The Dear Hunter (1978)
MMost Vietnam War movies are extremely difficult to watch, and The Deer Hunter is no exception. It has been universally hailed as one of the greatest war movies ever made, but it doesn’t really focus on the war itself. In fact, less than a third of the running time is spent overseas.
The film starts out showing you the personal lives of three soon-to-be soldiers as they enjoy their last day in America, hoping you’ll become invested in them and setting the stage for an emotional, suspenseful drama. However, the hour-long section of the film before they go to Vietnam is hardly poignant. John Savage is marrying his pregnant girlfriend, and all the audience sees is an entire town getting rip-roaringly drunk at the wedding. Bridesmaids and groomsmen dance together, everyone shouts, some people cry, Robert De Niro runs down the street naked, and the hour of seemingly ad-lib dialogue doesn’t demonstrate any character development or quality “This is what I used to be like before the war changed me” moments. If you even make it through to the second hour without passing out from sheer boredom, you’re hardly invested in the soldiers.
For being deemed a classic, I was pretty surprised at Michael Cimino’s directing. Vast sections were painstakingly slow, and moments that should have been lengthened (or shown at all) were minimized or skipped over entirely. After the wedding hour, there’s a jarring cut and immediately, Bobby, John, and Christopher Walken are firing their weapons in a small Vietnamese village. After a few minutes, there’s another incongruous cut, and all of a sudden the boys are captured and being tortured by enemy soldiers. The famous Russian roulette scene is lengthy enough to be burned on the audience’s brain, but once again, another cut takes the boys and the audience out of Vietnam and back home in Pennsylvania. Much is unexplained, much is confusing. Why would Chris wander around and agree to participate in a back-alley illegal Russian roulette club, after what he’d lived through – and why is Bobby already in the club betting on the players? Why is John’s wife catatonic? Why does everyone in town find Meryl Streep irresistible?
Those who love Coming Home undoubtedly regret that it was released the same year as The Deer Hunter. Both movies focus on the physical and emotional handicaps veterans faced after returning home from Vietnam, and both had an extremely anti-war sentiment they wanted to convey to viewers. Coming Home didn’t show any war violence, so if you’re on the squeamish side, you probably liked that one better. The most memorable part of The Deer Hunter is the Russian roulette scene, and the fact that the incident continued to haunt the veterans made me wonder why the film wasn’t titled The Empty Chamber or One Bullet instead.
As someone who has endless appreciation for war movies that are well made, directed, and acted, I can’t really recommend The Deer Hunter unless you’re the type who likes to watch films on “must see” lists. With a better editor, cutting the running time down by about an hour, I might have been more forgiving since the story would have been more concise. But after taking away three hours of my life, I reserve the right to criticize.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Meryl Streep movies here!
The film starts out showing you the personal lives of three soon-to-be soldiers as they enjoy their last day in America, hoping you’ll become invested in them and setting the stage for an emotional, suspenseful drama. However, the hour-long section of the film before they go to Vietnam is hardly poignant. John Savage is marrying his pregnant girlfriend, and all the audience sees is an entire town getting rip-roaringly drunk at the wedding. Bridesmaids and groomsmen dance together, everyone shouts, some people cry, Robert De Niro runs down the street naked, and the hour of seemingly ad-lib dialogue doesn’t demonstrate any character development or quality “This is what I used to be like before the war changed me” moments. If you even make it through to the second hour without passing out from sheer boredom, you’re hardly invested in the soldiers.
For being deemed a classic, I was pretty surprised at Michael Cimino’s directing. Vast sections were painstakingly slow, and moments that should have been lengthened (or shown at all) were minimized or skipped over entirely. After the wedding hour, there’s a jarring cut and immediately, Bobby, John, and Christopher Walken are firing their weapons in a small Vietnamese village. After a few minutes, there’s another incongruous cut, and all of a sudden the boys are captured and being tortured by enemy soldiers. The famous Russian roulette scene is lengthy enough to be burned on the audience’s brain, but once again, another cut takes the boys and the audience out of Vietnam and back home in Pennsylvania. Much is unexplained, much is confusing. Why would Chris wander around and agree to participate in a back-alley illegal Russian roulette club, after what he’d lived through – and why is Bobby already in the club betting on the players? Why is John’s wife catatonic? Why does everyone in town find Meryl Streep irresistible?
Those who love Coming Home undoubtedly regret that it was released the same year as The Deer Hunter. Both movies focus on the physical and emotional handicaps veterans faced after returning home from Vietnam, and both had an extremely anti-war sentiment they wanted to convey to viewers. Coming Home didn’t show any war violence, so if you’re on the squeamish side, you probably liked that one better. The most memorable part of The Deer Hunter is the Russian roulette scene, and the fact that the incident continued to haunt the veterans made me wonder why the film wasn’t titled The Empty Chamber or One Bullet instead.
As someone who has endless appreciation for war movies that are well made, directed, and acted, I can’t really recommend The Deer Hunter unless you’re the type who likes to watch films on “must see” lists. With a better editor, cutting the running time down by about an hour, I might have been more forgiving since the story would have been more concise. But after taking away three hours of my life, I reserve the right to criticize.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn’t let my kids watch it.
More Meryl Streep movies here!