The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is a 1978 war drama film about a trio of Rusyn American^[1] steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. It is loosely inspired by the German novel Three Comrades (1937), by World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, which follows the lives of a trio of World War I veterans in 1920s Weimar Germany. Like the novel, The Deer Hunter meditates and explores the moral and mental consequences of war violence and politically-manipulated patriotism upon the meaning of friendship, honor, and family in a tightly-knit community and deals with controversial issues such as drug abuse, suicide, infidelity and mental illness. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale and Meryl Streep. The story occurs in southern Vietnam, in Pittsburgh and in working-class Clairton, Pennsylvania, a Monongahela River town south of Pittsburgh. It was filmed in the Pittsburgh area; Cleveland and Mingo Junction, Ohio; Weirton, West Virginia; the North Cascades National Park in Washington state, the Patpong district of Bangkok in Thailand (as the Saigon red-light district), and Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province (also in Thailand).

Plot

In Western Pennsylvania during the late 1960s, Rusyn American steel workers Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken), with the support of their friends Stanley (John Cazale), John (George Dzundza), and Axel (Chuck Aspegren) are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military service.

The opening scenes set the character traits of the three main actors - Michael is the no-nonsense, serious but unassuming leader of the three, Steven the loving, near-groom, pecked at by his mother for not wearing a scarf with his tuxedo, and Nick as the quiet, introspective man who loves hunting because, "I like the trees..you know..the way the trees are different...".

Michael tells Nick that if it wasn't for him, he'd hunt alone, because the other three guys are "assholes..I love 'em but they're assholes..without you Nicky, I hunt alone." Nick asks Mike if he's scared about joing the Army and going to Vietnam, and Michael shrugs it off. He states his intent to get a deer with just one bullet. "One bullet. The deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that, they don't listen." This motif, of course, plays heavily later in the movie.

Before the trio ship out, Steven and his girlfriend (who is pregnant by another man but loved by Steven nonetheless) get married in an elaborate Rusyn Orthodox wedding. In the meantime, Michael struggles with his feelings for Nick's lovely but pensive girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep) who has just moved out of her abusive father's house. The guys all get drunk, dance, sing and have the usual good time, but during the wedding toast to Steven and Angela, a drop of blood-red wine spills on her wedding gown, again foreshadowing the coming events. Near the end of the reception, Nick asks Linda to marry him, and she agrees. Later that night after a drunk and naked Michael runs through the streets of town, Nick chases him down, and in a solemn and prophetic end to the first act, begs Michael not to leave him "over there" if anything happens.

The next morning finds all the friends (minus Steven) going deer hunting. The Washington Cascades fill in more than adequately for the Pennsylvania Allegheny mountains, oddly enough. After a confrontation during a rest stop with Stanley (who has forgotten his boots) Michael angrily fires a shot in to the air after Nick remonstrates with him for denying Stanley his extra pair. During the hunt, Michael gets his deer with one bullet, but the other guys are more interested in drinking and goofing off. They return home, and the second act ends with a poignant, dialog-less scene in the tavern and a Chopin nocturne played by John, as the men look around at themselves, knowing that life will never be the same after tomorrow's enlistment.

The film then jumps to a war-torn Vietnamese village. An unconscious Mike (who is by now a staff sergeant in the Green Berets) wakes up to see a North Vietnamese Regular throw a stick grenade into a hiding place full of civilians. In revenge Mike burns the NVA with a flame thrower and then shoots him numerous times with an M16. Meanwhile a unit of UH-1 helicopters drops off several US troops, Nick and Steven among them. During the infantry combat the three (Michael, Steven, and Nick) unexpectedly find each other just before they are captured and held in a riverside prisoner of war camp along with other US Army and ARVN prisoners. For entertainment, the guards force their prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome. All three are forced to play; Steven aims the gun above his head, grazing himself with the bullet and is punished by incarceration to an underwater cage. Michael and Nick orchestrate the killing of their captors and escape from the prison. Believing Steven to be mentally broken down, Mike considers abandoning him, but Nick angrily rejects that consideration.

