Today’s movie is a drama with scenes that happen on October 27. Watch this
film tonight.
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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