The Deer Hunter
Academy Award × 5·AFI #53·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
What critics thought
A film of undeniable emotional and cinematic scale, The Deer Hunter was widely considered one of the great American epics at its release, celebrated for its working-class authenticity, the symphonic sweep of Cimino's direction, and career-defining performances from De Niro, Walken, and Streep. Yet serious dissent surrounded its portrayal of the Vietnamese — critics accused it of reducing the enemy to sadistic caricature with no historical grounding — and even some admirers felt its moral intelligence lagged behind its ambition.
“a big, awkward, crazily ambitious motion picture that comes as close to being a popular epic as any movie about this country since The Godfather. Its vision is that of an original, major new filmmaker.”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“[It is] a small minded film with greatness in it ... with an enraptured view of common life ... [but] enraging, because, despite its ambitiousness and scale, it has no more moral intelligence than the Eastwood action pictures.”
Pauline Kael·The New Yorker
“massively vague, tediously elliptical, and mysteriously hysterical ... It is perhaps significant that the actors remain more interesting than the characters they play.”
Andrew Sarris·The New York Observer
“For all its pretensions to something newer and better, this film is only an extension of the old Hollywood war-movie lie. The enemy is still bestial and stupid, and no match for our purity and heroism; only we no longer wipe up the floor with him—rather, we litter it with his guts.”
John Simon·New York
“one of the most emotionally shattering films ever made”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
Genres
Drama, War
Cast & Crew
DirectorMichael Cimino
StarringRobert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep
ComposerStanley Myers
The Deer Hunter
Academy Award × 5·AFI #53·National Film Registry
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
What critics thought
A film of undeniable emotional and cinematic scale, The Deer Hunter was widely considered one of the great American epics at its release, celebrated for its working-class authenticity, the symphonic sweep of Cimino's direction, and career-defining performances from De Niro, Walken, and Streep. Yet serious dissent surrounded its portrayal of the Vietnamese — critics accused it of reducing the enemy to sadistic caricature with no historical grounding — and even some admirers felt its moral intelligence lagged behind its ambition.
“a big, awkward, crazily ambitious motion picture that comes as close to being a popular epic as any movie about this country since The Godfather. Its vision is that of an original, major new filmmaker.”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“[It is] a small minded film with greatness in it ... with an enraptured view of common life ... [but] enraging, because, despite its ambitiousness and scale, it has no more moral intelligence than the Eastwood action pictures.”
Pauline Kael·The New Yorker
“massively vague, tediously elliptical, and mysteriously hysterical ... It is perhaps significant that the actors remain more interesting than the characters they play.”
Andrew Sarris·The New York Observer
“For all its pretensions to something newer and better, this film is only an extension of the old Hollywood war-movie lie. The enemy is still bestial and stupid, and no match for our purity and heroism; only we no longer wipe up the floor with him—rather, we litter it with his guts.”
John Simon·New York
“one of the most emotionally shattering films ever made”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
Genres
Drama, War
Cast & Crew
DirectorMichael Cimino
StarringRobert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep
ComposerStanley Myers
Rent/Purchase