I must revisit more films I didn't like

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2005)

I first saw the film on VHS in the early eighties and found it overlong and overrated. Since I was also under the recently corrected, 20 year misapprehension that "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" was also vastly overrated, I decided I owed it to myself to give it another chance. This time I found it overlong and overwhelming.
It is an extremely powerful piece and fully deserving of the esteem in which it's held, although I still feel a bit of trimming would have made it even better. That's not like me as I'm usually of the opinion that (in film) you cannot have too much of a good thing. Also I found the pacing a little odd: The wedding is covered in real time (ok, slight exaggeration) then blink and they're in 'Nam and blink again and they're in the cage. No doubt this was deliberate but I didn't think it worked that well.
Of course, what made it were the performances. De Niro and Streep are widely considered as being about as good as it's possible to get. I'm sure most IMDb members are fully appreciative of Chris Walken's abilities but I don't believe that many casual film viewers recogniser his consistent and impeccable quality.