing this film back in the late 70's after the war had ended was so real and seeing it again more recently and older of course I feel it is better now...this is not about the war per se but about the effects. The absolute best and I will never ever forget the last seen with Michael and Nicky. DeNiro was absolutely superb.
Rating:
Summary: "This ain't something else. This is this!"
Review: As a young film enthusiast, it's always unnerving to watch films and be limited to the full effect it had on the audience because it was made before your time and in a much different era. "The Deer Hunter" was no exception. But I love it regardless of that annoyance. "The Deer Hunter," next to "Apocalypse Now," is by far the best Vietnam movie ever. There's both an epic quality to this film as well as an intimacy about it. It looks at the mental, emotional, and physical toll the war had on American soldiers unlike any other film and it shows what it did to close friends and communities. The major sequence in the beginning is the wedding sequence. Yes, it's lengthy, but that sequence is this film's heart. It wouldn't be 'The Deer Hunter' without it. All major characters are introduced as well as their relationship with one another. Michael Vronsky (Robert De Niro), is the leader of his pack of four brother-like friends. Michael, Steve(John Savage), and Nick (Chris Walken), are all going to to Vietnam, while Stan(John Cazale) is left in Pennsylvania with Axel(Chick Aspegren. So the wedding sequence is both a celebration of Steve's wedding as well as a going away party for Steve, Mike and Nick. In the middle of all this, there's Linda(Meryl Streep)who's Nick's fiancee AND the object of Michael's affections. In Vietnam, Steve, Nick and Mike are captured by the Viet Cong and are forced to engage in endless games of Russian Roulette and with the efforts of Mike, they all escape but at a cost. Steve and Mike return home while Nick is left in Saigon. Michael is reunited with Linda, but is isolated and alienated from his surroundings.They comfort each other because she is also mourning Nick's absence as a loss. He attempts to go back to his deer hunting ways, but can't bring himself to shoot a deer
anymore because he now knows first-hand what it feels like to be hunted. With a visit to a Veteran's hospital, Steve, now a maimed, wheel-chair ridden man discloses to Mike about the money he has recieved from an annonymous sender from Siagon. Mike quickly figures out who it is and rapidly departs to Saigon in search for Nick. He finds Nick reliving his Russian Roulette ordeal by gambling with his own life. Mike shows up and desperately tries to get Nick to come back to Pennsylvania and to Linda.The rest I'll leave to those wanting to buy this movie. "The Deer Hunter" is an emotionally charged film. It's a gem! It brilliantly shows ordinary men who led simple lives going into the war and emerging forever scarred and forever changed by their experiences. The Russian Roulette scenes are the most powerful and heart-wrenching. You immediately feel the tension and fear of who will live and who will die, much like the overall reaction during the Vietnam war. You'll never forget the looks on De Niro's, Savage's, and Walken's faces in those scenes. They're a work of art created by rare emotional intensity. All three men give the performances of their careers. Meryl Streep gives a wonderful perfomance as well. The chemistry between her and De Niro is vivid and captivating. Great cinematography and wonderful contrasts between peace and chaos; Pennsylvania and Vietnam. It's a film about friendship and courage and how it's put to the test. It's one of the best American films. Period. You'll never forget it.
As Mike said, "This ain't something else. This is this!"
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific Movie, average DVD
Review: ... The picture quality and sound were not a lot better, but I could infer that. If the film were restored and remastered down to the origional strip, and given a high definition transfer, and the sound was restored and remastered, the box would say it. I was in widescreen, but so was my VHS. I don't watch this enough times to were it out, and I'm content. If a special edition comes out, I'll still keep this version. It's not that bad. I don't have surround sound, so I'm guessing its mono, which is a pain for if I ever get one, but this movie is great. The only possible special features I'd want is deleted scenes, alternate endings, and maybe a making of documentary with interviews. I probably wouldn't listen to commentary. The DVD is not the best, but the movie is!
