The Deer Hunter

The paragon of filmmaking ambition and actually the biggest contributor to the success of the American New Wave. Cimino pushes almost every important aspect of film narrative to the limit – he spends an enormous amount of time getting to know the characters, their backgrounds, and their relationships with each other. Virtually all of the actors are doing method acting, torturing, beating, and harassing each other. Plus, one of them is consciously counting down the hours before kicking the bucket. A cast of local non-actors, hundreds of extras in motion, all naturally lit as much as possible. It's a breathtaking cinephile experience. Except that in places the attempt at epic Coppola filmmaking just feels terribly forced. Plus, some sequences are oddly choppy, as if material is missing (the passage in the Vietnamese village) and the film doesn't quite know how to work with time-lapse yet. So it's a huge cinematic spectacle, but unlike the best works, it maintains a strange distance from the viewer because of this. It's as if it wants to be completely independent of the viewer without wanting to cooperate in any way. In the end, this story of friendship felt strangely alien and abstract. (14/08/2022)

Very strong finale and amazing performances from Walken and De Niro. Not so much of Vietnam, but when there is, it’s worth it. Cimino focuses on human relationships and tells a story about three friends, each of whom returns home changed by the war. The exposition is a bit too long, but not without reason. Personally, I like different slants on the Vietnam War, but The Deer Hunter is definitely worth seeing. (04/07/2016)

The authors' concocted Vietcong League of Russian Roulette can be viewed as an allegory or symbol that is initially untouched in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt, amidst all those rituals, celebrations, friendships, and petty squabbles, only to brutally reenter the game upon returning to the same place. Those who come back get so little and lose so much. It’s no wonder that the war often ends for them with that one final shot. Unlike Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket, Michael Cimino struggles to justify the presence of every single shot, but his epic anti-war drama remains one of those films that, even after decades, continues to resonate with a changing audience. For me, scenes like the hunting sequence after the return, where the encounter with the antlered trophy takes on a completely different meaning, or the moments in the bar just before departure, where the boisterous revelry is interrupted by Chopin on the piano, are particularly striking. Everyone senses what’s coming, and John Cazale knows it best. And of course, Cavatina. (09/05/2023)

The hell of Vietnam, which always was the main strength of films like this, is only given thirty minutes of the total runtime, but despite that, or maybe because of it, The Deer Hunter is one of the most impressive war dramas of all time. Michael Cimino was able to portray exactly what he originally wanted to portray: the futility of that conflict and the terrible impact it had on thousands of young volunteer soldiers, and that's why the Russian roulette scenes have become so famous; they are, of course, wonderfully filmed and acted, but more importantly, they are a perfect metaphor for how American society viewed the conflict. The best Vietnam War film for me remains Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but The Deer Hunter hangs firmly in second place. (26/10/2012)

"You're just too good to be true..." It’s very hard to rate The Deer Hunter. On one hand it has acting that you don’t see every day and also there is an incredible amount of strong scenes which will leave you shaken and stay imprinted in your mind. On the other hand there is no need whatsoever for the movie to be so long. You are waiting for Godot for one hour (3/5), he comes and stays for forty minutes (5/5), but then he leaves and you start waiting again (4/5). Then just you are expecting it to end when Godot comes back for a couple of minutes (5/5). In every part you could find whole passages that are unnecessary or could be cut out here and there without any significant impact on the movie as a whole. Nevertheless The Deer Hunter belongs amongst those few rare films that are a must see. (10/02/2008)