Rating: 
Summary: Long, involved, difficult, great.
Review: The movie is all those things above, my review won't be. This movie is often shocking,often provocative, and by all means epic. It's the kind of movie you have to see at least once, just so you can understand it's function in movie history. Newer movies have referenced the hell out The Deer Hunter, but you won't know how much till you see it. It's probably a more useful Vietnam War movie than Apocalypse Now! on the home side of things as we get to know the characters before the war and then see how the experience affects them. It's really a must see movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie not a good transfer to DVD
Review: I was very dissapointed in the quality of the picture on this DVD. For being one of the best movies ever and a BEST PICTURE winner I was expecting a good picture quality on the DVD. The quality transfer stinks on this one. Doesn't look much better than VHS in my opinion. I hope they re-release it with a high deffinition transfer and this movie is in dire need for RESTORATION to transfer to DVD.If your a DVD collector and are hoping for a better picture, don't ecpect much better than the VHS version. The ONLY good thing about the DVD version is it's in letterbox and it's a shame it wasn't transfered in anamorphic widescreen atleast.
Rating: 
Summary: The poor poor Americans.
Review: 'The Deer Hunter' has some positive sides to it, like showing how everyday, normal lives can be changed forever by the horrors of war. But the film tries to tell us this with the wrong war and with the wrong side of the story. Yes, 57,000 American soldiers died, but over a million Vietnamese people were killed in the war. I guess those Vietnamese are not people, only us Americans are. At least that's what the film tries to show.
The main character, played by De Niro, is almost an angel. The same can be said for his buddies. The Vietnamese, on the other hand, are money-grubbing, mean-spritied devils. The films also seems to ignore history. Seems like no one in America is protesting against the war. And I also don't remember hearing anything about the Vietnamese forcing American soldiers to play Russian Roulette.
Rating:
Summary: PERFECT MOVIE
Review: PERFECT MOVIE
The Deer Hunter is one of the most powerful, emotionally satisfying movies ever made. In terms of acting, cinematography, story, screenplay, etc. it should rank with Dr. Zhivago and similar all time great movies. It's not so much a "war movie" as a movie about the effects of war on the daily lives of real people, particularly the strains on relationshps between friends and lovers. It's more of a love story. The Best Acting Awards were well deserved, it is one of Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro's finest roles. This movie is not for the weak. The war segment is almost as hard to handle as the first ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan, especially the "Russian Roullette" scenes, which I still cannot watch, I have to close my eyes. The acting in this movie is so exceptional. The characters so real, you care for them, you feel for them and with them, and in the end you are as emotionally scared as they are. One of the saddest movies I have seen.. I cry over and over again.. and I'm a guy! A perfect movie... as for the DVD itself, not much as far as extras, but the video and audio are pretty good.
Rating: 
Summary: A Flawed Masterpiece
Review: Cimino's THE DEER HUNTER is difficult to describe. The film opens with a long and complex sequence depicting events surrounding an elaborate wedding in the Polish-American community of a steel mill town--and then vaults several of that community's young men into a hellish vision of the Vietnam war, from which the survivors return so completely changed that they no longer fit into the community from which they originally came.There are several critical issues with THE DEER HUNTER. When it was first released, audiences were very positive about the film--but they complained about the opening "home town" sequence, which they described as slow and over-long. The studio accordingly edited the sequence to half its original length--but when the edited version was shown, audiences were considerably less enthusiastic about the film in general and complained that it lacked impact, and the edited portion was restored. Audiences still complain about the opening sequence, seldom realizing that it provides the point of comparison that makes the remainder of the film so powerful--and in any case, this fact is something that can only be recognized by viewers in hindsight, a circumstance that does not help them weather the first portion of the movie when they actually see it. Many also complain that the plot is improbable. Once the three leads (Robert De Niro, John Savage, and Christopher Walken) reach Vietnam, they are unexpectedly reunited just in time to be captured and tortured together. In the film's most famous scene, the three are forced to play Russian roulette against each other--and although they escape, one is maimed (Savage) and the other (Walken) so emotionally traumatized that he vanishes into Vietnamese underworld, where he re-enacts the horror of his torture by playing Russian roulette as a gambling game. But for all its glitchiness, THE DEER HUNTER is a remarkably intense, remarkably disturbing film--particularly when the discharged De Niro returns home only to find himself surrounded by old friends whose 'broads and beer' lives seem incredibly trivial in comparison to his own experience. He has changed; they have not; what has been lost cannot be recovered. But there can be a sort of redemption through an acceptance of the change that has been forced upon him--and by trying to bring others who have suffered to that same acceptance. Cimino's direction and overall vision is loose, to say the least, but he draws extraordinary performances from an extraordinary cast. De Niro gives what may be the most subtle performance of his entire career in this film. Christopher Walken's performance (he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) is justly famous, and although often overlooked, John Savage is every bit his equal; Meryl Streep is also memorable in one of her earliest big-screen roles. And bitter as the film is, it still speaks of honor, integrity, hope, and bonds of friendship and community that can never be broken. Deeply flawed--but a masterpiece nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Fear, Emptiness, and Despair
