The Deer Hunter

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The Deer Hunter

Directed by	Michael Cimino
Produced by	Barry Spikings Michael Deeley Michael Cimino John Peverall
Written by	Deric Washburn (story & screenplay) Michael Cimino Louis Garfinkle Quinn K. Redeker (story)
Starring	Robert De Niro Christopher Walken John Cazale Meryl Streep John Savage Anthony Cimino
Music by	Stanley Myers
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Distributed by	Universal Studios (US) EMI Films (non-US)
Release date(s)	December 8, 1978
Running time	182 min.
Country	United States
Language	English Russian Vietnamese French
Budget	US$15,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

For other uses, see Deer Hunter.

The Deer Hunter (1978) is an American English language film about a group of Rusyn American steel workers during the Vietnam War. Most of the story occurs in southern Vietnam and in working-class Clairton, Pennsylvania, their Monongahela River hometown south of Pittsburgh. The film features Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep.

The Deer Hunter's inspiration is the novel Three Comrades, by German author and World War I soldier Erich Maria Remarque. That 1937 novel follows the lives of a trio of World War I veterans in 1920s Weimar Germany, while this film explores the effects and consequences of war violence and politically-manipulated patriotism upon a tightly-knit ethnic community, specifically, the meaning of friendship, ethnicity, honour, family, and community.

Various parts of the Deer Hunter were filmed in several locations: the Pittsburgh geographic area; Cleveland and Mingo Junction, Ohio; Weirton, West Virginia; the North Cascades National Park, Washington (state), the Patpong region of Bangkok, Thailand - (representing the red light district in Saigon), and in Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.

1 Plot
2 Credits
- 2.1 Producers
3 Cast
4 Filming locations
5 Awards and recognition
6 DVD releases
7 Miscellanea
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Plot

The story is in three acts. Mike, Steven, Nick, Stanley, John, and Axel are American steel workers of Rusyn ancestry. Mike, Steven, and Nick have been drafted into the U.S. military to serve in Vietnam. Steven gets married before they ship off, and the following morning, all except Steven go on one last deer hunting trip.

[edit] Act one

The first act depicts their Western Pennsylvania life at work, at home, at the bar, and at church. The climax is the celebration of the shotgun wedding of Steven and Angela, (who, it is initially implied, is pregnant by Stanley -- Steve tells Nick he's never "done it with Angela," but it is later implied, and confirmed by director Cimino, that the blond child is actually Nick's). Steven and Angela leave the church with the choir singing Mnohaja lita (God Grant you many years), and the reception features much wild and drunken singing and dancing to Ukrainian and Russian traditional music. After Mike's streaking through town, Nick makes Mike promise that he will not leave him behind in Vietnam.

The following day, on the final, pre-war hunting trip, Mike, a sure-shot known for killing the best deer every year, berates Stanley for forgetting his boots. That existential theme is visually developed in the primitivism of hunting, and is underscored by Eastern Orthodox liturgical music. The Deer Hunter, Mike, kills his prey and takes it home atop the hood of his 1959 Cadillac car as a trophy . After the hunt, on the night before the comrades leave for war, John the bartender plays Nocturne in G-minor, Opus 15, No. 3, by Frédéric Chopin, to return them from the elation of the hunt to the calm of civilisation. The musical interlude's introspective mood communicates the love they feel for each other, and contrasts their first-world modernity with the primitivity of war against third-world peasants.

[edit] Act two

The second act depicts their infantry combat in Vietnam, where Mike, a special forces soldier, is fortuitously reunited with Steven and Nick on a battlefield. Shortly before their air assault landed, Mike, with a flamethrower, was incinerating and shooting an NVA scout who has just killed villagers hiding in a spider hole. The reunion is brief, as the NVA are re-taking the pro-American village; mortar explosions end the reunion.

The three comrades are captured by the NVA and turned over to the local Viet Cong. In a riverside prisoner of war camp, they, and other U.S. Army and ARVN soldier prisoners, entertain their gambling Viet Cong jailors, by playing forced Russian roulette. All three play the sadistic game: first Steven (his gun fires but he is not seriously wounded), who is then put into an underwater cage to rot. Believing Steven to be mentally broken, Mike considers abandoning him to his fate, which Nick angrily rejects. Nick and Mike then face each other. To engineer their escape, Mike bluffs and tricks the drunken Communist jailors to allow him three bullets in the revolver, in place of just one. The jailors are elated at his insanity, and they increase their bets. Both Mike and Nick pull the trigger once -- they both survive, even though the gun has three bullets inside. When it is next Mike's turn, he turns the pistol on the Viet Cong, and he and Nick are able to take their weapons and kill them all. After rescuing Steve and escaping downriver on a floating tree, an American helicopter rescues them, but only Nick succeeds; the weak Steven falls back to the river, and moral Mike drops back to rescue him. Steven's legs are severely broken in the fall; Mike carries him until they reach friendly lines.

Steven and Angela's wedding reception.

Meanwhile, the psychologically dead Nick is recuperating in a military hospital in Saigon. Afterwards, he aimlessly searches for Mike in the red light zones, stumbling into a gambling den featuring Russian Roulette games. Unbeknownst to Nick, Mike is there, gambling; they do not reunite. Angered by the false machismo, Nick calls the bluff of the rigged game, spoils the gambling, and is ejected from the den. In the alley outside, Nick encounters Julién Grinda, a champagne-drinking Frenchman who recognizes Nick's death wish. Nick is harangued by Grinda into participating in these games.