Rating:
Summary: Meryl Streep is a goddess
Review: The Deer Hunter is an extraordinary film, and the emotional effect is intense, bittersweet, and very thorough. Upon repeated viewings I did come to resent being so easily manipulated by its sentimentality. While the ensemble acting is exceptional and the sets intriguing, the characterizations of the VC as sickly obsessed with Russian roulette and the steelworkers as lovable, rambunctious alcoholics are probably inaccurate, to say the least. But there is a wealth of moments here that very accurately reflect the human experience. DeNiro's awkwardly stoic Michael is mesmerizing, and Meryl Streep is luminous and fascinating as ever. In fact, I believe Meryl Streep is a strong argument for cloning. There is some shocking footage of gunshot trauma in this movie, but if you're American you are probably so desensitized to brutal violence that it won't keep you up at night.
Rating: 
Summary: Some great performances, but otherwise a tedious movie
Review: This film is at least an hour too long. It's also one of the most overrated movies I've experienced. Why does Cimino spend so much set-up time in Pennsylvania? The wedding is quite unremarkable, and maybe that's worth telling us, but there must be far more concise ways of achieving that objective. And in what sense is this a realistic war movie? Of the 176 minutes of this movie, fewer than five are spent on scenes which have anything to do with combat or the wartime existence of the soldier. And of the thousands of Americans who went to Vietnam, how many were forced to play russian roulette? This film does not depict the Vietnamese people well. That said, there is some great acting here, particularly in the most traumatic sequences. The roulette sequences have stayed with me ever since I first saw them back in '78 or '79, but frankly the movie has not improved over the years. I suspect my copy of the DVD will gather dust. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Among the best
Review: The Deer Hunter is definitely among the top three Vietnam films of all time, in my opinion... However, what makes all three great is that, in reality, none of them are about war...The Deer Hunter takes place mostly outside of Vietnam and doesn't dwell there for more than a third of the film. Rather, it is merely the focal point of the film. The movie is about friendship, courage, loyalty, and pathos. The movie features a wonderful ensemble of actors, including Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza, just to name a few. The story is set in a small steel town in Pennsylvania, and De Niro and company are Russian-Americans and close friends. De Niro's character, Michael, is the leader. He is spontaneous and fun-loving, but also strict and methodical. When screw-up Stan (Cazale) forgets his boots, De Niro doesn't want to give him his extra pair. Walken portrays Nick as an intensely loyal friend, willing to risk death at Russian Roulette to escape on a plan conceived by Michael. Savage plays Steve, the married man who ends up losing his legs due to an injury in the war. The film investigates the lives of these three men, forever changed by Vietnam: one emotionally scarred, one physically scarred, one lost in a foreign land. I got choked up when Michael went to Vietnam to save Nick, but ends up playing one final game of Russian Roulette. That particular scene is the most affecting. See it and you'll understand.
In short, this film is a monumental examination of friendship, loyalty, and courage. It won the Best Picture Oscar in 1978, and will forever be a potent look at grief and sadness and joy and love. A must.
Rating:
Summary: great film...
Review: Great film, one of the best war films ever made. Shame about the DVD transfer though.The DVD version is identical to the VHS version so if you already have it on video don`t bother to buy on DVD also. This is one film that is crying out for the full re-mastering of both film and soundtrack.
Rating:
Summary: The best Vietnam movie ever
Review: This is easily the best war movie I've ever seen, bar none. It's the only film that really shows a) the horrors of the Vietnam war, and b) shows the effects it had on the people who survived it. To say the least, this film is a genuine tragedy that will have even the toughest people out there in tears by the end. Again, it's not so much the war itself that is spotlighted as the people who are in it, and how the war changed them from happy-go-lucky factory workers to mature, introspective and ultimately compassionate people who understand what life really is; there is a striking contrast to the friends who were in the war and those who were not, and THAT'S the point of the movie, not a typical shoot-'em-up action flick. It is not racist in any way, despite what you may have heard from people like, oh, Jane Fonda maybe (who, by the way, never even saw the movie). Definately worth it...buy it right now.
Rating:
Summary: De Niro at His Best
Review: De Niro commands the screen in one of the greatest movie experiences I have ever had. Note: You will never be the same after seeing the "Russian Roulette" sequence.
Rating: 
Summary: The beginning is boring.
Review: The beginning is a total bore, nothing happens.
The second part is far better.
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