The Deer Hunter is an [[epic film|epic]] 1978 American [[war film|war]] drama film co-written and directed by [[Michael Cimino]] about a trio of [[Rusyn American]] steel worker friends and their infantry service in the [[Vietnam War]]. The film stars [[Robert De Niro]], [[Christopher Walken]], [[Meryl Streep]], [[John Savage (actor)|John Savage]], [[John Cazale]], and [[George Dzundza]]. The story takes place in [[Clairton, Pennsylvania|Clairton]], a small [[working class]] town on the [[Monongahela River]] south of [[Pittsburgh]] and then in [[Vietnam]], somewhere in woodland and in [[Ho Chi Minh City|Saigon]], during the [[Vietnam War]]. The Deer Hunter meditates on the moral and mental consequences of battle as well as the effects of politically-manipulated patriotism upon common values (friendship honor family in a tightly-knit community It deals with such controversial issues as suicide post-traumatic stress disorder infidelity and mental illness The scenes of Russian roulette while highly controversial on release, have been viewed as a metaphor for the Vietnam War itself. The film won five Academy Awards including Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Director and was named by the American Film Institute as the 53rd Greatest Movie of All Time on the 10th Anniversary Edition of the AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies list.

Plot

Critics and film historians have often noted how the film is divided into three equal thirds or acts. Likewise the plot synopsis is also divided into three acts, spanning the years of 1966-1974.

Act I

In Clairton, Pennsylvania a small working class town in Western Pennsylvania in early 1968, Rusyn American steel workers Michael (De Niro), Steven (Savage), and Nick (Walken), with the support of their friends Stanley (Cazale), John (Dzundza) and Axel (Aspegren), are preparing for two rite of passage marriage and military service. The opening scenes set the character traits of the three main characters. Michael is the no-nonsense, serious but unassuming leader of the three, Steven the loving, near-groom, pecked at by his mother for not wearing a scarf with his tuxedo and Nick is the quiet, introspective man who loves hunting because, "I like the trees...you know...the way the trees are..." The recurring theme of "one shot," which is how Michael prefers to take down a deer, is introduced. Before the trio ships out, Steven and his girlfriend, Angela (who is pregnant by another man but loved by Steven nonetheless) get married in an elaborate Russian Orthodox wedding. In the meantime, Michael must contain his own feelings for Nicks lovely but pensive girlfriend Linda (Streep), who has just moved out of her abusive fathers house. At the wedding reception held at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars the guys all get drunk, dance, sing and have a good time, but then notice an Army Green Beret in full dress uniform sitting at the end of the bar. Michael buys the soldier a drink and tries to strike up a conversation with him to find out what Vietnam is like, but the soldier ignores Michael. After Michael confronts him to explain that he, Steven and Nick are going to Vietnam, the Green Beret raises his glass and says "fuck it" to everyones shock and amazement. Obviously disturbed and under mental anguish, the Green Beret again toasts them with "fuck it." After being restrained by the others from starting a fight with the Green Beret, Michael goes back to the bar with the others and in a mocking jest to the Green Beret, raises his glass and toasts him with "fuck it." The Green Beret then glances over at Michael and grins smugly, knowing exactly what Michael and the others will face. Later, during the wedding toast to Steven and Angela, a toast with a tradition of good luck for the couple who drinks from conjoined goblets without spilling a drop, a drop of blood-red wine unknowingly spills on her wedding gown, again foreshadowing the coming events. Near the end of the reception, Nick asks Linda to marry him, and she agrees. Later that night, after a drunk and naked Michael runs through the streets of town, Nick chases him down and begs Michael not to leave him "over there" if anything happens. The next day, Michael and the remaining friends go deer hunting one last time, and Michael again scores a deer with "one shot."

