The Deer Hunter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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
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	US
Language	English Russian Vietnamese French
Budget	US$15,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Deer Hunter is a 1978 English language film that tells the fictional story of a group of Russian-American steel workers during the Vietnam War era. Most of it is set in either Vietnam or their hometown of Clairton, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Most filming was done in Cleveland and Mingo Junction, Ohio. It stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep.

Inspired by German First World War soldier and author Erich Maria Remarque's 1937 novel Drei Kameraden (Three Comrades), which depicts the lives of a trio of disillusioned World War I veterans in 1920s Weimar Germany, the film explores the meaning and effects of war, violence and manipulated patriotism on one tightly knit ethnic community. The concepts of ethnicity, family, friendship and community each play a very prominent role.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Credits 2.1 Producers 2.2 Cast 3 Filming locations 4 Awards and recognition 5 Controversy 6 DVD releases 7 Trivia 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The story is essentially told in three acts. In it, Mike (DeNiro), Steven (Savage), Nick (Walken) and Stanley (Cazale) are a group of American steel workers -- who are also avid deer hunters -- of Rusyn ancestry.

The first act of the film covers the life of the friends in Western Pennsylvania -- at work, at home, at a bar, and at the Russian Orthodox Church. Its apogee is the (shotgun) wedding celebration of Steven and Angela, who is pregnant with what is implied to be Nick's child. The wedding itself is extensively portrayed and fleshed out, complete with various wedding traditions highlighted by the Orthodox Wedding ceremony of crowning. Steven and Angela leave the church with the choir singing "Mnogaja ljeta" ("God Grant you many years"). The reception involves singing and dancing to Rusyn and Russian songs, other cultural traditions, and generally wild and drunken celebrations for all involved. Following a bit of streaking through town, Nick makes Mike promise that he will not "leave him behind" should something happen to them in Vietnam, because after one final hunting trip, Steven, Mike, and Nick are to leave for a tour in the ongoing Vietnam War, longing to go where "the bullets are flyin'".

On the hunting trip, Mike, who is known for killing the best deer every year, is quite harsh with Stanley for joining them unprepared. During the actual hunting scenes, Orthodox liturgical music is heard. The hunt is successful for Mike, and a deer is brought home on the bonnet of Mike's Cadillac.

The second act cuts directly to an ongoing war scene in Vietnam where Mike, a member of a special forces unit, is reunited with Steven and Nick as he is in the act of killing. The scene cuts to a river pontoon-prison, where the three friends are captives of the Viet Cong. They are forced to play Russian roulette against each other for the gambling amusement of their Vietnamese captors. Mike first considers abandoning Steven (whom he believes has been broken mentally and cannot survive), but eventually engineers an escape for all three men by killing their captors during the game. Soon after an American patrol helicopter appears but is only able to rescue Nick. Mike and Steven fall back into the river and eventually swim ashore. Steven's legs are broken by the fall; Mike carries him until they reach a South Vietnamese convoy, with whom he then leaves Steven. Mike then continues his tour of duty and returns home alone.

Meanwhile Nick is recuperating in a hospital in South Vietnam, and goes AWOL. He then takes up with a rogue Frenchman in the city of Saigon who promises him riches if he participates in Russian roulette competitions. Back in the US, Mike becomes romantically involved with Nick's girlfriend, Linda. The friends go on a hunting trip where Mike plays Russian roulette on Stan, yet had the opportunity to kill the best deer and let it live. Mike also reunites with Stevie, who has had both his legs amputated and his left arm paralyzed, and recovering in a Veterans' Administration hospital. Stevie shows Mike the large amounts of cash he has been receiving by mail, which suggests that Nick is alive and still in Vietnam.

