Deer Hunter (1978)- Never saw the movie but came across it Friday while surfing through Peacock. I knew of some of the controversial Russian Roulette scenes and that John Cazale was dying throughout filming (his scenes were shot first).
At three hours the flick was too long. The three friends (Deniro, Walken & John Savage) who will depart for Vietnam are still in that little town in Pennsylvania at over an hour of the movie. The first hour plus has the trio getting off their late night shift at a steel plant for the last time, going to Savage's wedding, getting drunk, and then going deer hunting. It was pretty standard bro-bonding crap seemingly spread out as a time filler (for a 3-hour movie!!!). The you get to the war time horrors which are dominated by RR&B (Russian Roulette Betting).
I liked little about the movie. Streep was nominated for her first Academy Award and you have to wonder if that mostly came from her ultimatum that Cazale not be fired from the picture. She's fine in it but her part became bloated when she was given the freedom to write her own lines.


Comment