Classic Film, Matchless Cast, Timeless Themes...

Rating: 9/10 (6 April 2006)

1978's Academy Award Winner for Best Picture, 'The Deer Hunter' is one of the finest American films about the Vietnam War and stands apart as an observational masterpiece - it takes no stands and renders no judgments, only tells a story about little lives caught up in grand themes. Michael Cimino enjoyed the brief acclaim of being a 'the next great director' (his writing was also masterful) based on this film until crashing and burning with the costly failure two year's later of 'Heaven's Gate', a flop that effectively derailed his career.
Brilliant performances run through every featured role with a who's who of the past thirty years in the cast...Robert DeNiro gives an electric performance as 'Michael', the controlled, precise tough guy who all admire but who cannot fit in with the 'regular' guys and 'nice' girls in his Pennsylvania steel-mill town. Christopher Walken (Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor) and John Savage (Lydecker in season one of 'Dark Angel') both give disturbing and nuanced performances as Michael's fellow soldiers from the same town, and show the range of talent and unique personality that we have all come to depend upon from them as fine character actors ever since. Meryl Streep is a revelation as the pretty local girl taking on the pain of seemingly everyone in the story and trying to keep the tears contained behind her thin smile. Her emotional intelligence and sheer decency jump off the screen and give the town of 'Clairton, PA' it's heart. Character actors John Cazale (Fredo from 'The Godfather'), George Dzundza (Priest on season one of 'Hack') and Chuck Aspegren capture the uncomfortable sense of being the ones who get to 'stay home' as the boys head to Vietnam.
Much of the criticism of the film related to the Russian Roulette theme that plays through the film's final two thirds with the argument centering upon whether or not such 'games' were actually played in the war. This is essentially meaningless as the metaphor of random death aptly mirrors the lives of these men and provides a context for telling their tale. Others have criticized as being cynical, a group singing of 'God Bless America' during a painful moment but, once again, this is simply an echo of the ambivalence ALL of us felt during the period and about the war and are still facing today. To this reviewer, this scene is beautifully rendered and holds true to an uncertain group of people juggling pain of loss with their faith, love of country and each other. It's powerful stuff, all the more so as a new war and debate rages, reminding us that whoever is right or wrong, it is those who welcome home the body bags and the damaged warriors who bear the burden for the rest of us.
The film contains endless classic lines and did wonders both for the Frankie Valli song 'You're Just Too Good To Be True' (which found new fans from the movie) and for the local PA brewery, Rolling Rock, which capitalized on DeNiro telling Streep at the Wedding Reception bar 'have a Rolling Rock, it's a good beer' - thirty years later, the world is still banging them back.
See the 'Deer Hunter' and show it to anyone who wasn't born or doesn't know of the period.