The Deer Hunter

Director: Michael Cimino, Deric Hashburn Michael Cimino

Overview

Not a film for the faint-hearted, the Deer Hunter is a powerful, deeply disturbing look at the horrors of the Vietnam War and the long-term effects of the war on a trio of life-long friends. Running three hours long, the story is divided into as many chapters that represent their lives before, during and after the war. In this truly unforgettable film, director Michael Cimino's relatively unbiased view of the events (he seems to be neither for or against the war) is sure to generate discussion. Three best friends, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), who are from Clairton, a blue-collar, steelworking town, go on a hunting trip with their buddies on the eve of their departure for military service. They end up serving together in the same unit in Vietnam, and are captured and tortured together by the Viet Cong. In one harrowing scene, they are forced to play Russian roulette, but manage to turn the tables on their captors and win their freedom. Steven is wounded during those events, and he and Nick both spend time in military hospitals. They are all separated from one another, and Steven, who has lost his legs, refuses to leave the veteran's hospital in California where he has been recuperating, but is persuaded to leave when Michael visits him. Having done his best for Steven, Michael tracks Nick down in Saigon. He has been earning money by playing Russian roulette in seedy bars.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/06/2012
UPC:	0025192128394
Original Release:	1978
Rating:	R
Source:	Universal Studios
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	3:04:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert De Niro	Michael
Christopher Walken	Nick
John Cazale	Stan
John Savage	Steven
Meryl Streep	Linda
Chuck Aspegren	Axel
George Dzundza	John
Rutanya Alda	Angela
Shirley Stoler	Steven's Mother
Pierre Segui	Julien
Mady Kaplan	Axel's Girl
Amy Wright	Bridesmaid
Mary Ann Haenel	Stan's Girl
Richard Kuss	Linda's Father
Joe Grifasi	Bandleader
Christopher Colombi Jr.	Wedding Man
Victoria Karnafel	Sad-Looking Girl
Jack Scardino	Cold Old Man
Joseph Strand	Bingo Caller
Henen Tomko	Helen
Paul D'Amato	Sergeant
Dennis Watlington	Cab Driver
Charlene Darrow	Red Head
Jane Colette Disko	Girl Checker
Michael Wollet	Stock Boy
Robert Beard	World War Veteran
Joe Dzizmba	World War Veteran
Stephen Kopestonsky	Priest
John F. Buchmelter III	Bar Patron
Frank Devore	Barman
Tom Becker	Doctor
Lynn Kongkham	Nurse
Dale Burroughs	Embassy Guard
Parris Hicks	Sergeant
Joe Strnad Klinger	Bingo Caller
Nongnuj Timruang	Bar Girl
Samui Intata	Chinese Bodyguard
Vitoon Winwitoon	NVA Officer
Charan Nusvanon	Chinese Boss
Chai Peyawan	South Vietnamese Prisoner
Sombot Jumpanoi	South Vietnamese Prisoner
Ding Santos	V.C. Guard
Ot Palapoo	V.C. Guard
Chok Mahasoke	V.C. Guard
Joe Cummings	US Embassy Guard
James Kall	Altar Boy
Tom Madden	Steelworker
Kurtwood Smith	POW in River Cage
Stanley Myers	Composer

Technical Credits

Michael Cimino

Deric Washburn

Louis Garfinkle

Quinn K. Redeker

Michael Cimino	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Deric Washburn	Screenwriter
Louis Garfinkle	Screenwriter
Quinn K. Redeker	Screenwriter
Michael Deeley	Producer
John Peverall	Producer
Barry Spikings	Producer
Elliot Schick	Executive Producer
Fred Cramer	Special Effects
Darin Knight	Sound Mixer
Deric Hashburn	Director
James Fritch	Sound Effects
Donald A. Bolger	Sound Effects
Teri Dorman	Sound Effects
Stephen Katz	Sound Effects
James Klinger	Sound Effects
Joann Carelli	Producer
Marion Rosenberg	Producer
Darin Knight	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Realizing that the three-hour film would need to be a prestige event to draw public interest, Universal followed Grease producer Allan Carr's advice and opened The Deer Hunter for one week for Academy Award consideration in December 1978, putting off the national opening until February 1979. The gambit succeeded. The film won the Best Picture prize from the New York Film Critics' Circle and got nine Academy Award nominations as it went into national release, including Best Picture, Best Director, and acting nods for Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep. The movie went on to beat Coming Home for Best Picture and Best Director and also picked up Oscars for Walken's performance, Sound, and Editing. As the film's acclaim grew, it also aroused objections to the depiction of the Vietcong as racist from, among others, Coming Home star Jane Fonda, as well as criticisms from numerous Vietnam reporters that director Michael Cimino was ill-informed about real Vietnam experience, not having served in the war himself. Regardless of the disputes over the veracity of the Russian roulette scenes, they create an indelible metaphor for warfare and its atmosphere of sudden, random violence. While the press notes suggest that the final song was meant to be affirmative, the searing sense of loss that builds up throughout the film renders it profoundly ambiguous. This combination of ambivalence, brutality, and controversy echoed American culture's experience of Vietnam, making The Deer Hunter an even more telling cultural artifact than may have been intended. The film's awards and acclaim manifested Hollywood's willingness finally to reckon one way or another with a war that had been all but absent from movie screens while it was happening, leading the way for such later films as Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). With the prizes and dissension, The Deer Hunter became a popular hit, enabling Cimino to have full artistic freedom for his next film, the financially disastrous Heaven's Gate.