AFI Top 100: #53
Wow, okay. Didn't think I could be made even more nervous about watching people play Russian roulette. Michael Cimino's absolutely excellent film The Deer Hunter is probably the best Vietnam war movie I have ever seen, as it takes the genre in an expected direction but has some of the greatest performances ever given for this kind of story. This film is chock full of some of the best-directed moments I have ever seen, as Cimino is able to really pull out the emotion and grief from his brilliant cast of actors. The cinematography and editing were miraculous, the sound design was fantastic, and I was thoroughly engaged in this world for its entire runtime. Although it does fall well within the realm of the war genre, along with its predictable tropes, the absolute mastery of craft that Cimino and his crew are able to exhibit is incredibly impressive. Just as I think I am completely done and tired of the genre, this film is able to reinvigorate my belief in what these types of stories can accomplish.
Lifelong friends Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Steven (John Savage) volunteer to join the military and serve their country in the Vietnam War. Before they go, they decide to go on one last hunting trip and after the three of them suffer the horrors of war, they end up coming home and having to deal with the repercussions of their trauma, including the fact that both Michael and Nick are in love with the same girl Linda (Meryl Streep). The writing throughout this film from Deric Washburn's script was just phenomenal. While the story itself comes from a handful of different people, Washburn is able to bring this story together in such an interesting way that I never would have expected. His script is able to hit so many emotional beats and cover ground on so many, different life events without ever making the audience feel scattered. I often find that films like these that try to cover a long period of time or a topic as expansive as the Vietnam war can meander around and not really focus on an A-plot but Washburn is brilliantly able to establish the characters and story right off the bat, send them into conflict, and bring the ending home in such a compelling fashion. There was a lot of genuinely good humor and drama blended in together to propel each scene into the next to make some of the most impactful moments ever. The fantastic direction from Cimino helps this too, as the film itself did not ever feel like it was three hours long. Cimino gives us such an amazing look at the different ways veterans handle PTSD and how not all returning soldiers are able to cope and make it out with their sanity. In fact, the recurring idea of the deadly game of Russian roulette is not only a dangerous one but one that had so many lasting, psychological effects on the entire story and the arcs of its characters. I loved how this game played such a huge part of the story and how the characters of Michael, Nick, and Steven were able to show how it affected them. The Deer Hunter also handles postwar mental health a lot better than I could have predicted and I adored practically every thematic idea that Cimino chose to explore.
The performances from the entire cast of this film took me by surprise because I had no idea how much sheer talent was put into one movie. De Niro, Walken, Cazale, and Streep give some of the best and most genuinely humanistic performances of their careers and I absolutely adored the paths that they chose with their acting. I loved the palpable chemistry between them all and I really could not see anyone else occupying these characters other than them. De Niro and Walken, in particular, turn in some of the most honest but at times unhinged performances I have ever seen and this is really the first time that either of them has acted in a scene that has almost made me cry. The last scene that these two shared together was one of the tensest and most devastating sequences ever put to film and I was on edge for its entirety. While a lot of that tension's credit has to go to Cimino, the pure artistry seen between these two performers was just magic. This whole cast of different character and method actors put together makes for such a wonderful ensemble that I feel like modern audiences skip over way too easily. The technical aspects of this film also astounded me, as the cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond and editing from Peter Zinner were just spectacular. Zsigmond's use of the camera is just beautiful and he is able to perfectly capture both the explosiveness of war and the more personable, closeup shots of the characters' emotions very well. Not only was The Deer Hunter grand in scale, but it was just gorgeous to look at too: from the painting-worthy shots of the mountains during their hunting trip to the coziness of a home during the most emotional scenes, I was terribly engrossed in every shot of this. Zinner's editing was my favorite part of this film, however, as his work was particularly jarring and effective throughout the entire film. The pacing he was able to use was brilliant and along with Cimino, they were able to make this three-hour film fly by in a breeze. The best part of his editing, however, was the painfully hard cut after the first act of this film. Cutting from the tranquility and brotherhood that these characters were experiencing in the bar scene directly into the apocalyptic ruination of the Vietnamese village was just captivating. Zinner makes this film take such impressive, chronological turns, so much to the point that I was simply blown away.
It's difficult to argue against Robert De Niro's reputation as one of the greatest actors of all time and Cimino's The Deer Hunter only strengthens the argument in his favor. This film is my new, personal favorite war movie and one that touches on so many different aspects of grief and the mental traumas that come with the hardships of war. Packed with a plethora of genuinely thrilling moments and some creative choices that left me more than impressed, this film has really proven its place in the history of cinema in a much more artistic way than the war genre has seen before.
My Rating: ★★★★½
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