Act II

The film then jumps abruptly to a war-torn village, where U.S. helicopters attack a communist occupied Vietnamese village with napalm. A North Vietnamese soldier throws a stick grenade into a hiding place full of civilians. An unconscious Mike (now a staff sergeant in the Army Special Forces) wakes up to see the NVA soldier shoot a woman carrying a baby. In revenge Mike burns the NVA with a flame thrower and then shoots him numerous times with an M16 rifle Meanwhile a unit of UH-1 helicopters drops off several US infantrymen, Nick and Steven among them. Michael, Steven, and Nick unexpectedly find each other just before they are captured and held together in a riverside prisoner of war camp with other United States Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam prisoners. For entertainment, the sadistic guards force their prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome. All three friends are forced to play. Steven aims the gun above his head, grazing himself with the bullet and is punished by incarceration to an underwater cage, full of rats and the bodies of others who earlier faced the same fate. Michael and Nick manage to kill their captors and escape. Mike had earlier argued with Nick about whether Steven could be saved but after killing their captors he rescues Steven. The three float downriver on a tree branch. An American helicopter accidentally finds them, but only Nick is able to climb aboard. The weakened Steven falls back into water and Mike plunges in the water to rescue him. Unluckily, Steven breaks both legs in the fall. Mike helps him to reach the river bank, and then carries him through the jungle to friendly lines. Nick is psychologically damaged and recuperating in a military hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with no knowledge on the status of his friends. At night, he aimlessly stumbles through the red-light district At one point, he encounters Julien Grinda (Pierre Segui), a champagne-drinking friendly French people outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money. Grinda entices the reluctant Nick to participate, and leads him into the den. Mike is present in the den, watching the game, but the two friends do not notice each other at first. When Mike does see Nick, he is unable to get his attention. Mike cannot catch up with Nick and Grinda as they speed away.

Act III

Back in the U.S., Mike returns home but maintains a low profile. He tells the cab driver to pass by the house where all his friends are assembled, as he is embarrassed by the fuss made over him by Linda and the others. Mike goes to a hotel and struggles with his feelings, as he thinks both Nick and Steven are dead or missing. He eventually visits Linda and grows close to her, but only because of the friend they both think they have lost. Mike goes hunting with Axel, John and Stanley one more time, and after tracking a beautiful deer across the woods, takes his "one shot" but pulls the rifle up and fires into the air, unable to take another life. He then sits on a rock escarpment and yells out, "OK?", which echoes back at him from the opposing rock faces leading down to the river, signifying his fight with his mental demons over losing Steven and Nick. He also berates Stanley for carrying around a small revolver and waving it around, not realizing it is still loaded. He knows the horror of war and wants no part of it anymore. Mike is eventually told about Angela, whom he goes to visit at the home of Stevens mother. She is lethargic and barely responsive. She writes a phone number on a scrap of paper, which leads Mike to the local veterans hospital where Steven has been for several months. He has lost both his legs and is partially paralyzed. Mike visits Steven, who reveals that someone in Saigon has been mailing large amounts of cash to him, and Mike is convinced that it is Nick. Mike brings Steven home to Angela and then travels to Saigon just before Fall of Saigon in 1975. He tracks down the Frenchman Grinda, who has made a lot of money from the Russian-roulette-playing American. He finds Nick in a crowded roulette club, but Nick appears to have no recollection of his friends or his home in Pennsylvania. Mike sees the needle tracks on his arm, a sign of drug abuse. He realizes that Nick thinks he (Michael) is dead, since he is the only one who made it back on the helicopter and there is no reference to Nick finding out that Michael is alive (as there is when Steven shows Micheal the large amount of money that has been sent to him from Saigon). Mike enters himself in a game of Russian roulette against Nick, attempting to persuade him to come home, but Nicks mind is gone. In the last moment, after Mikes attempts to remind him of their trips hunting together, he finally breaks through, and Nick recognizes Mike and smiles. Nick then tells Mike, "one shot" and raises the gun to his temple and pulls the trigger. The bullet is in the gun chamber and Nick kills himself. Horrified, Michael tries to revive him to no avail.

Epilogue

Back in America in 1974, there is a funeral for Nick, whom Michael brings home, good to his promise. The film ends with the whole cast at their friends bar, singing "God Bless America and toasting in Nicks honor.

