The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Runtime: 184 minutes

Directed by: Michael Cimino (RIP)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep

From: Universal/EMI

This wasn't the cheeriest movie to watch on the 4th of July. That is OK, as it is a great movie, something I am glad I watched on Blu. I just should have done so while the director was still alive. I explain why below in my Letterboxd review: 

I figured that while this isn't the cheeriest movie about the USA to watch on the night of the 4th of July (even if it ends on a rendition of God Bless America), I figured I should see this due to how Michael Cimino passed away just a few days ago. When I reviewed Heaven's Gate the first of this year, I mentioned how it was a quality movie that he did... at the expense of the rest of his career due to the outrageous way he acted while filming it. He had problems with the movies he did after Heaven's Gate but I don't want to spend anytime there or talk about how he was a hermit for much of his later life or how he appeared to be addicted to plastic surgery, considering how different he looked in his later life compared to his filmmaking heyday. I'll just mention that between the start of his career and HG, he was involved with some quality motion pictures, including this one.

This is about some Russian-American steelworkers in Pennsylvania, late 1960's. One of them is about to marry right before a few of them go off to Vietnam. It's a long first act getting to know these people, but it's important as we have to become familiar with these characters, what they believe and how they act. Then we spend time in Vietnam and while I don't know how realistic it is to what actually happened over there, it is brutally effective and it definitely left its scars on everyone there. After the war, we see the ramifications of the atrocities of war.

The town in Pennsylvania is a blue collar one, and those guys are blue collar in nature. They are young and all of them have their share of immaturity, although Michael (De Niro) is the most serious one. By the end, all of them grow up in various ways. The first hour is the marriage ceremony and combo wedding reception/going away party, and the main characters drink plenty of Rolling Rock and other sorts of alcohol; they get plastered drunk and even with the serious moments the tone is on the light side. Boy do things change once the Vietnam stuff starts. For the rest of the picture, things are quite dark and somber, yet greatly compelling, as everyone has to deal with serious situations. People probably know the movie best for the Russian Roulette sequence involving Mike, Nick and Steven; well, Russian Roulette played more a role in the plot than I expected.

Considering it was the late 70's and the cast included people like De Niro, Walken, Streep, Cazale, and Dzundza, and behind the camera were people like Cimino and the great cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, it is no wonder that this turned out great. Even the non-actor who was cast as a steel worker because he actually was a steel worker (Chuck Aspegren as Axel) was good with what he had to do; they played to his strengths and much of his dialogue was dropping an F bomb. John Cazle, despite dying of cancer at the time, he was great and it was quite the coda to I know that Cimino had troubles with the release of this movie due to it being 184 minutes and other factors; thankfully it was released as is and it got a lot of deserved acclaim.

I understand those that don't care for this due to it being 3 hours long, its tone, or how it wasn't the most flattering portrayal of the Vietnamese. I say that this is a classic film well worth seeing for the film fan, especially considering the director just passed away a few days ago. At least for me, I'll never think of songs like Can't Take My Eyes Off You or Midnight Train to Georgia the same ever again. Also, color me amazed that there's an actual country song called Dropkick Me, Jesus, Through The Goal Posts of Life.