The Deer Hunter (1978)

Director: Michael Cimino                                Writer: Deric Washburn
Film Score: Stanley Myers                             Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage and Meryl Streep

Most people tend to think of The Dear Hunter as simply a Viet Nam film, and while that is certainly part of it, it’s not really the point. The genius of the film is in its exploration of the hunting culture and its erroneous connection with war culture in the minds of many people. The reality is that those two cultures have nothing in common save weaponry. In the first culture defenseless animals are killed in the wild by hunters who have absolutely no dependence on the animals for survival. If they don’t shoot a deer they can always stop at McDonalds on the way home. In the second men are expected to kill other men in a situation where oftentimes the superiority of weaponry has absolutely no bearing on victory or defeat. And more importantly, the hunters are also the hunted, something that can be psychologically torturous for those men in the field.

It’s obvious that Michael Cimino studied Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather films before he made The Deer Hunter. The film is an ensemble piece that begins with a ceremony, in this case the wedding of John Savage and Rutanya Alda, and the characters have a close affiliation to the Catholic Church. There is also a distinct ethnicity associated with the older generation, in this case Polish instead of Italian, as well as severe gender distinctions that result in abuse. The film establishes from the beginning the close relationships of young men in a steel town in Pennsylvania. They work in the mill together, but several have been drafted to fight in Viet Nam. On the night of Savage’s wedding, the men go out on one last hunting trip before they report for duty. Robert De Nero is the clear leader. His best friend is Christopher Walken, though he is also in love with his girl, Meryl Streep.

From there, Cimino provides only two jolting transitions, the first directly to Viet Nam where Walken and Savage, getting off a helicopter, meet up with De Niro. In the very next scene, however, they have instantly become prisoners of war. This is the most well-known aspect of the film, the Vietnamese soldiers who force their prisoners to play Russian roulette so they can gamble on the outcome. It’s harrowing to watch and nearly impossible to imagine experiencing. Of course this leads to the discovery by Walken of Russian roulette gambling going on by civilians in the city after their escape from captivity, and his eventual participation. It’s a disturbing and surreal thing to watch, as the gulf between Pennsylvania and Saigon becomes impossible to bridge, and Walken is unable to return. De Niro, however, finally goes back to retrieve Walken to honor a promise made to him before they left.

Instead of being a “Viet Nam” film, this is really a study of life before and after war, but unique in its approach. Unlike The Best Years of Our Lives, which deals exclusively with the aftermath, or something like Jarhead which focuses primarily on the experience during war, Cimino is concerned with the juxtaposition of before and after, with the experience of war as a cleaver forever separating the past from the present in a way that is almost incomprehensible to the participants. There’s also an incredible irony in the fact that Walken, who is a compulsive gambler in the beginning of the film, becomes the object of so much gambling and at such high stakes. But in this case the actual gamblers, much like the sport hunters, take absolutely no risk themselves, while Walken has become the helpless animal. It’s a concept that comes to fruition in a meaningful shot while hunting late in the film. The Deer Hunter won several Academy Awards that year, including best picture, and forever remains an important piece of cinematic greatness.