Mike then travels to Saigon just before its fall in 1975, where with the help of the Frenchman he finds Nick and learns that his best friend is still involved in the underground Russian roulette circuit. Nick appears at first to have no recollection of his friend or their lives in Pennsylvania. He is under the influence of heroin, as is indicated by track marks on his forearm. They then face each other in the game surrounded by screaming gamblers. During the final match, Mike "buys" Nick and tries to persuade him to come home. Nick finally acknowledges that he does remember Mike, by repeating a line the two used together while deerhunting ("one shot"). With that, Nick pulls the gun away from Mike, shooting himself right in front of Mike.

Mike brings Nick's body back to America, sadly fulfilling his promise from the night of the wedding. The film ends on the morning of Nick's funeral at his Russian Orthodox parish. We see everyone leave the church after the wedding with the singing of the joyous "Mnogaja ljeta" but for the funeral they leave the church with the somber singing of "Vechnaya Pamyat" or "Memory Eternal". The film ends with the surviving friends having a private 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

• Robert De Niro - Michael Vronsky, "Mike"
• Christopher Walken - Nikonar "Nick" Chevotarevich
• John Cazale - Stanley Stosh
• John Savage - Steven
• 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

[edit] Filming locations

Filming locations include:

• Saint Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Cleveland
• Patpong, in Bangkok, Thailand - the area was rented for two days for the film, to represent a part of Saigon.
• Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
• North Cascades National Park, Washington state.
• Mingo Junction, Ohio, where the steel mill scenes were filmed

[edit] Awards and recognition

The Deer Hunter won Oscars 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.

It 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].

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

[edit] Controversy

Dr Thomas Radecki, a psychiatrist and former spokesman for the National Coalition on TV Violence, contends that The Deer Hunter sparked a string of Russian roulette suicides because of its dramatic depiction of captured American soldiers forced to play Russian roulette by their Viet Cong captors [2].

There is no record or substantiated account of prisoners and captors from either side playing Russian roulette during the Vietnam War.

[edit] DVD releases

The Deer Hunter has twice been released on DVD, first with no extra features (and a non-anamorphic transfer) in 1998 by Universal. This version has since been discontinued.

On September 6, 2005, Universal re-released the film with a new anamorphic transfer as part of its Legacy Series. This two-disc set features a commentary by director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond, multiple interviews from the cast and crew, and deleted/extended scenes.

Also of note is the region 2 version of ' The Deer Hunter ' exclusive to the UK, which features a commentary track from director Michael Cimino.

[edit] Trivia

• In order to give himself a ghost-like appearance, Christopher Walken ate only rice, bananas and water for the week prior to filming his final scene.
• The piece played by John (the bartender) on the piano after the hunting trip and just before Mike, Nick, and Steven leave for Vietnam is Frederic Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15 No. 3 in G minor.
• The Russian roulette scene has been parodied in television (e.g. The Simpsons), and even advertisements.
• The movie popularized the Vietnamese sentence "Di-di mao!", which loosely translates as "Go ahead!" or "Get outta here!"
• During a showing on AMC's Enhanced Version of the movie it was revealed that Robert De Niro requested a live round to be placed in the gun during the Russian Roulette scene to "heighten the intensity of the situation." The live round was loaded but Michael Cimino stated the gun was to be checked and checked again to ensure no accidents took place.
• Chuck Aspegren, who played Peter "Axel" Axelrod, was a steelworker on his civilian profession before he took on acting.
• The church used in the movie was St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, which is located in Cleveland, Ohio.
• The video game Conflict: Vietnam features a level in which the player's characters are captured by NVA troops and forced to play Russian Roulette just like in the movie.
• During screen tests of the short and long versions of the film, Michael Cimino paid the film operator to disrupt the short version in order to help obtain better reviews for the long version.
• The deer shown all appear to be black-tailed deer, which are not native to Pennsylvania.
• Many of the trees in the mountain scenes clearly identify the area as the American Northwest and not the Northeast.

[edit] External links

• The Deer Hunter at Filmsite.org
• The Deer Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
• The Deer Hunter at All Movie Guide
• 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 Fan Page
• The Deer Hunter Review

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