The Deer Hunter movie storyline. Michael Cimino’s disturbing, emotionally powerful film about three friends who are forever changed by imprisonment during the Vietnam War. Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Steven (Savage) are three close buddies from the steel mill town of Pittsburgh who hang out in bars and hunt deer. Steven is getting married while Michael and Nick compete over the affections of Linda (Meryl Streep).
Their lives are turned upside down when they are drafted into the airbourne infantry to fight in Vietnam, and are soon captured by the enemy. There, among other things, they are forced to endure a game of Russian Roulette in the P.O.W. camp. Michael and Steven manage to escape and return home, but each of their lives are forever changed by the experience. Cimino’s second film, he’d previously made a name for himself with Thunderbolt & Lightfoot (1974), a cult crime caper starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges as the titular characters. However, his career was destroyed by the disastrous epic Heaven’s Gate (1980), and would make only five more films to date.
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steelworkers whose lives are changed forever after they fight in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, with John Cazale (in his final role), Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza playing supporting roles. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania, a small working class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, and in Vietnam.
The film was based in part on an unproduced screenplay called The Man Who Came to Play by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker, about Las Vegas and Russian roulette. Producer Michael Deeley, who bought the script, hired writer/director Michael Cimino who, with Deric Washburn, rewrote the script, taking the Russian roulette element and placing it in the Vietnam War. The film went over-budget and over-schedule, and ended up costing $15 million. The scenes depicting Russian roulette were highly controversial after the film’s release.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Directed by: Michael Cimino
Oyuncular: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza, Rutanya Alda, Amy Wright, Mady Kaplan, Mary Ann Haenel, Richard Kuss, Joe Grifasi
Screenplay by: Deric Washburn
Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editing by: Peter Zinner
Art Direction by: Ron Hobbs, Kim Swados
Music by: Stanley Myers
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: February 23, 1979
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