Production

Pre-production

When the movie was being planned during the mid-1970s, Vietnam was still a taboo subject with all Major film studio#1970s.E2.80.931980s English Company EMI Films (headed by Bernard Delfont initially arranged financing. Universal Studios got involved with the picture at a much later stage. Scouts for the film traveled over 100,000 miles by plane, bus, and car to find locations for filming. The initial budget of the film was $8.5 million.Deeley, Pg. 171 The picture reunited producers Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley the two had previously collaborated on the cult classic [[The Man Who Fell to Earth (film)|The Man Who Fell to Earth]].

Screenplay

The film began with a spec script called "The Man Who Came To Play", written by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker Producer Michael Deeley purchased the first draft script from Garfinkle–Redeker for $19,000.Deeley, Pg. 163 Deeley hired writer-director Michael Cimino, confident that he could further develop the principal characters without losing the essence of the original script. While Garfinkle and Redeker had nothing to do with the writing or filming of The Deer Hunter they ultimately shared a "Story By" writers credit with Cimino and Washburn due to a Writers Guild arbitration process.Deeley, Pg. 164 Cimino worked for six weeks with Deric Washburn on the script before firing him.Realizing The Deer Hunter: An Interview with Michael Cimino.Blue Underground. Interview on the The Deer HunterUK Region 2 DVD and the StudioCanal Blu-Ray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v3Fy2ukXfVVY First half of video on YouTube] Cimino and Washburn had previously collaborated with Stephen Bochco on the screenplay for [[Silent Running]] According to Cimino, he would call Washburn while on the road scouting for locations and feed him notes on dialogue and story. Upon reviewing Washburns draft, Cimino said, "I came back, and read it and I just could not believe what I read. It was like it was written by some body who was... mentally deranged." Cimino confronted Washburn at the Studio Marquis in LA about the draft and Washburn supposedly replied that he couldnt take the pressure and had to go home. Cimino would later claim to have written the entire screenplay himself, although a WGA arbitration awarded Washburn sole "Screenplay By" credit.All four writers, Garfinkle, Redeker, Cimino, and Washburn, received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for this film. In the original script, the roles of Mike and Nick were reversed in the last half of the film. Nick returns home to Linda, while Mike remains in Vietnam, sends money home to help Steven, and meets his tragic fate at the Russian roulette table.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077416/trivia The Deer Hunter (1978) - Trivia]. IMDb Retrieved 2010-07-25.

Casting

*Robert De Niro as S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Vronsky. Roy Scheider was originally cast in this role. De Niro prepared by socializing with steelworkers in local bars and by visiting their homes. Cimino would introduce De Niro as his agent, Harry Ufland. No one recognized him. De Niro claims this was his most physically-exhausting film. He explained that the scene where Michael visits Steve in the hospital for the first time was the most emotional scene that he was ever involved with.Robert De Niro AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute (2003) *Christopher Walken as Cpl. Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich. Walken achieved the withdrawn, hollow look of his character by eating nothing but rice and bananas. His performance garnered his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. *John Savage (actor) as Steven Pushkov. Cimino originally wanted Brad Dourif for the role. *Meryl Streep as Linda. Streep improvised many of her lines. *John Cazale as Stanley aka "Stosh". All scenes involving Cazale, who had Multiple myeloma had to be filmed first. Because of his illness, the studio initially wanted to get rid of him, but his fiancee, Meryl Streep and Cimino threatened to walk away if they did. He was also uninsurable, and according to Streep, De Niro paid for his insurance because he wanted him in the film. This was his last film, as he died shortly after filming wrapped. *George Dzundza as John Welsh *Chuck Aspegren as Peter "Axel" Axelrod. Aspegren was not an actor, he was the foreman at an East Chicago steel works visited early in pre-production by De Niro and Cimino. They were so impressed with him that they offered him the role. He was the second person to be cast in the film, after De Niro. *Shirley Stoler as Stevens mother *Rutanya Alda as Angela Ludhjduravic-Pushkov *Amy Wright as Bridesmaid *Joe Grifasi as Bandleader

Shooting

This was the first feature film depicting the Vietnam War to be filmed on location in Thailand All scenes were Location shooting (no sound stages . The cast and crew viewed large amounts of news footage from the war to ensure authenticity. The film was shot over a period of six months. Each of the six principal male characters in the movie carried a photo in their back pocket of them all together as children so as to enhance the sense of camaraderie amongst them. As well as this, director Cimino had the Property master fashion complete Pennsylvania IDs for each of them, complete with drivers licenses, medical cards and various other pieces of paraphernalia so as to enhance each actors sense of their character.

