Today’s movie is a drama with a scene that happens on October 27. Watch
it tonight and enjoy.
THE DEER HUNTER
It’s October 27, 1968 [2:00 to
52:30]. In Clairton, a steel town in western Pennsylvania, Russian American
steel workers Michael "Mike" Vronsky, the leader, Steven Pushkov, the
innocent one and Nikonar "Nick" Chevotarevich, the quiet one prepare
for Steven’s wedding to his girlfriend Angela who is pregnant by another man.
Mike loves Nick's girlfriend Linda, but keeps his distance from her. At the
wedding reception held at the VFW, the guys notice a soldier in a Special
Forces uniform. Mike buys him a drink and tries to pump him about the war in
Vietnam, as all three of the friends have joined the Army and are going there
soon, but the soldier ignores him, except with two toasts of "fuck
it". This almost causes a fight, but Mike returns the toast with “fuck
it", getting a grin. Steven and Angela drink wine from conjoined goblets,
believing that if they drink without spilling any, they will have good luck.
However, they don’t notice that one drop of wine spills on her wedding gown.
Linda catches the bouquet, so Nick proposes to her and she accepts. A drunk
Mike runs through town later that night, and strips naked while Nick begs him
not to leave him "over there" if anything happens. The next day,
Mike, Nick, Stanley, John and Axel go deer hunting one last time, with Michael
killing a deer with "one shot".
We then jump to the war in Vietnam, where both sides attack civilians.
Steven, Mike and Nick are captured together. The guards force prisoners to play
Russian roulette and gamble on the results. All three friends are forced to
play. Steven plays against Mike, grazing himself with a bullet. As punishment,
the guards put Steven into an underwater cage with rats and dead bodies. Mike
and Nick play each other, but they kill the guards and escape. They rescue
Steven and float downriver. An American
helicopter finds them, but only Nick is able to climb aboard. Mike helps Steven to reach the riverbank,
and carries him to friendly lines. He places the wounded Steven on a South
Vietnamese truck. Nick recovers in a military hospital in Saigon with no
knowledge of what happened to Mike and Steve. After release, he encounters
Julien Grinda, outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for
money. Grinda talks the hesitant Nick into participating. Mike is there, but can’t get Nick’s
attention. Nick grabs the gun, fires it
at the current contestant, and then again at his own temple, causing a riot.
Grinda and Nick leave and Mike loses them in the crowd. Back at home Mike gets
closer to Linda. Angela is almost in a zombie like state and gives Mike a phone
number of the VA hospital where Steve is a patient. Steven, has lost both his
legs and is partially paralyzed, but tells Mike somebody has been mailing him
cash from Saigon and Mike is convinced it’s Nick. Mike brings Steven home to
Angela and then travels to Saigon. He uses Grinda to find Nick in a roulette
club, but Nick has amnesia, since he thinks Mike and Steve are dead. Mike enters a game of Russian roulette
against Nick to try and jog Nick's memory. Mike reminds him of their hunting
trips together and Nick recognizes him. Nick then raises the gun to his temple,
and pulls the trigger, killing himself. They have a funeral for Nick.
This is a very strange and muddied film. This is one those films
that was hailed at the time of its release, but on later retrospection, is
revealed to be a jumbled mess. It does have some powerful scenes and imagery,
but overall it’s just not that good.
The production notes give the
year as 1968. In his comments about the football game they are watching at
10:45 Michael mentions the Eagles and at 10:48, the Steelers. In 1968 this game
was on this date as per The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia ed by Pete
Palmer, Ken Pullis and Sean Lahman (Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York,
2006) at page 920
Producer - Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino
and John Peverall
Director - Michael Cimino
Screenplay - Deric Washburn
Awards - The movie won the Best
Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor (Walken), and
Best Sound Oscars. The film was also nominated for the Best Actor(De Niro),
Best Supporting Actress(Streep), Best Cinematography, and Best Original Screenplay at the 51st
Academy Awards.
Runtime – 3 hours 2 minutes
Released – December 8, 1978
Starring -
Robert De Niro as S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Vronsky
Christopher Walken as Cpl. Nikanor "Nick"
Chevotarevich
John Savage as Cpl. Steven Pushkov
John Cazale as Stanley
Meryl Streep as Linda.
George Dzundza as John Welsh
Shirley Stoler as Steven's mother
Chuck Aspegren as Peter "Axel" Axelrod
Rutanya Alda as Angela Ludhjduravic-Pushkov
Amy Wright as Bridesmaid
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