The three float downriver on a tree. An American helicopter rescues them, but only Nick is able to board. The weakened Steven falls into the river. Mike jumps in to rescue him, as Steven has broken his legs in the fall. Mike carries him through the jungle to friendly lines. Nick is psychologically damaged, and finds himself recuperating in a military hospital in Saigon with no knowledge on the status of his friends. At night, he aimlessly stumbles through the red light district. At one point, he encounters Julién Grinda, a champagne-drinking Frenchman outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money. Grinda entices Nick to reluctantly participate, then leads him in to the den.

Back in the U.S., Mike returns home but tries to maintain a low profile. He's embarrassed by the fuss made over him by Linda and his neighbors. Mike struggles with his feelings, as he thinks both Nick and Steven are dead or missing. He grows close to Linda but it's only because of the friend they both think they've lost. Mike goes hunting with Axel, John and Stanley one more time, and after tracking a beautiful deer across the woods, takes his "one shot" but pulls the rifle up just before he fires, missing purposely. He then sits on a rock escarpment and yells out, "OK?", which echoes back at him off of the opposing rock faces leading down to the river, signifying his fight with his mental demons over losing Steven and Nick. He also berates Stanley for carrying around a small revolver and waving it around, at one point spinning the cylinder and pointing it at Stanley's head, "How ya feel now??.." He knows the horror of war and wants no part of it anymore.

However, he soon learns that Steven is not far away at a local Veterans' hospital. He has lost both his legs and is partially paralyzed but does not want to come home. Steven reveals that someone in Saigon has been mailing large amounts of cash to him, and Mike realizes it's Nick. Mike brings him home anyway, and then travels to Saigon just before its fall in 1975. With the reluctant help of the Frenchman Julién Grinda who has made a lot of money off the Russian-roulette playing American, he finds Nick in a crowded roulette club, but Nick appears to have no recollection of his friends or his home in Pennsylvania. Mike sees the needle tracks on his arm. He realizes that Nick thinks he (Michael) and Steven are dead, since he's the only one who made it back on the copter. Mike enters himself in a game of Russian roulette against Nick, attempting to persuade him to come home, but Nick's mind is gone. In the last moment, after Mike's attempts to remind him of their trips hunting together, he finally breaks through, and Nick recognizes Mike and smiles. Nick then tells Mike, "one shot." Nick then raises the gun and shoots himself. Horrified, Michael tries to revive him but to no avail.

Back in America, there is a funeral for Nick, whom Michael brings home, good to his promise. The film ends with the whole cast at the wake, singing "God Bless America" and toasting in his honor.

Production

The film began with a spec screenplay called "The Man Who Came To Play", written by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker. The script, while unrelated to the Vietnam War, nonetheless centered on a group of men who travel to Las Vegas to play Russian Roulette. Producer Barry Spikings, who had purchased the script from Garfinkle–Redeker, pitched the story to director Michael Cimino, who then adapted the Russian Roulette idea into a story he was preparing about Pennsylvania steelworkers who go off to war. Cimino then worked for six weeks with Deric Washburn, before firing him (Cimino and Washburn had previously collaborated with Stephen Bochco on the screenplay for Silent Running).

While Garfinkle and Redeker had nothing to do with the writing or filming of The Deer Hunter, they ultimately shared a "Story By" writer's credit with Cimino and Washburn, since Cimino had adapted the Russian Roulette idea from "The Man Who Came To Play" into the film. Cimino would later claim to have written the entire screenplay himself, although a WGA arbitration awarded Washburn sole "Screenplay By" credit. All four writers received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for this film.

Filming locations included:

• St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
• Patpong, Bangkok, Thailand, the area used to represent Saigon's red light district.
• Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
• North Cascades National Park, Washington State, US.
• Mingo Junction, Ohio, for the steel mills.
• Steubenville, Ohio, for some mill and neighborhood shots.
• Struthers, Ohio, for external house and long-range road shots.
• Weirton, West Virginia, for mill and trailer shots.