The Wedding Scenes

The wedding scenes were filmed in the summer, but were set in the fall. To accomplish a look of fall, leaves were removed from trees and painted orange. They were then reattached to the trees.Shooting The Deer Hunter: An interview with Vilmos Zsigmond Blue Underground. Interview with the cinematographer, located on The Deer HunterUK Region 2 DVD and StudioCanal Blu-Ray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?vXUdifNdwO1g First half of video on YouTube]. It took five days to film. An actual priest was cast as the priest at the wedding. The choir featured in the film was the actual choir at the church. They had to sing the hymns more than 50 times. During filming, director Cimino encouraged the many extras to treat the festivities as a real wedding, so as to increase the authenticity of the scenes. Prior to filming the wedding reception, Cimino instructed the extras to take empty boxes from home and wrap them as if they were wrapping real wedding gifts and bring them to the set the next day. The fake gifts would then be used as props for the wedding reception. The extras did as they were told, however, when Cimino inspected the "props" he noticed that the "gifts" were a lot heavier than empty boxes otherwise would be. Cimino tore the wrapping paper off a few of the packages, only to find that the extras had in fact wrapped real gifts for the "wedding". Rutanya Alda actually struck her head quite hard on the doorway during the first take while being carried out of the reception hall; this is why the scene includes John Savage warning her in the take which was used.

The Bar

The bar was specially constructed in an empty storefront in Mingo Junction Ohio for $25,000; it later became an actual saloon for local steel mill workers. U.S. Steel allowed filming inside its Cleveland mill, including placing the actors around the furnace floor, only after securing a $5 million insurance policy. When the guys are leaving the factory and heading to Welshs Lounge, Nick (Walken) encourages Michael (De Niro) to drive faster. In real life, Walken has a phobia of going too fast in cars.

Hunting the Deer

Dzundza completely blows the toast line when the group arrives in the mountains the first time. His reaction is legitimate, and a few of the other actors can be seen laughing in response. According to the films cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond the scene where the deer is shot by Michael (De Niro) was filmed by giving the trained deer a sedative it took half an hour for the drug to take effect; they had fenced off an area limiting the deers range and two cameras were used. The deer which Michael allows to get away was actually an elk - the same one often used on commercials for The Hartford Deeley, Pg. 174 The crew had a very difficult time trying to get the elk to look at them, as it was apparently used to various noises; it finally looked at them when someone in the crew yawned.

Vietnam

De Niro and Savage performed their own stunts in the fall into the river, filming the 30ft drop 15 times in two days. During the helicopter stunt, the runners caught on the ropes and as the helicopter rose, it threatened to seriously injure De Niro and Savage. The actors gestured and yelled furiously to the crew in the helicopter to warn them. Footage of this is included in the film.Playing The Deer Hunter: An interview with John Savage Blue Underground. Interview with the actor Savage, located on the UK Region 2 DVD and StudioCanal Blu-Ray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?vl1ovPVUa5HA First half of video on YouTube] According to Cimino, De Niro requested a live bullet in the revolver for the scene in which he subjects John Cazales character to an impromptu game of Russian roulette, to heighten the intensity of the situation. Cazale agreed without protest, but obsessively rechecked the gun before each take to make sure that the live round wasnt next in the chamber.Directors commentary by Michael Cimino Included on The Deer HunterUK region 2 DVD release and the StudioCanal Blu-Ray. Director Cimino convinced Walken to spit in De Niros face. When Walken actually did it, De Niro was completely shocked, as evidenced by his reaction in the film. In fact, De Niro was so furious about it he nearly left the set. Cimino later said of Walken, "Hes got courage!" The cast and crew slept on the floor of the warehouse where the Saigon Russian roulette sequences were shot. The scene where Savage is yelling, "Michael, theres rats in here, Michael" as he is stuck in the river is actually Savage yelling at the director because of his fear of rats which were infesting the river area. He was yelling for the director to pull him out of the water because of the rats. The slapping in the Russian roulette sequences was 100% authentic. The actors grew very agitated by the constant slapping, which, naturally, added to the realism of the scenes.

