Review of The Deer Hunter (1978) by Danny R — 02 Jul 2016

Michael Cimino's ambitious, brilliant, multi-layered epic is one of most powerful and emotionally shattering motion pictures of the 20th century. It concerns a close-knit group of blue collar friends from a small Pennsylvania town who all work at the steel mill.

Robert De Niro delivers magnificent Oscar nominated performance as Michael the strong-willed natural leader of the group, Christopher Walken as Michael's sensitive best friend Nick delivers an unforgettably potent Oscar winning performance, and John Savage delivers an intensely effective performance as the youngest member of the group who has just gotten married to his pregnant girlfriend.

They all proudly go together to serve their country in the Vietnam War, which they are profoundly ignorant of. They will be suddenly thrust into the many mindless horrors of that vicious war. The hell they experience after being captured and sent to a riverside Vietcong prison camp where their sadistic captors make them play Russian roulette with each other as they bet money on which one of them will survive are some of the most excruciatingly disturbing and shocking scenes in cinematic history.

Masterful Academy Award winning direction by the late Cimino, with tremendous supporting performances by young Meryl Streep in her superb Oscar nominated film debut, and in his final screen role the late great character actor John Cazale gives a superlative performance as their neurotic friend Stan, and George Dzundza delivers a wonderfully amusing turn as their giggling bar owner friend John.

This great motion picture which has because a cinematic classic shows the incalculable damage not only to the American solider who was psychologically devastated by that awful war, but to the soul and conscience of America.

"The Deer Hunter" swept most of the critics awards including the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture, and was richly awarded with 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director: Michael Cimino.

Am American masterpiece. Note: This film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" motion pictue.

Highly Recommended.