The Deer Hunter was released in 1978 to much acclaim, winning 5 Oscars--Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Cimino), Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound--and being nominated for 4 additional Academy Awards. It is consistently included on lists of the greatest movies ever. It is notable for being one of the first Vietnam War movies after the Vietnam War ended. It is also notable for being the last film in which John Cazale (aka, Fredo from The Godfather 1 and 2) acted; he was suffering from end-stage bone cancer during the filming, and died shortly after the movie wrapped.

This was my first time seeing the film, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew it was a fairly important film, historically, as it was one of the first post-Vietnam War movies to deal with the subjects of the war and its effect on the men who were involved. I was also lead to expect another Godfather from comments in response to my tweeting I was about to watch it, such as this one, from Rob Briscoe, co-host of The Uncanny X-Cast:

Before I share my thoughts, a synopsis for those of you who haven’t seen it. The film tells the story of three friends, Steven (John Savage), Nicky (Christopher Walken), and Michael (Robert De Niro), from a smallish industrial town near Pittsburgh who are drafted and sent to Vietnam. The first act of the film takes place the weekend before they report to the Army, and we see the trio, along with some other friends, ending their last day of work at the steel mill, having a final night of drinking, at Steven’s wedding, and going on a final hunting trip. Michael is the leader of the band, with Nick being the most popular one, seemingly. The second act follows the three to Vietnam, where they are captured and taken to a POW camp. The remainder of the film deals with the effects of this experience in particular, and Vietnam in general, on the three men.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, but I don’t feel it was as great as I was lead to believe. The good points first. The entire cast gives a sterling performance, particularly De Niro and Walken. It was slightly strange to see Christopher Walken as a scrawny younger man, and Meryl Streep in particular in her eye-candy years, but only because I’m so used to seeing them in their more recent incarnations. Streep shows how she earned her position as one of the greatest living actresses; it’s among her best performances. The showpiece scenes--the POW camp, the final scene between Michael and Nicky, and then the actual final scene--are breathtakingly good. The photography of the mountains of West Virginia in the hunting scenes is beautiful, and the filmmakers also made good use of stock footage from the Vietnam war.

I have but one complaint, but it’s enough to almost irrevocably ruin the film for me. The first act, namely the wedding portion, goes on for way. Too. Long. The film takes almost an hour for that one set piece, and it accomplishes nothing that couldn’t have been accomplished in 15 to 20 minutes. It’s slow, plodding, and, to put it bluntly, boring. The director throws in some foreshadowing, some really get to know the characters stuff, but I was so distracted by how long everything was dragging on for that I wasn’t really paying attention to any of it.

All of that being said, I think The Deer Hunter is a film worth seeing. Christopher Walken’s performance in particular is worth seeing, as he has largely become a sort-of caricature of himself, especially in recent roles. Not that his standard acting style isn’t fun to watch (he's one of my favorite actors), but we rarely see this kind of character immersion from him anymore. So, overall, I give it 3.5 out of 5 pitchforks.