Filming Locations

*St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral Cleveland, Ohio The name plaque is clearly visible in one scene. *Lemko Hall, Cleveland, Ohio The wedding banquet. The name is clearly visible in one scene. *Patpong Bangkok Thailand the area used to represent Ho Chi Minh City s red light district. *Amphoe Sai Yok Kanchanaburi Province Thailand *North Cascades National Park Washington State, US. *Steubenville, Ohio for some mill and neighborhood shots. *Struthers, Ohio for external house and long-range road shots. *Weirton, West Virginia for mill and trailer shots.

Music

*The theme song of The Deer Hunter Stanley Myers s "Cavatina" (also known as "He Was Beautiful"), performed by classical guitarist John Williams (guitarist) is commonly known as "The Theme from The Deer Hunter". *The sub-theme music is "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You , a 1967 hit song, sung by Frankie Valli It is played a few times in this movie. *During the wedding ceremonies and party, the Eastern Orthodox Church songs such as "Slava" and Russian folk songs such as "Korobushka and "Katyusha (song) are played. *Russian Orthodox funeral music is also employed during Nicks funeral scene, mainly "Vechnaya pamyat", which means "memory eternal".http://www.dartmouth.edu/~karamazo/sheehan.html Researching the Brothers Karamazov - Guest lectures/ Sheehan]. Retrieved May 17, 2010.

Post production

Director Cimino spent five months mixing the soundtrack. Since this was his first Dolby film, he was eager to exploit the technology to its fullest potential. A short battle sequence, for example, (200 feet of film) took five days to dub. For the re-creation of the American evacuation of Saigon, he accompanied composer Stanley Myers to the location and had him listen to the sounds of vehicles, tanks, and jeep horns as the sequence was being filmed. Myers then composed music for the sequence in the same key as the horns, so that it would blend with the images creating one truly bleak experience.

Release

Deer Hunterwas released for a one week engagement in New York and Los Angeles for Oscar consideration on December 8, 1978.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077416/releaseinfo The Deer Hunter (1978) - Release dates]. IMDb Retrieved 2010-07-25.Bach, Pg. 166 The film was given a wide release on February 23, 1979 and eventually grossed $48,979,328 at the box office. CBS paid $3.5 million for three runs of the film. The network later cancelled the acquisition on the contractually permitted grounds of the film containing too much violence for US network transmission.Deeley, Pg. 181 During screenings of the short version of the film, director Cimino bribed the projectionist to interrupt it, in order to obtain better reviews of the long version.

Analysis

Controversy over Russian Roulette

One of the most talked-about sequences in the film, the Vietcong s use of Russian Roulette with POW was criticized as being contrived and unrealistic since there were no documented cases of Russian Roulette in the Vietnam War Auster & Quart, Pg. 120-1Dirks, Tim. http://www.filmsite.org/deer.html The Deer Hunter]. Greatest Films. Retrieved May 26, 2010. Director Cimino was also criticized for one-sidedly portraying all the North Vietnamese as despicable, sadistic racists and killers. Cimino countered that his film was not political, polemical, literally accurate, or posturing for any particular point of view. He further defended his position by saying that he had news clippings from Singapore that confirm Russian Roulette was used during the war (without specifying which article). During the Berlin International Film Festival in 1979, the Soviet delegation expressed its indignation with the film which, in their opinion, insulted the Vietnamese people in numerous scenes. The socialist states felt obliged to voice their solidarity with the “heroic people of Vietnam . They protested against the screening of the film and insisted that it violated the statutes of the festival, since it in no way contributed to the “improvement of mutual understanding between the peoples of the world”.lt;/ref> The ensuing domino effect led to the walk-outs of the Cubans, East Germans, Bulgarians, Poles and Czechoslovakians, and two members of the jury resigned in sympathy. In his review, Roger Ebert defended the artistic license of Russian Roulette, arguing "it is the organizing symbol of the film: Anything you can believe about the game, about its deliberately random violence, about how it touches the sanity of men forced to play it, will apply to the war as a whole. It is a brilliant symbol because, in the context of this story, it makes any ideological statement about the war superfluous." Film critic & biographer David Thomson (film critic) also agrees that the film works despite the controversy: "There were complaints that the North Vietnamese had not employed Russian roulette. It was said that the scenes in Saigon were fanciful or imagined. And it was suggested that De Niro, Christoher Walken, and John Savage were too old to have enlisted for Vietnam (Savage, the youngest of the three, was thirty). Three decades later, imagination seems to have stilled those worries... and The Deer Hunteris one of the great American films."lt;/ref>

