The Deer Hunter (1978)

Directed by Michael Cimino. Starring Robert De Niro, John Savage, John Cazale, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza, Chuck Aspegren, Shirley Stoler, Pierre Segui, Rutanya Alda. [R]

Working-class buddies from a Pennsylvania steel mill town go off to fight in Vietnam, and are never the same after their devastating experiences there. Bleak, epic drama about the way that men can be shattered in different ways by shared trauma; that it happens to be the horrors of the Vietnam War (encapsulated in a brilliantly grueling sequence that works better as a metaphor than an authentic incident) is almost beside the point, but how fitting and effective it is both for the time of its release and as a meditative study of 20th century American history. The introductory first hour is lumpy and unnecessarily overextended (including a wedding sequence that feels twice as long as the one from The Godfather and not even half as interesting), but it becomes riveting once the setting abruptly changes, leading to a series of harrowing moments experienced in combat, in recovery, and back home…even if none of the men truly come back at all. Stanley Myers’ theme music is beautifully plaintive, the performances uniformly compelling (Walken, a virtual unknown in the film business at the time, won an Academy Award), the coda intensely moving. Also won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Editing, and Sound.

90/100