An exceptional film...and with some indications of Cimino's later undoing...

Rating: 9/10 (8 December 2009)

THE DEER HUNTER is an extraordinary film--there's no denying that. However, I looked at this film from a slightly different perspective than many, as I first had a chance to watch director Cimino's mega-epic, HEAVEN'S GATE (one of Hollywood's biggest money-losers ever). I am glad I saw this later film first, as it forced me to look for the seeds of the director's downfall--even in his greatest triumph, the five-time Oscar winner, THE DEER HUNTER. Despite THE DEER HUNTER being considered a classic and one of the great films of the 1970s, it was not without minor faults--faults that would become much, much more apparent later in HEAVEN'S GATE.
The biggest problem was pacing and editing but the film was so good that you could excuse it. Some parts of the film were long and brilliantly done. The scenes in Vietnam were, if anything, too short--but very, very compelling. The scenes leading up to Vietnam (such as the wedding), however, went on way too long--seeming to place about equal emphasis on this rather banal and unimportant part of the film as the later and much more important part. Editing down the first hour a bit and perhaps even adding some more footage of Vietnam (or leaving it as it was) instead would have been a good thing. Additionally, having the characters act LESS like obnoxious jerks at the beginning would have helped as well--the characters didn't grab you right out of the gate. Both problems were significantly worse in HEAVEN'S GATE--the prologue went on for what seems like days and the characters were even more obnoxious! And, while THE DEER HUNTER comes in at a hefty 182 minutes, this long and slow pacing became interminably long in the followup film--clocking in at an astronomical 219 minutes!! In other words, Cimino only followed his own pattern from THE DEER HUNTER in the next film but expanded it even further--probably the result of his own success he felt he was onto something. However, these complaints do NOT say I am knocking THE DEER HUNTER--I am just saying that these tiny complaints became serious problems in HEAVEN'S GATE.
As far as the good in the THE DEER HUNTER goes, the acting is amazing, the direction (though slow) was very good, the music terrific and moving and the film grabs your attention. While I was not quite as bowled over by it as some, you cannot reasonably deny it is a standout film--even with pacing issues and any complaints about the ubiquity of Russian Roulette in Vietnam (geez...what are the chances of TWO games like this or a Russian Roulette league--especially since many doubt that such goings on ever happened in the first place) or there being an elk in Pennsylvania (which, by the way, looks like the Rocky Mountains--which it actually is and 2500 miles from where the hunt in the film was supposed to be). A must-see for anyone who considers themselves to be a film aficionado. Just be aware that the violence is intense and disturbing and the language is amazingly spicy for a 1970s film.