Director's trademarks

In only his second film as a director, Cimino continued to develop the trademarks that would come to define his directorial careerhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001047/bio Michael Cimino (I) - Biography]. IMDb Retrieved 2010-08-23.: *Abrupt flashforwards (The cut from the bar to Vietnam) *Casting of non-professional actors in supporting roles (Chuck Aspegren as Axel) *Characters who become disillusioned with the American Dream (Mike, Steve, and Nick all come back psychologically and/or physically damaged from the war). *Controversial subject matter (the aforementioned Russian Roulette sequences). *Sudden bursts of violence in seemingly tranquil or naturalistic settings (the war fighting in the Vietnam jungle). *Striking visual style: Painterly Composition (visual arts) jittery tracking shot , and wide vista establishing shots that emphasize the earth/nature (The wide establishing shots of the steel town, the jungles of Vietnam and Saigon).

Reception

Critical reaction

The films initial reviews were largely enthusiastic. Roger Ebert of the [[Chicago Sun-Times]]gave the film four stars and called it "one of the most emotionally shattering films ever made."Roger Ebert (March 9, 1979). http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID/19790309/REVIEWS/903090301/1023 The Deer Hunter]. [[Chicago Sun-Times]] Retrieved April 30th, 2010. Gene Siskel from the [[Chicago Tribune]]praised the film, saying, "This is a big film, dealing with big issues, made on a grand scale. Much of it, including some casting decisions, suggest inspiration by [[The Godfather]]" Leonard Maltin also gave the film four stars, calling it a "sensitive, painful, evocative work".Maltin, Pg. 338 Vincent Canby of the [[New York Times]]called The Deer Hunter"a big, awkward, crazily ambitious motion picture that comes as close to being a popular epic as any movie about this country since The Godfather.Its vision is that of an original, major new filmmaker."Bach, Pg. 167 David Denby of [[New York (magazine)|New York]]called it "an epic" with "qualities that we almost never see any more — range and power and breadth of experience."Bach, Pg. 167-8 Jack Kroll of [[Time (magazine)|Time]]asserted it put director Cimino "right at the center of film culture."Bach, Pg. 168 Stephen Farber pronounced the film in New Westmagazine as "the greatest anti-war movie since [[La Grande Illusion]]" Pauline Kael of [[The New Yorker]]wrote a praise-worthy review with some reservations: "It is] a small minded film with greatness in it... with an enraptured view of common life... but] enraging, because, despite its ambitiousness and scale, it has no more moral intelligence than the Clint Eastwood action pictures." The film holds a metascore of 73 on Metacritic based on 7 reviews,http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/deerhunter The Deer HunterReviews]. Metacritic Retrieved April 30th, 2010. and 91% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 43 reviews.lt;/ref> The RT consensus is:

Its greatness is blunted by its length and one-sided point of view, but the films weaknesses are overpowered by Michael Ciminos sympathetic direction and a series of heartbreaking performances from Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken.

