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At the 51st Academy Awards, it was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and won five: Best Picture, Best Director for Cimino, Best Supporting Actor for Walken, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. It was also successful at the box office, grossing $49 million. The film received acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for Cimino's direction, the performances of its cast (particularly from De Niro, Walken, and Streep), and its screenplay, realistic themes and tones, and cinematography. EMI Films, who produced the film, released the film internationally while Universal Pictures handled its distribution in North America. The scenes depicting Russian roulette were highly controversial after the film's release. The film went over-budget and over-schedule, and ended up costing $15 million. Producer Michael Deeley, who bought the script, hired writer/director Michael Cimino who, with Deric Washburn, rewrote the script, taking the Russian roulette element and placing it in the Vietnam War. Redeker, about Las Vegas and Russian roulette. The film was based in part on an unproduced screenplay called The Man Who Came to Play by Louis A. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania, a working-class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, and in Vietnam. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, with John Cazale (in his final role), Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza playing supporting roles. This is that thing that people used to like 40 years ago that today people either dismiss or are baffled as to why it was once so popular.The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian-American steelworkers whose lives were changed forever after fighting in the Vietnam War. If Parasite is Hamilton, The Deer Hunter is Cats. Today it’s known as that film that used to get on big brain elite film lists but today isn’t on the BFI 250, Letterboxd 250, or really anything. The film has its strengths, but also flaws that have only become more apparent with age. Still, the film should be praised for tackling PTSD and the difficulty returning soldiers have adapting to civilian life.
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He kind of got lucky making an Vietnam anti-war film at exactly the point America was willing to admit it had been a massive mistake. The performances by De Niro and Walken are great, but the director wasn’tthe visionary genius he thought he was. Portrayal of the Vietnamese is also sub-par and without any nuance. Parts of the film still hold up as really powerful, but other parts drag. American films are supposed to make money, so we don’t have 30 minute wedding scenes.
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Euro arthouse films could be as self indulgent as they pleased because they were government funded and had no need or desire to make money. However, I have to give the film credit for how ballsy that was for an American film. I would rather play Russian roulette with an automatic than rewatch that scene.
#DEER HUNTER CHRISTOPHER WALKEN FULL#
The film spends 30 full minutes at a wedding scene so slow it would put Bela Tarr to sleep. Based on that casting and brief synopsis, wouldn’t you assume this was a comedy? They cast the most Italian guy ever and freaking Christopher Walken to play Russians (there were only around 10,000 Orthodox Russian Americans in 1968) solely for the irony that the North Vietnamese force them to play Russian roulette. Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken play Russian immigrants who sign up for the Vietnam war to prove their patriotism.