Cast

Theme music and songs

The theme music and songs play an important role in this movie.

• The theme music is Stanley Myers' "Cavatina" (meaning a song played by musical instruments), played with guitar by John Williams. It is a piece of melancholic music, reminding of the good old life in Clairton.

• The sub-theme music is "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", a 1967 hit song, sung by Frankie Valli. It is played a few times in this movie.

• During the wedding ceremonies and party, the Eastern Orthodox Church songs such as "Slava" and Russian folk songs such as "Korobushka' and "Katyusha" are played.

Reception

The Deer Hunter won Oscars in 1978 for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Cimino), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christopher Walken), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. In addition, it was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Meryl Streep), Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

In 1996, The Deer Hunter was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

It is ranked # 53 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time.^[2]

The theme song of The Deer Hunter, Cavatina, written by Stanley Myers and performed by classical guitarist John Williams is commonly known as "The Theme from The Deer Hunter".

During the Berlin International Film Festival in 1979 the Soviet delegation expressed its indignation with the film which, in their opinion, insulted the Vietnamese people in numerous scenes. The socialist states felt obliged to voice their solidarity with the “heroic people of Vietnam”. They protested against the screening of the film and insisted that it violated the statutes of the festival, since it in no way contributed to the “improvement of mutual understanding between the peoples of the world”.^[3] The ensuing domino effect led to the walk-outs of the Cubans, East Germans, Bulgarians, Poles and Czechoslovakians, and two members of the jury resigned in sympathy.

The film holds a strong 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 reviews.

DVD releases

The Deer Hunter has twice been released on DVD. The first 1998 issue by Universal, with no extra features and a non-anamorphic transfer, has since been discontinued. A second version, part of the "Legacy Series", was released as a two-disc set on September 6, 2005, with an anamorphic transfer of the film. The set features a cinematographer's commentary by Vilmos Zsigmond, interviews of the cast and crew, and deleted and extended scenes. The Region 2 version of The Deer Hunter, exclusive to the UK, features a commentary track from director Michael Cimino. The film was released on HD DVD in 2006.

Miscellany

• In an interview included on the bonus disc of the two-disc DVD release, director Michael Cimino states that Robert De Niro requested a live bullet in the revolver for the scene in which he subjects John Cazale's character to an impromptu game of Russian roulette, to heighten the intensity of the situation. Cazale agreed without protest.
• To render himself ghostly, Christopher Walken exclusively ate rice, bananas, and water for the week before he filmed the third act.
• During screenings of the short version of the film, director Cimino bribed the projectionist to interrupt it, in order to obtain better reviews of the long version.
• The epigraph to E. M. Corder's tie-in novelisation of The Deer Hunter (1979) is from Ernest Hemingway:

  There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.

• All scenes involving John Cazale, who had end-stage bone cancer during the shoot, had to be filmed first. Cazale passed away shortly after filming wrapped. Because of his illness, the studio initially wanted to get rid of Cazale, but his real-life fiancee, Streep, threatened to walk away if they did.
• In the episode of The Simpsons entitled Simpson Tide, Homer, Apu, Moe and Barney join the Navy, and Homer says, "This is just like the Deer Hunter." Moe then excuses himself to go into a back room where a round of Russian Roulette is going on, and tells everyone to leave.
• In the UK, the "The Old Dear Hunter" is a reference to the prolific serial killer Doctor Harold Shipman, who stalked the old and vulnerable in his Manchester community.

See also

The Deer Hunter (novel)

References

External links

• The Deer Hunter at Filmsite.org
• The Deer Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
• The Deer Hunter at Allmovie
• The Deer Hunter at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Deer Hunter screenplay
• The Deer Hunter: Viewings of the film The Deer Hunter have been tied to a number of Russian roulette suicides (Snopes.com)
• The Deer Hunter Review
• The Deer Hunter at Unofficial french website
• The filming location Detectives have sleuthed The Deer Hunter
• Newspaper articles on the filming of The Deer Hunter
• The Deer Hunter Discussion Forum

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