Top Ten Lists

*3rd - Roger Ebert [[Chicago Sun-Times]]lt;ref>lt;/ref> *3rd - Gene Siskel [[Chicago Tribune]]lt;ref name"S&E">http://www.innermind.com/misc/s_e_top.htm Siskel and Ebert Top Ten Lists (1969-1998)]. Retrieved April 30th, 2010. Academy Award for Best Director Milos Forman considers The Deer Hunterto be one of the ten greatest films of all time.http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/faves.shtml Top Ten Lists by Critics and Filmmakers]. Combustible Celluloid. Retrieved June 12, 2010.

Revisionism following ''Heaven's Gate''

After Ciminos next film, [[Heavens Gate (film)|Heaven Gate]], debuted to lacerating reviews, several critics revised their positions on he Deer Hunter. In his book inal Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heavens Gate, [[Steven Bach]] wrote, "critics seemed to feel obliged to go on the record about he Deer Hunter, to demonstrate that their critical credentials were un-besmirched by having been, as [[Andrew Sarris|Sarris]] put it, taken in.Bach, Pg. 370 More recently, BBC film critic Mark Kermode challenged the films status among generally-praised film classics: "There is an unwritten rule in film criticism that certain films are beyond rebuke. [[Citizen Kane]] [[Some Like It Hot]] [[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001]] [[The Godfather Part II]].. all these are considered to be classics of such universally accepted stature... At the risk of being thrown out of the respectable film critics circle, may I take this opportunity to declare officially that in my opinion The Deer Hunteris one of the worst films ever made a rambling self indulgent, self aggrandising barf-fest steeped in manipulatively racist emotion, and notable primarily for its farcically melodramatic tone which is pitched somewhere between shrieking hysteria and somnambulist somberness."lt;/ref>

Awards

| class"infobox" style"width: 23em; font-size: 85%;" |- bgcolor"#cccccc" aligncenter ! colspan"2" | Academy Awards record |- | 1. Best Supporting Actor, Christopher Walken |- | 2. Best Director, Michael Cimino |- | 3. Best Editing, Peter Zinner |- | 4. Best Picture, Barry Spikings Michael Deeley Michael Cimino John Peverall |- | 5. Best Sound, Richard Portman, William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, C. Darin Knight |- bgcolor"#cccccc" aligncenter ! colspan"2" | Golden Globe Awards record |- | 1. Best Director, Michael Cimino |- bgcolor"#cccccc" aligncenter ! colspan"2" | BAFTA Awards record |- | 1. Best Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond |- | 2. Best Editing, Peter Zinner |- |} The Deer Hunterwon Academy Awards in 1978 for Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Directing (Michael Cimino), Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken), Academy Award for Film Editing and Academy Award for Sound http://theoscarsite.com/1978.htm All the Oscars: 1978 - 51st Annual Academy Awards]. Retrieved May 26th, 2010. In addition, it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor (Robert De Niro , Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep), Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond and Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay (Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn Redeker . John Wayne s final public appearance was to present the Best Picture Oscar to The Deer Hunter It was not a film he was fond of, since it presented a very different view of the Vietnam War than his own movie, [[The Green Berets (film)|The Green Berets]] had a decade earlier. Cimino won the only Golden Globe for The Deer Hunter for Best Director. Other nominations the film included Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama De Niro for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Walken for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Streep for Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and Washburn for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay In total, the film garnered 21 awards and 19 nominations.

Legacy

In 1996, The Deer Hunterwas selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077416/awards The Deer Hunter (1978) - Awards]. IMDb Retrieved May 27, 2010.http://www.loc.gov/film/nfrchron.html Films Selected to The National Film Registry 1989-2008]. Library of Congress Retrieved June 11, 2010. The film ranks 467th in [[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]s 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time, noting:

Ciminos bold, powerful Nam epic goes from blue-collar macho rituals to a fiery, South East Asian hell and back to a ragged singalong of America The Beautiful. De Niro holds it together, but Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep and John Savage are unforgettable.lt;/ref>

As of May 27, 2010, The Deer Hunteris #130 on IMDb s List of Top 250 movies as voted by its users.http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?tt0077416 IMDb Top 250 - The Deer Hunter. IMDb Retrieved May 27, 2010. Jan Scruggs a Vietnam veteran who became a counselor with the U.S. Department of Labor thought of the idea of building a Vietnam Veterans Memorial after seeing a screening of the film in March 1979, and he established and operated the memorial fund which paid for it.Scruggs & Swerdlow, Pg. 7 Director Cimino was invited to the memorials opening. The deaths of approximately twenty-five people who died playing Russian roulette were reported as having been influenced by scenes in the movie.http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/deerhunter.asp The Deer Hunter and Suicides]. Snopes.com. Retrieved June 12, 2010. Actor Jacques Segui, who plays Julien, lost a friend in real life to a game of Russian Roulette during the Indo-China War.

