The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter. 1978 EMI Films & Universal Pictures (formerly an MCA company).
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep
Director: Michael Cimino
Available at Amazon.

A winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. For a brief time, Cimino became the hot director in Hollywood who could do whatever he wanted. His followup to this one was Heaven's Gate, a epic western that flopped so spectacularly that it took an entire studio (United Artists) down with it. Don't worry, it didn't stop him from being able to film Footloose a few years later.

I digress.

We open the film by focusing on six Western Pennsylvania steelworkers. Mike (De Niro), Steven (Savage), Nick (Walken), Stanley (Cazale), John (George Dzundza) and Axel (Aspegren) are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military service. One of their favorite activities is hunting deer, and Mike is anxious to kill one with just one bullet, comparing that to his inevitable tour of duty in Vietnam.

Before shipping out, Steven and his girlfriend (pregnant by another man, but loved by Steven) get married in a festive Russian Orthodox wedding. Mike finds himself wanting Nick's girlfriend Linda (Streep). Everyone gets loaded, and when it's time to toast the newly married couple, a drop of blood red wine drips on her wedding gown, foreshadowing the coming events. Nick takes the opportunity to propose to Linda, which she accepts. Later that evening, Nick asks Michael not to leave him "over there" if anything bad happens. The next morning, all of the guys except for Steven go hunting (still in their tuxedos!), and after a conflict over Stanely forgetting his boots, Mike gets his deer with one bullet, but the others are more concerned with drinking and goofing off. The sequence ends without dialogue in their favorite tavern, all realizing that life will never be the same once they enlist the next morning.

It isn't. Mike, Nick and Steven are all captured together by the enemy during combat, and tortured. After escaping, Mike gets Steven to friendly territory while the psychologically damaged Nick finds himself stumbling through Saigon, falling in with a gambling den where men play Russian Roulette for money. Michael eventually comes home, wracked with guilt about losing Nick and Steven. To his surprise, Steven is being kept in a local Veterans' hospital, having lost both legs, and refusing to come home. He is also being sent large amounts of money from Nick in Saigon. After taking Steven home, Mike returns to Saigon before it fell to the Communists looking for Nick. He finds Nick, but can't get through to him until they engage in Russian Roulette, and Mike asks him about their hunting trips together. Nick returns from limbo and starts to remember who he was, but sadly, the bullet happens to be in the chamber on that turn, and Nick finally loses the game. Mike still keeps his word, and brings Nick's body home for burial.

Damn good film. Highly recommended.