Review: A grim look into the after-effects of the Vietnam war on three buddies from a small Pennsylvania steel town. The cast is stocked with first class actors such as Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep, and of course Robert De Niro. De Niro's character Michael gets the most screen time in the film but the true star of The Deer Hunter is Christopher Walken. This is his coming out party and he does a fantastic job as Nicky, a smart, funny, well-adjusted small town guy. The movie centers around the boys being sent off to 'nam and the ensuing horror that all of them endure. After being captured by the enemy it becomes apparent who the strongest of the group is...Michael (De Niro). It is his strength and perservence that ultimately bring the three through this trauma, but the effects are long lasting. Savage's character (the weakest) becomes paralyzed and looses both legs, he suffers both the physical and mental scars of the war. De Niro come out virtually without a scratch but the signs of mental anguish and social maladjustment are clear. Nicky goes AWOL and decides to stay in Hanoi and play big stakes Russian Roulette as now the mental beating he took in the war seems too much for him to bear. He is truly the living dead. Meryl Streep plays a woman torn between her love for a missing Nicky and a consoling Michael. As always, her work is nothing less than stellar. The last scene in Hanoi is truly chilling especially when Nicky finally remembers his hunting days with the boys and then utters his final words "one shot." A true cinematic masterpiece that wrenches at the soul. The most anti-war war film I've ever seen. Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: I was shocked and horrified. But I couldn't stop watching!
Review: Robert DiNiro is the star. His name is featured, even above the title on the video box. There's doubt that he's a fine actor and his performance is exceptional. But it was Christopher Walken, in a supporting role, who won an Academy Award. And John Savage, the third of a trio of friends from and Pennsylvania industrial town who go off to Vietnam, was equally as good. Meryl Streep, as the sweetheart back home is good too, but her role is small and she's basically just a backdrop for the real story of the three men, who are all full of macho vim and vigor at the start of the film. There's a long wedding scene followed by the men's deer hunting expedition to the woods later. These scenes developed their characterizations so well that I felt as if I knew each of them personally. Then, when the scene suddenly changes, plunging the viewer into the depths of battle resulting in captivity, the shock is horrific. Whether or not the scenes of Russian Roulette that the men are forced to play for the amusement of their captors was real is a moot point. The film makes it seem as if this practice was widespread. I don't know if that is true. But even if it is symbolic, it sure felt real. I found myself experiencing a quickened heartbeat as each man was forced to put the gun to his own head. And I was filled with a new appreciation of the deep psychological wounds of those who survived. Everything in this film is taken to extreme. Robert DiNiro's character is just too good to be true. The sadism of the Vietnamese goes too far. The sordid result of Christopher Walken's trauma seems too twisted. And the extent of John Savage's fear and eventually injuries are heartbreaking. Even the meaning of the deer hunt itself is confusing. And it's not even clear whether this is an anti-war movie or one about patriotism and what it means to be an American. But it sure is about the bonds of friendship, the only thing left in the midst of the cruelty of the world. All put together, the result is a stirring and frightening film. No wonder it won an Academy Award for best picture. Highly recommended, but certainly not for the squeamish.
Rating:
Summary: Robert De Niro is great
Review: Of course since Robert De Niro is in this just makes it great, but when you throw in Christopher Walken it's better. But in the backdrop of a Vietnam POW hut or camp, whatever you want to call it, is where the movie really shines. Of coarse there is the mind-numbing russian roulette scene, A+ acting. I just wished there would have been more scenes from the war.
Rating:
Summary: great vietnam sequence but too slow to start
Review: The Deer Hunter does have its moments but its hard work getting too them. The first part of the movie, the wedding, is tedious, and really does drag on for ever. The Vietnam sequence and the remainder of the movie are far better, but its a bit of a mixed bag overall, and there are better films dealing with the period.
DeNiro and Walken are on good form.
Rating:
Summary: 3 for the movie 1 for the dvd
Review: movie--ok over all, strong acting always by robert de niro, supporting cast good, kinda long (clocks 3 hrs.), the wedding scene will never end! (just imagine the wedding scene in the godfather lasting an hour) dvd--picture was kinda bad it was dark in some parts and it was hard to make out, sound ok, extras not much.
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