Customer Rating:  
Summary: Very Powerful, Emotionally Gripping But Too Bad About the DVD!
Comment: What introduced me to this film was actually John Williams' performance and arrangement of Stanley Myers' "Cavatina" a tune which I really like and had wanted to learn how to play for years. I first got the soundtrack to the film which was pretty good albeit short at barely over half an hour in length. After I had learned and committed "Cavatina" to memory, I decided to give the film a chance too.
Typical of 70s movies of the time, directors were given a lot more leeway to execute their art which is why many of the best films come from the late 60s up to the late 70s. I think it's safe to say that "Deer Hunter" would never have been made today. By today's standards the film moves along at a glacial pace and the 3 hour run time would probably be too much to ask today's audience to endure. For the patient however, this movie does reward repeated viewing and is powerful in its anti-war theme and how the innocents are the soldiers fighting in wars not of their creation. Although the russian roulette scenes are central to the story, they are probably not historically correct and yet they are a metaphor for the innocent soldier who is asked to commit suicide to fight somebody else's war. The first hour drags along and takes its time to show the innocence of life in a steel town in Philadelphia and how a group of workers who are fairly religious and patriotic handle the transition of their former lives to their Vietnam experiences and how their harrowing experiences have changed them relative to their friends that stayed behind. The acting is first class and Walken thoroughly deserved his Oscar and De Niro should have gotten one himself.
The problem lies with this version of the dvd which is very poor. The picture quality hasn't been restored and so imperfections such as white and other spots abound in practically every frame and the overall quality barely matches that of VHS. The widescreen format is not anamorphic and so actually only about half of your plasma tv screen is utilised. The sound comes in Dolby 2.0 stereo but if you have a Pro Logic setup, you can similate a 5.1 surround sound effect. There are no special features worth mentioning either.
If you are a patient movie-lover who views film as an artform you will enjoy this film that rewards repeated viewing like most classics do however you should get a better dvd version which has a much better restored and remastered picture and sound quality with at least 5.1 surround sound options. You should wait for this in either a standard version or preferably in Blu-ray to do any justice to this classic and to give this particular dvd version a miss.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the deer hunter
Comment: this is the twin of "once upon a time in america" a soul moving epic of the kind of "webs we weave"don"t miss these two films!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A SENSITIVE AND DISTRESSING PIECE ABOUT VIETNAM
Comment: The Deer Hunter
A close-knit group of American mill - workers are suddenly thrust into war, a war about which none of them knew much about till they arrived. Their awakening is a rude one. The best of director Michael Cimino's much varied out-put was clearly a hard act to follow for all - concerned. At the time, the players, were relatively unknown - Rober de Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep and Christopher Walken ( as Nick, who's subjected to Russian roulette). The yearning theme music is brilliant.
Customer Rating:
Summary: YOu can never go back home
Comment: The Deer Hunter home scenes was filmed were I have worked for the last 35years,Mingo Jct, Ohio.I even tried out for an extra in the movie.I remember coming out of work,and smelling fall,and it was the begining of summer.There were leaves everywere down town Mingo,and there's not a single tree on the block. I saw Meryl Streep walking out of one of the stores,and didn't even know who she was.This was one of her first big films.My older girl cousin,Stella,who is 6 foot tall walked into De Niro's trailer and asked for an autograph.He told her to "Get the hell out"but she wouldn't back down,and told her "if it wasn't for people like us,you'd be no one."I still enjoy this film,and still think John Savage was the greatest actor in his time.You can tell this movie had alot of Metod acting,and sometimes its over done,but "The Deer Hunter" is a classic.{A guy I work with in the Steel Mill,Denny Anderson,who served in Vietnam ,still loves to watch this film }
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sad To Say, It's Lacking
Comment: This is one of those movies that SHOULD have worked so well, and comes so close. The best way for me to describe it is to actually compare it to another film with Robert De Niro: "The Mission." Although a very different film, it shares the same fatal flaw as "The Deer Hunter": we really never get a chance to get to KNOW these characters very well. So instead of feeling what they're feeling, we just sort of watch what happens to them. Both films feel very impersonal. But I think "The Mission" actually has more food for thought that this one.
But hey, I'm supposed to be reviewing "The Deer Hunter," right? This movie is incredibly well-acted and well-photographed, but the story doesn't compel. The opening wedding scene, for starters, is ridiculously long and ends up serving no dramatic purpose. And the different portions of the film (wedding scenes, hunting scenes, war scenes, coming home scenes) don't gel so well. And the pace for the entire film is out-of-wack; rather than gripping, it's for the most part uninvolving.
So, what's good about the movie? Several things, actually. Like I said, the performances by all involved are absolutely superb, even if their characters are all left underdeveloped. The Vietnam scenes are stunning and disturbing (I actually had a conversation with a Vietnam vet once who said that this is the one Vietnam War films that he could never watch), and you will never be able to erase the images of the Russian Roulette from your mind. Harrowing stuff, regardless of its apparent historical inaccuracy.
It's not a bad movie by any stretch. It's just not that great. Worth seeing at least once, though.
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