Oh Dear! This motion picture is not historical accurate at all. Despite that, it's still worth hunting for.

Rating: 8/10 (12 February 2019)

This movie directed by Michael Cimino is supposed to be in-depth examination of the Vietnam War and how its events, impacts and disrupts the lives of three Russian American Soldiers in many ways, when returning back to their small industrial town in Pennsylvania. However, the characters in the film are more traumatic by having to play a game of "Russian Roulette' than anything else, they witnessed. The film really lingers on that in the 3rd act, to the point, that the movie is probably best known as today, as the 'Russian Roulette' motion picture. It has caused some film scholars to question if the movie really deserve all that praise, as it hardly has to do with any real after effects that soldiers came home with from the war. Don't get me wrong, this movie was truly one intense watch. However, I have to somewhat agreed, the flick is indeed highly fictionalized & somewhat unrealistic. Without spoiling the motion picture, too much, the reason for that, is because this 1978 Academy Awards Best Picture Winner was loosely based, first on an unproduced screenplay called, 'The Man Who Came to Play' by authors, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker, about a group of gamblers risking it all in Las Vegas, by playing Russian roulette. However, when producer Michael Deeley bought the screenplay, he hired director Michael Cimino & screenwriter, Deric Washburn, who hate each other, to work together to rewrite it. They did this, by having the deadly game take place in a Vietnamese Prison Camp between capture American soldiers, despite there being no documented cases of the game being played during the war. Regardless, those roulette scenes were shot in real circumstances, in dirty locations with the performers getting real beatings. The reaction from all the faces from all three principal actors, were somewhat genuine, especially Christopher Walken, who had no clue that he was getting slap for real. According to the director, the performers got so method with their acting, they requested, one real live cartridge in the revolver to heighten the intensity of the situation. That's totally insane! It's just as crazy to hear that Robert De Niro and John Savage mostly performed their own stunts, including the 30 foot drop fall into the river, 15 times in two days. They could had really got seriously hurt or even died. They almost did, as during a helicopter stunt, the skids caught itself on the rope bridge, nearly causing the copter to fall on two of the actors. They took a good amount of risk for actors deed too old for the ages, their character was supposed to be. Besides the stunts, the acting in this film is outstanding. There is no better example of this, than the 'One Last Shot' sequence. De Niro's emoting here, is ever brilliant, such a thoughtful performance. While, Walken's character just looks like a dead soul waiting for the body to followed. He's so hollow. What an amazing scene. Not to be outdone, the supporting cast were just as good as the main two. Despite, being a vague stock girlfriend character, Meryl Streep was fine in this role. Streep's then, boyfriend, John Cazale was also alright in the film. It's surprised me, to hear that he was very weak when filming began, due to being diagnosed with lung cancer. You really couldn't tell. Sadly, Cazale died shortly after filming was completed & never saw his work. Nevertheless, not all acting was praise, the film got some criticize on its one-sidedly portraying all the North Vietnamese as over the top sadistic racists and killers. Regardless of that, it's really hard to say, that this movie is an indeed a war film, when technically, the sequences involving Vietnam were a small part of the 183 minutes runtime. Most of the movie takes place, during a wedding. 51 minutes to be exact. Because of that, the movie's pacing has been claim to be, somewhat of a slowed burn to the point that Universal wanted the movie to be trim, even more. I somewhat agreed. Scenes like the drunk nude streaking could had been cut. Despite, the film going way over budget and overschedule. The movie is beautifully shot. There is no better example of this, than the deer hunting scene & the depressing climax involving "God Bless America'. Overall: In spite of backlash from some Vietnam Veterans & War Historians who protest the film during its one theater released. The film was indeed successful enough at Oscars, that Universal Pictures widened the distribution to include major cities. It became a box office success. It made the bucks. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". That's how important, this film, has become to some people. For me, the over amount of praise for this movie is bit much. It's like, some critics don't mention, this film's big flaws in their reviews. Regardless of that, the movie is still worth watching. 'The Deer Hunter' might have starts out slow, but in the end, it's big bang. Highly recommended, checking it out.