The Deer Hunter [Region 2] | ![The Deer Hunter [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51blRQ0KX8L._SL500_.jpg)
| Director: Michael Cimino
Actors: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep
Studio: MCA/Universal Home Video
Category: DVD
Buy New: $25.99
New (1) Used (2) from $25.99
Rating:  293 reviews
Sales Rank: 222768
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), Vietnamese (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 182 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 7321900380065
ASIN: B00005V4V4
Theatrical Release Date: February 23, 1979
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
Winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, The Deer Hunter is simultaneously an audacious directorial conceit and one of the greatest films ever made about friendship and the personal impact of war. Like Apocalypse Now, it's hardly a conventional battle film--the soldier's experience was handled with greater authenticity in Platoon--but its depiction of war on an intimate scale packs a devastatingly dramatic punch. Director Michael Cimino may be manipulating our emotions with masterful skill, but he does it in a way that stirs the soul and pinches our collective nerves with graphic, high-intensity scenes of men under life-threatening duress. Although Russian-roulette gambling games were not a common occurrence during the Vietnam war, they're used here as a metaphor for the futility of the war itself. To the viewer, they become unforgettably intense rites of passage for the best friends--Pennsylvania steelworkers played by Robert De Niro, John Savage, and Oscar winner Christopher Walken--who may survive or perish during their tour through a tropical landscape of hell. Back home, their loved ones must cope with the war's domestic impact, and in doing so they allow The Deer Hunter to achieve a rare combination of epic storytelling and intimate, heart-rending drama. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 288 more reviews...
 Not as good as Heaven's Gate, but a modern classic nonetheless. June 28, 2009
Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
In Final Cut, the documentary about the spectacular failure that was Heaven's Gate, at least one person hypothesized that the reason Heaven's Gate was the flop that it was was that critics were overreacting, feeling that they have overpraised Cimino's previous film, The Deer Hunter. Having now seen both pictures, I do have to say that I much prefer Heaven's Gate, but really, when your main cast consists of Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, how wrong can you really go? Add in a top-notch script from Deric Washburn that actually justifies the movie's three-hour runtime and a supporting cast containing the best mix of established, rising, and falling stars that Hollywood had to offer at the time, and while it may not be Heaven's Gate, you certainly can't fault it for trying.
The movie is split into three parts (three acts, as it were), with each one depicting a different time in the lives of its main characters. The first hour gives us hometown life in steel-town Pennsylvania on the eve of childhood friends Michael (DeNiro), Stephen (Savage), and Nick (Walken) leaving for Vietnam. Other friends have to stay behind, and we get to know them, as well. The second hour shows their time in Vietnam, and it's the part that most people who haven't seen the movie in a while remember; after a battle, the three are captured and taken to a Vietnamese prison camp, where they are forced to play Russian Roulette with both other prisoners and the guards themselves, who see it as a way to pass the time (and a reason for gambling). The three of them each handle the stress in different ways. And in the third act, Michael returns home, fundamentally changed. Stephen has come with him, but the pressures of life in the camp, as well as physical injuries, have relegated him to life in a VA Hospital, and he's terrified of coming back to a town that's remained constant when he has changed so much. Nick has remained in Vietnam, which preys on Michael's consciousness until he is forced to go back and try to bring him home.
What impresses me most about The Deer Hunter is that wile it's one of the most powerful anti-Vietnam films ever made, Cimino never stops the story in order to give us the oh-so-tiring "war is bad mmmmkay?" speech that you get from antiwar directors such as Oliver Stone. Cimino lets the story get the message across, and that is a wonderful, wonderful thing, so rare in film (or any other medium). As well, the movie's three-hour running time flies by, evidence of a mastery of pace few directors are capable of achieving in films half as long. Not to say that the pacing is always perfect; there are pieces, especially in the first hour, that could have used a bit of trimming. (I assume they were left in in order to preserve the roughly equal duration of each act.) But the acting, my lord, the acting. The home team is represented by such lights as John Cazale (in his final onscreen appearance before his death at the age of forty-three), George Dzundza, Meryl Streep (nominated for a Best Actress Oscar; DeNiro was also nominated for Best Actor, while Walken took home the trophy), and Rutanya Alda, among others. The visiting team? Four actors playing VC guards, none of whom ever made another movie: Ding Santos, Ot Palapoo, Krieng Chaiyapuk, and Chok Chai Masahoke, and all I can say about them is "wow". Why they were never tabbed for more film work is entirely beyond me. Holding your own against three of America's most talented actors in the late seventies? They would seem to have become stars by default, but it never happened.
Where the movie really wowed the Academy was in its technical details, however. The film won five Oscars, but only one was given for acting; it won Best Picture and Best Director, but the two really interesting Oscars were for the sound and the editing. (Odd, that editing award, given the minor pacing problems I briefly touched on before.) It was also nominated for Best Cinematography, losing to (are you freakin' kidding me?) Days of Heaven. It shouldn't have. Vilmos Zsigmond's camerawork here should be in textbooks. (I have little doubt that it was a big influence on Vittorio Storaro; there is more in common here with Apocalypse Now than just the scenery.) And Zsigmond's transformation between the drab blues and greys of Pennsylvania and the lush greenery of Vietnam have already been written on elsewhere, so I doubt I need to go into that here; suffice to say the camerawork is a big part of the movie's impact.
An amazing achievement. One wonders what Cimino could have done with the five and a half hours of Heaven's Gate here. ****
Movie Classic June 13, 2009
W. S. Mohn (Traphill, NC USA)
Classic movie. A little long. A little far fetched for this Viet Nam vet. Great acting.
The Deer Hunter May 13, 2009
L. Bishop (NC USA)
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The tension and acting and message are terrific
Well-filmed but Slow April 21, 2009
C. Rocklein
Nice cinematography and scenery, there is some gorgeous, haunting natural scenery during the deer hunting sequences. The portrayal of a group of rowdy raucous steel-workers in a Russian part of town does seem to go on and on (and on) though I wasn't sure I completely bought their friendship. It seemed somewhat forced at times, although perhaps some friendships do, I don't know. One could argue about how well the Viet Nam scenes were portrayed, the country's seeming fascination with roulette in particular. Whether or not that bore any historical accuracy, it gets it point across (regarding the utter lack of value human life was given during the war). Comparable to reading the classics, it's not always riveting stuff; but it's required viewing almost for anyone wanting to be 'film literate' - or for those with an interest in Cimino's work or the work of Deniro and company. You can decide for yourself what exactly this movie was trying to say, and if it truly desverved all the awards it was given. If nothing else it pays tribute or memorial to an era which should not be forgotten.
 Dont Use Moviemars March 29, 2009
Daniel Lederer
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'll never know how I liked the product: Moviemars took so many weeks to deliver ( a DVD?) that when I finally received an email from the shipper that the product couldnt be delivered because the shipping address I supplied was not usable, the purpose of buying the DVD became irrelevant.
I absolutely recommend staying away from Moviemars. TOO SLOW!!!
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