Wins Best Picture out of a weak field of nominated films of 1978

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2006)

I remember working across the street from a movie theater when this film came out and seeing the theater goers looking depressed and saying nothing to each other as the screenings would let out. I went to see it for myself and could see why they were so affected. It definitely is a dark and depressing movie. Very little comic relief. This film went head to head with another anti-Vietnam movie, Coming Home, for the 1978 Academy Awards. The two films together received 17 nominations and got five wins. Deer Hunter beat out Coming Home with nine nominations and five including the big one for Best Picture. Michael Cimino won for Best Director and was nominated for Best Screenplay in only his second directorial film who as a screenwriter before Deer Hunter he had success with Silent Running and Magnum force. Christopher Walken won for Best Supporting Actor in a role that would help define his career. Best Editing went to Peter Zimmer who had edited Godfather I and II and In Cold Blood among his many films. The film's fifth Oscar was for Best Sound. Rober De Niro was nominated for Best Actor and probably should have won but lost out to John Voight in Coming Home. Meryl Streep was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Vilmos Zsigmond was nominated for Best Cinematography. Zsigmond photographed a string of big films in the 70's including Deliverence, Cinderella Liberty, MdCabe and Mrs. Miller and Sugarland Express and was a strong contender for the Oscar for his work on Deer Hunter. This film starts with a wedding and ends with a funeral with the Vietnam War in Between. It's opening is meant to build the characters but is far too long. A lot of the film is so implausible that's it hard to get ignore. lot's of violence here in it's depiction of events that are historically inaccurate that brings fabling to the story. Also in the cast are John Cazale in his last film and John Savage. This film has a lot going for it but I've passed on it many times over the years when it's come on television. It's good film-making with a strong cast but not worthy of the Best Picture Oscar. I would give it a 7.5 out of 10.