American Film Institute recognition

*AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #79http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/movies100.pdf?docID264 AFIs 100 YEARS...100 MOVIES (1998)]. American Film Institute Retrieved May 6th, 2010. *AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills #30http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/thrills100.pdf?docID250 AFIs 100 Years... 100 Thrills]. American Film Institute Retrieved April 30th, 2010. *AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #53Dead link|dateJuly 2010}}

Home media release

The Deer Hunterhas twice been released on DVD in America. The first 1998 issue was by Universal, with no extra features and a non-anamorphic transfer, has since been discontinued.lt;/ref> A second version, part of the "Legacy Series", was released as a two-disc set on September 6, 2005, with an anamorphic transfer of the film. The set features a cinematographers commentary by Vilmos Zsigmond, deleted and extended scenes, and production notes.lt;/ref> The DVD region code version of The Deer Hunter released in the UK and Japan, features a commentary track from director Michael Cimino.The film was released on HD DVD on December 26, 2006.http://www.amazon.com/Deer-Hunter-HD-DVD/dp/B000K7VHUA/refed_oe_hdd The Deer Hunter HD-DVD]. Amazon.com Retrieved May 18, 2010. StudioCanal released the film on the Blu-Ray format in countries other than the United States on March 11, 2009.lt;/ref>

See also

*The Deer Hunter (novel) *[[The Last Hunter]]amp;nbsp;– An Italian film originally made as an unofficial sequel

References

Annotations

Notes

Bibliography

* * * *Leonard Maltin (August 2008). Leonard Maltins 2009 Movie Guide. New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc. ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9. *Scruggs, Jan C., and Swerdlow, Joel L. (April 1985). To Heal a Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial New York, NY: Harpercollins. ISBN 978-0060154042

External links

* * * * *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v3Gqit3zVmyc Trailer] for The Deer Hunteron YouTube *http://www.youtube.com/watch?vjonkduDdc5k Critics Picks: The Deer Hunter] by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott on YouTube Category:1978 films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:1970s drama films Category:American war drama films Category:Best Picture Academy Award winners Category:Films based on military novels Category:Films directed by Michael Cimino Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winning performance Category:Films set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Films set in the 1970s Category:Films shot anamorphically Category:Films shot in Ohio Category:Films shot in Pennsylvania Category:Films shot in West Virginia Category:Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award Category:Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award Category:Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe Category:Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award Category:Prisoner of war films Category:United States National Film Registry films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Vietnam War films Category:War drama films Category:War epic films Category:Hunting in popular culture Category:Films set in Vietnam ar:صائد الغزلان (فيلم) bg:Ловецът на елени (филм) ca:El caçador cs:Lovec jelenů da:Deer Hunter de:Die durch die Hölle gehen es:The Deer Hunter eo:The Deer Hunter eu:The Deer Hunter fa:شکارچی گوزن (فیلم) fr:Voyage au bout de l'enfer ko:디어 헌터 hr:Lovac na jelene it:Il cacciatore he:צייד הצבאים lt:Elnių medžiotojas hu:A szarvasvadász nl:The Deer Hunter ja:ディア・ハンター no:Hjortejegeren pl:Łowca jeleni pt:The Deer Hunter ro:Vânătorul de cerbi ru:Охотник на оленей simple:The Deer Hunter sr:Ловац на јелене fi:Kauriinmetsästäjä sv:Deer Hunter th:เดอะ เดียร์ ฮันเตอร์ tr:Avcı (film) uk:Мисливець на оленів (фільм) zh:猎鹿人