[edit] Act three

Back in the US, Mike becomes romantically involved with Nick's girlfriend, Linda (Meryl Streep). Although Nick and Steven are still missing, Mike, Stanley, John, and Axel go on a hunting trip. Mike gets the opportunity to kill a beautiful buck, but aims away at the last second, unable to follow through with another killing. In their hunting cabin, Stan pulls out his revolver, and Axel makes a lewd comment about Stan's girlfriend. Stan becomes angry and threateningly points the gun at Axel. Mike enters the room and quickly disarms Stan, who insists the gun was empty. When Mike discovers it had been fully loaded, he empties all the rounds out of the gun except one. He spins the chamber, places the gun against Stan's head and pulls the trigger. The gun doesn't go off. He then leaves the cabin and throws the gun into the mountains.

Mike later reunites with Stevie, who has lost his legs and is partially paralyzed and recovering in a Veterans' Administration hospital. Stevie reveals that someone in Saigon has been mailing large amounts of cash to him, which indicates that Nick is still alive -- and playing Russian roulette.

Mike travels to Saigon just before its fall in 1975. With the help of the Frenchman Julién Grinda, he finds Nick in a crowded, loud roulette club, but Nick appears to have no recollection of his friends or his home in Pennsylvania. He is under the influence of heroin, and has track marks on his forearm. Mike pays the club management to face Nick in the game. During the final match, Mike tries to persuade him to come home. Nick finally smiles and acknowledges Mike by repeating the words "one shot," which reflects Mike's deer hunting philosophy. With that, Nick shoots himself in the head.

Mike brings Nick's body home to America, sadly fulfilling his promise from the night of the wedding. The film ends on the morning of Nick's funeral at the Russian Orthodox parish. Singing somberly "Vichnaya Pamyat" or "Memory Eternal," the remaining friends leave the church, and the film ends with the group having a mournful breakfast together while quietly singing God Bless America.

[edit] Credits

The film was written by Michael Cimino, Louis Garfinkle, Quinn K. Redeker and Deric Washburn, and directed by Cimino.

[edit] Producers

Joann Carelli - associate producer
Michael Cimino - producer
Michael Deeley - producer
John Peverall - producer
Marion Rosenberg - associate producer
Barry Spikings - producer

[edit] Cast

Green Beret SSgt. Michael Vronsky (Robert de Niro)

Actor	Role
Robert De Niro	Michael "Mike" Vronsky
Christopher Walken	Nikonar "Nick" Chevotarevich
John Cazale	Stanley aka "Stosh"
John Savage	Steven Pushkov
Meryl Streep	Linda
George Dzundza	John Welch
Chuck Aspegren	Peter "Axel" Axelrod
Shirley Stoler	Steven's mother
Rutanya Alda	Angela Ludhjduravic-Pushkov
Amy Wright	Bridesmaid
Pierre Segui	Julien Grinda
Joe Grifasi	Bandleader
Father Stephen Kopestonsky	Russian Orthodox Priest

[edit] Filming locations

Filming locations include:

Saint Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
Patpong, Bangkok, Thailand - the area represented red light Saigon.
Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
North Cascades National Park, Washington State, U.S.A.
Mingo Junction, Ohio, for the steel mills.

[edit] Awards and recognition

Academy Awards record
1. Best Supporting Actor, Christopher Walken
2. Best Director, Michael Cimino
3. Best Editing, Peter Zinner
4. Best Picture, Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino, John Peverall
5. Best Sound, Richard Portman, William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, C. Darin Knight
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Director, Michael Cimino
BAFTA Awards record
1. Best Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond
2. Best Editing, Peter Zinner

The Deer Hunter won Oscars in 1979 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.

This film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, and is consistently on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films. It is also ranked number 79 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time^[1]

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Miscellanea

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During an AMC broadcast of the film, gossip said Robert De Niro requested a live bullet in the Russian Roulette revolver, to heighten the intensity of the situation.^{[citation needed]}
To render himself ghostly, Christopher Walken exclusively ate rice, bananas, and water for the week before his death scene.
Chuck Aspegren (Axel), was a Gary, Indiana, steelworker, in his first acting role.
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 tie-in novel-isation opens with an epigraph by Ernest Hemingway:There is no hunt like the hunting of man; and those who have hunted other men long enough to like it, never care for anything else thereafter.
The deer hunted in the story are Red Deer, not native to North America.
The geography of the hunting mountain scenes clearly identifies it as the American Northwest, not the Northeast.
The movie popularized the Vietnamese phrase Di-di mau! — which loosely translates as Go ahead! and Get outta here!
The Russian roulette scene has been parodied in The Simpsons, as well as in television advertisements.^{[citation needed]}
In the finale of the film Shaun of the Dead, the protagonist wears his necktie as a sweat band, like SSG Michael Vronsky (Robert De Niro) did in combat.
In the New Zealand movie Meet the Feebles, the Wynyrd character has a flashback to his Vietnam POW experience; he and others are caged and forced to play Russian Roulette.
The video game Conflict: Vietnam features a play level where characters are captured by NVA troops and forced to play Russian roulette.
The Russian roulette scene was aped in the gangs-in-schools drama film 187; local gangster-students threaten their Principal at his house, asking, "Have you seen 'Deer Hunter' Mister G?"
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 girlfriend, Streep, threatened to walk if they did. Cazale was kept on board.

[edit] References

^ 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by Annie Hall	Academy Award for Best Picture 1978	Succeeded by Kramer vs. Kramer

v • d • e Films Directed by Michael Cimino
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot • The Deer Hunter • Heaven's Gate • The Pope of Greenwich Village • Year of the Dragon • The Sicilian • Desperate Hours • The Sunchaser