The Deer Hunter
Directed by	Michael Cimino
Produced by	Barry Spikings Michael Deeley Michael Cimino John Peverall
Written by	Deric Washburn (story & screenplay) Michael Cimino Louis Garfinkle Quinn K. Redeker (story)
Starring	Robert De Niro Christopher Walken Meryl Streep
Music by	Stanley Myers
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by	Peter Zinner
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (US) EMI Films (non-US)
Release date(s)	December 8, 1978
Running time	182 min. Michael Cimino (ˈtʃamɪnəʊ born February 3, 1939, New York City) is an American, Academy Award-winning film director Barry Spikings (born 23 November 1939) is a British Film producer who worked in Hollywood. Michael Deeley (born August 6, 1932) is a Film producer who has helped create notable films such as The Italian Job, Blade Quinn K Redeker (born May 2, 1936) is an American Actor and Scriptwriter, who is well-known for his work acting on Soap operas Robert Mario De Niro Jr (born August 17 1943 is a two-time Academy Award -winning American Film Actor, director and producer Christopher Walken (born March 31 1943 is an American Film and Theatre Actor. Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an award-winning American Actress who has worked in Theatre, Stanley Myers ( October 6, 1930 – November 9, 1993) was a prolific British Film composer who scored over sixty films Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC (born June 16, 1930) is a Hungarian - American Cinematographer. Peter Zinner ( July 24 1919 &ndash November 13 2007) was an Academy Award and BAFTA -winning film editor Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American EMI Films is a British Film and Television production company and Distributor. Events 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room the second public library of Europe. Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar)
Country	United States
Language	English Russian Vietnamese French
Budget	US$15,000,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Deer Hunter is a 1978 war drama film about a trio of Rusyn American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The year 1978 in film involved some significant events Top grossing films (U War film is a Film genre concerned with Warfare usually about naval, air or land battles sometimes focusing instead on A drama film is a Film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes Rusyn Americans refer to individuals who were born on or who descended from the territory of the historic Carpathian Ruthenia, western Ukraine, northeastern The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia It is loosely inspired by the German novel Three Comrades (1937), by World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, which follows the lives of a trio of World War I veterans in 1920s Weimar Germany. Three Comrades (Drei Kameraden is a Novel first published in 1937 by the German author Erich Maria Remarque. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Erich Maria Remarque (Erich Paul Remark 22 June 1898 &ndash 25 September 1970) was a German author. All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues is an Anti-war Novel written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 Like the novel, The Deer Hunter meditates and explores the moral and mental consequences of war violence and politically-manipulated patriotism upon the meaning of friendship, honour, and family in a tightly-knit community and deals with controversial issues such as drug abuse, suicide, infidelity and mental illness. Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings Honor or Honour (see spelling differences) (the latter directly from the Latin word honos honoris) is the evaluation of a person's Family denotes a group of People affiliated by consanguinity affinity or co-residence In biological terms a community is a group of interacting Organisms sharing an environment. Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a Psychoactive drug or Performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect See also Adultery Infidelity can be defined as any violation of the mutually agreed-upon rules or boundaries of a relationship and is a breach of faith in an inter-personal Mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film.

The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep. Robert Mario De Niro Jr (born August 17 1943 is a two-time Academy Award -winning American Film Actor, director and producer Christopher Walken (born March 31 1943 is an American Film and Theatre Actor. Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an award-winning American Actress who has worked in Theatre, The story occurs in southern Vietnam and in working-class Clairton, Pennsylvania, a Monongahela River town south of Pittsburgh. Clairton is a third-class city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River and is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern The Monongahela River (məˌnɒŋɡəˈheɪlə also known locally as the Mon /ˈmɒn/ is a River on the Allegheny Plateau in North-Central It was filmed in the Pittsburgh area; Cleveland and Mingo Junction, Ohio; Weirton, West Virginia; the North Cascades National Park in Washington state, the Patpong district of Bangkok in Thailand (as the Saigon red-light district), and in Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province (also in Thailand). Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state Mingo Junction is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads Weirton is a city located in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by North Cascades National Park is a US National Park located in the state of Washington. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Patpong (พัฒน์พงษ์ "Phatphong" is an entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, catering mainly though not exclusively to foreign Bangkok, known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (krūŋtʰêːp máhǎːnákʰɔn) or Krung Thep ( for short is the Capital, largest The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj Sai Yok is a district ( Amphoe) in the Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand. Kanchanaburi (กาญจนบุรี is the largest of the central provinces ( changwat) of Thailand.

Plot

In Western Pennsylvania during the late 1960s, Russian-American steel workers Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), Nick (Christopher Walken), Stanley (John Cazale), John (George Dzundza), and Axel (Chuck Aspegren) are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military service. Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Robert Mario De Niro Jr (born August 17 1943 is a two-time Academy Award -winning American Film Actor, director and producer Christopher Walken (born March 31 1943 is an American Film and Theatre Actor. John Holland Cazale ( August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) was a distinguished Golden Globe Award nominated American George Dzundza (born July 19, 1945) is an American Actor known for his role as Sgt

During the infantry combat in Vietnam, the three are captured and held prisoner in a riverside prisoner of war camp along with other US Army and ARVN prisoners. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Army of the Republic of Vietnam ( ARVN) was a military component of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as South Vietnam For entertainment, the guards force their prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome. Russian roulette (Русская рулетка is a potentially lethal Game of chance in which participants place a single round in a Revolver, spin the All three are forced to play; Steven aims the gun above his head, grazing himself with the bullet and is punished by incarceration to an underwater cage. Believing Steven broken, Mike considers abandoning him. Nick angrily rejects Mike's consideration.

