The Deer Hunter is a 1978 epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives were upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, with John Cazale (in his final role), Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza playing supporting roles. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania, a working-class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, and in Vietnam.
The film was based in part on an unproduced screenplay called The Man Who Came to Play by Louis A. Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker, about Las Vegas and Russian roulette. Producer Michael Deeley, who bought the script, hired writer/director Michael Cimino who, with Deric Washburn, rewrote the script, taking the Russian roulette element and placing it in the Vietnam War. The film went over-budget and over-schedule, and ended up costing $15 million. EMI Films, who produced the film, released the film internationally while Universal Pictures handled its distribution in North America.
The Deer Hunter received acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for Cimino's direction, the performances of its cast (particularly from De Niro, Walken, Cazale, and Streep), and its screenplay, realistic themes and tones, and cinematography. It was also successful at the box office, grossing $49 million. At the 51st Academy Awards, it was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and won five: Best Picture, Best Director for Cimino, Best Supporting Actor for Walken, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. The film marked Meryl Streep's first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress).
Despite the film's critical acclaim and Academy Award success, some of the industry's most prominent critics derided what they viewed as The Deer Hunter's simplistic, bigoted, and historically inaccurate depictions of the Viet Cong and of America's position in the Vietnam War. The central theme of the Viet Cong forcing American captives to play Russian Roulette has been widely criticized as having no basis in history, a claim Cimino denied but did not refute with documentary evidence.
It has been featured on lists of the best films ever made, such as being named the 53rd-greatest American film of all time by the American Film Institute in 2007 in their 10th Anniversary Edition of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Plot
In late 1968, three friends in a tight-knit Slavic American community in Western PennsylvaniaMike, Steven and Nickwork in a steel mill and hunt for deer with their co-workers Axel, Stan and John. Mike, Steven and Nick are preparing to leave for military service in Vietnam. Steven is engaged to Angela, who was secretly impregnated by another man. Mike and Nick are close friends who live together and both love Linda, who will be moving into their home to escape from her alcoholic father. While dancing at Steven and Angela's wedding, Linda accepts Nick's spontaneous marriage proposal. Nick implores Mike to ensure he returns from Vietnam. Mike, Nick and their friends take a final deer hunt. Mike kills a deer with a single shot.
In Vietnam in early 1969, Mike, a member of Special Forces, happens upon Nick and Steven in a village, but the three are imprisoned by the Viet Cong in a cage along a river and forced to participate in games of Russian roulette while the jailers bet. Steven fires his round at the ceiling and is forced into a cage with dead men and rats. Mike convinces his captors to put three bullets in the revolver's cylinder; Nick and Mike then use the pistol to overpower their captors and escape, rescuing Steven in the process.
The trio floats down the river but Nick's leg is shot; they are rescued by an American helicopter, but Steven falls back into the river. Mike drops down to help Steven while Nick is flown away. Steven's legs were broken in the fall, so Mike carries him until they meet refugees fleeing to Saigon.
Nick is treated at a U.S. military hospital. Once released, Nick now suffering from PTSD, wanders into a gambling den. French businessman Julien persuades him to come inside. Upset, Nick interrupts a game of Russian roulette, pulling the trigger on himself. Mike is present as a spectator, but Nick and Julien hurriedly leave.