THE DEER HUNTER is an extraordinary film--there's no denying that. However, I looked at this film from a slightly different perspective than many, as I first had a chance to watch director Cimino's mega-epic, HEAVEN'S GATE (one of Hollywood's biggest money-losers ever). I am glad I saw this later film first, as it forced me to look for the seeds of the director's downfall--even in his greatest triumph, the five-time Oscar winner, THE DEER HUNTER. Despite THE DEER HUNTER being considered a classic and one of the great films of the 1970s, it was not without minor faults--faults that would become much, much more apparent later in HEAVEN'S GATE.

The biggest problem was pacing and editing but the film was so good that you could excuse it. Some parts of the film were long and brilliantly done. The scenes in Vietnam were, if anything, too short--but very, very compelling. The scenes leading up to Vietnam (such as the wedding),however, went on way too long--seeming to place about equal emphasis on this rather banal and unimportant part of the film as the later and much more important part. Editing down the first hour a bit and perhaps even adding some more footage of Vietnam (or leaving it as it was) instead would have been a good thing. Additionally, having the characters act LESS like obnoxious jerks at the beginning would have helped as well--the characters didn't grab you right out of the gate. Both problems were significantly worse in HEAVEN'S GATE--the prologue went on for what seems like days and the characters were even more obnoxious! And, while THE DEER HUNTER comes in at a hefty 182 minutes, this long and slow pacing became interminably long in the followup film--clocking in at an astronomical 219 minutes!! In other words, Cimino only followed his own pattern from THE DEER HUNTER in the next film but expanded it even further--probably the result of his own success he felt he was onto something. However, these complaints do NOT say I am knocking THE DEER HUNTER--I am just saying that these tiny complaints became serious problems in HEAVEN'S GATE.

As far as the good in the THE DEER HUNTER goes, the acting is amazing, the direction (though slow) was very good, the music terrific and moving and the film grabs your attention. While I was not quite as bowled over by it as some, you cannot reasonably deny it is a standout film--even with pacing issues and any complaints about the ubiquity of Russian Roulette in Vietnam (geez...what are the chances of TWO games like this or a Russian Roulette league--especially since many doubt that such goings on ever happened in the first place) or there being an elk in Pennsylvania (which, by the way, looks like the Rocky Mountains--which it actually is and 2500 miles from where the hunt in the film was supposed to be). A must-see for anyone who considers themselves to be a film aficionado. Just be aware that the violence is intense and disturbing and the language is amazingly spicy for a 1970s film.

Considering the cast, the critical acclaim and accolades 'The Deer Hunter' garnered, and still does garner, part of me was expecting much more. It is a long way from a bad film, in fact it's good and often very impressive, but it's also uneven in places.

'The Deer Hunter' is by some way director Michael Cimino's best film, and it contains his best ever directing. That's saying a good deal, considering that only a few years later he would go on to direct the notorious flop 'Heaven's Gate' and his career never really recovered. 'The Deer Hunter' is considered by some one of the finest Vietnam films (don't quite agree, to me there are far better examples),but it is also perhaps the most controversial. Either viewpoint is very easy to understand.

Despite its many impressive, outstanding even, elements, 'The Deer Hunter' is uneven. It is a bit too long (and no before anybody sneers, there have been films of similar length and even longer that still manage to be great films, a few among the best ever made),and would have been solved by tighter editing and a little less time on the lengthy wedding sequence, which is compelling with some strong character development but could easily have been trimmed.

Parts are disjointed too, with some abrupt scene shifts and a heavy-handed patriotic ending that felt incredibly tacky against the rest of the film. There are deficiencies in the sound quality on top of all this.

On the other hand, editing aside, 'The Deer Hunter' is an exceptionally well made film. The cinematography is quite magnificent and the attention to detail in the settings and the rest of the production both sumptuous and rich in atmosphere, the authenticity also remarkable. The music haunts the mind and is very beautiful, the mournful guitar theme unforgettable.

Cimino is at his best in the director's chair, while the script provokes thought and the story is often incredibly powerful and moving. The highlight is the justly acclaimed Russian Roulette sequence, which today is genuinely harrowing and will stay with you forever.

Robert De Niro has seldom been more restrained and gives an affecting performance. Even better is Christopher Walken, who has never reduced me to tears before and he really wrenches the heart here, making his character a compellingly real one and the most relatable one. John Savage, John Cazale (in his last film before his ultimely death) and a young Meryl Streep are sterling in support.

In summary, uneven film but often very impressive with much to admire. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I can identify a lot with The Deer Hunter because my mother's family were of Ukranian background and my relatives on her side were a whole lot like the people we see here from Clairton, Pennsylvania. They worked in the same factory jobs that these men do and answered the call of their country at war, but in a whole different time. And the grandson of one my uncles recently served in Iraq as a marine.

Make no mistake about it, these people for all their personal faults are the backbone of America. They are the folks whose blood gets spilled in the wars we fight. So when they are called it had better not be in an unrighteous or fruitless cause.

Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage are three mill workers from small town Clairton, Pennsylvania. All from Slavic background as my family is and in a time when those of us more educated and more sophisticated and knowing better dodge the draft, these guys enlist and go to Vietnam. The Deer Hunter is about the effects of that war on all of them and all around them.

John Savage gets overlooked a lot with both Robert DeNiro being nominated for Best Actor and Christopher Walken winning for Best Supporting Actor, but Savage is the guy most physically damaged, losing a leg as a result of the escape all three make from a Viet Cong prison. He's growing quite accustomed to what he calls the country club of the VA hospital he's in and can't bring himself to come home.

Robert DeNiro is a hunter on weekends, as were some in my family. But the sure marksman from before Vietnam, after having to kill people to stay alive, is not about killing defenseless deer any longer. Meryl Streep plays the woman who loves both DeNiro and Walken and she's so totally immersed in her role and her role's ethnic background, I could swear she was one of my relatives.

Christopher Walken will blow you away with his performance of the man totally unhinged by his capture with the Viet Cong and the Russian Roulette games they play with the captives. His final confrontation with DeNiro will move you beyond words.

Michael Cimino who directed and co-wrote the screenplay got an Oscar for the film and himself and deserved every bit of it. Acclaimed the new genius of the cinema, his next project proved to be an overblown disaster, Heaven's Gate. Not that that film was as bad as it was made out to be, but Cimino's career plummeted and never really got back on track.

28 years later I remember the Oscar ceremonies in 1979 when a dying John Wayne presented the Best Picture Oscar for The Deer Hunter. Ironic also because one of the cast member, John Cazale who played one of the friends in Clairton and best remembered for being Freddo Corleone in The Godfather also was dying of cancer while the film was being shot.

Although I find it a bit too coincidental that three men from the same small town who join the Army would have the exact same service record, The Deer Hunter isn't really about the Vietnam War. It's about war and what it can do those that serve and to those around them.

And this review is dedicated to those that serve.