Eventually, the three escape the camp and escape downriver on a floating tree. An American helicopter rescues them, but only Nick boards; the weak Steven falls to the river; Mike follows him in rescue. Steve breaks his legs in the fall; Mike carries him to friendly lines.

The psychologically devastated Nick recuperates in a military hospital in Saigon. Afterwards, he aimlessly searches for Mike in the red light district. Nick encounters Julién Grinda, a champagne-drinking Frenchman outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money. Legal residents and citizens To be French according to the first article of the Constitution is to be a citizen of France regardless of one's origin race or religion ( Grinda entices Nick to participate, then leads him in to the den. Unbeknown to Nick, Mike is in the crowd, as a gambler. Though Mike sees Nick, they do not reunite.

Back in the U. S. Mike eventually becomes romantically involved with Linda. Nick and Steven are still missing. Mike later reunites with Steven, who has lost his legs and is partially paralysed. Stevie reveals that someone in Saigon has been mailing large amounts of cash to him, which indicates that Nick is still alive, and playing Russian roulette.

Mike travels to Saigon just before its fall in 1975. The Fall of Saigon (in Vietnamese: Sự kiện 30 tháng 4 - April 30 Incident; Giải phóng miền Nam - The liberation of the south With the help of the Frenchman Julién Grinda, he finds Nick in a crowded, loud roulette club, but Nick appears to have no recollection of his friends or his home in Pennsylvania. Mike's attempts to persuade him to come home are unsuccessful. Nick raises the gun and shoots himself in the head.

The film ends with Nick's funeral back in America and his friends' response to it.

Production

The film began with a spec screenplay called "The Man Who Came To Play", written by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker. Quinn K Redeker (born May 2, 1936) is an American Actor and Scriptwriter, who is well-known for his work acting on Soap operas The script, while unrelated to the Vietnam War, nontheless centered on a group of men who travel to Las Vegas to play Russian Roulette. Producer Barry Spikings, who had purchased the script from Garfinkle/Redeker, pitched the story to director Michael Cimino, who then adapted the Russian Roulette idea into a story he was preparing about Pennsylvania steelworkers who go off to war. Barry Spikings (born 23 November 1939) is a British Film producer who worked in Hollywood. Cimino then worked for 6 weeks with Deric Washburn, before firing him (Cimino and Washburn had previously collaborated with Stephen Bochco on the screenplay for Silent Running). Steven Ronald Bochco (born December 16, 1943) is an American Television producer and writer Silent Running is a 1972 ecologically-themed Science fiction film directed by Douglas Trumbull which depicts a future in which all Plant life

While Garfinkle and Redeker had nothing to do with the writing or filming of The Deer Hunter, they shared a "Story By" credit with Cimino and Washburn, since Cimino had adapted the Russian Roulette idea from "The Man Who Came To Play" into the film. Cimino would later claim to have written the entire screenplay himself, although a WGA arbitration awarded Washburn sole "Screenplay By" credit. All four writers received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for this film.

Filming locations include:

• St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. St Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral is located on Starkweather Avenue in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland Ohio. Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
• Patpong, Bangkok, Thailand - the area used to represent Saigon's red light district. Patpong (พัฒน์พงษ์ "Phatphong" is an entertainment district in Bangkok, Thailand, catering mainly though not exclusively to foreign Bangkok, known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (krūŋtʰêːp máhǎːnákʰɔn) or Krung Thep ( for short is the Capital, largest The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj
• Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
• North Cascades National Park, Washington State, US. Sai Yok is a district ( Amphoe) in the Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand. Kanchanaburi (กาญจนบุรี is the largest of the central provinces ( changwat) of Thailand. North Cascades National Park is a US National Park located in the state of Washington.
• Mingo Junction, Ohio, for the steel mills. Mingo Junction is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads
• Steubenville, Ohio, for some mill and neighborhood shots. Steubenville is a city located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio, in the United States. Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads
• Struthers, Ohio, for external house and long-range road shots. Struthers is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11756 at the 2000 census. Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads
• Weirton, West Virginia, for mill and trailer shots. Weirton is a city located in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by

Cast

Special Forces SSG Michael Vronsky (Robert De Niro)

Reception

The Deer Hunter won Oscars in 1978 for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Cimino), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christopher Walken), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to artists working The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing (Best Director is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts The Academy Award for Film Editing was first given for films issued in 1934 The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic Sound mixing or recording In addition, it was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Meryl Streep), Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to recognize Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a Cinematographer for work in one particular Motion picture. Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC (born June 16, 1930) is a Hungarian - American Cinematographer. The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material

In 1996, The Deer Hunter was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The National Film Registry is the registry of Films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of The Library of Congress is the De facto National library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress

It is ranked # 53 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. The American Film Institute ( AFI) is an independent Non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 AFI’s 100 Years100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition was the 2007 updated version of 100 Years… 100 Movies. ^[1]

The theme song of The Deer Hunter, Cavatina, written by Stanley Myers and performed by classical guitarist John Williams is commonly known as The Theme from The Deer Hunter. " Cavatina " is a Classical guitar piece by Stanley Myers and is most famous as the theme from The Deer Hunter. Stanley Myers ( October 6, 1930 – November 9, 1993) was a prolific British Film composer who scored over sixty films John Christopher Williams (born 24 April 1941 is a Grammy Award winning Australian-born British Classical guitarist Biography Born in Melbourne

During the Berlin International Film Festival in 1979 the Soviet delegation expressed its indignation with the film which, in their opinion, insulted the Vietnamese people in numerous scenes. The Berlin International Film Festival, also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading Film festivals and most reputable media events held in Berlin A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. The socialist states felt obliged to voice their solidarity with the “heroic people of Vietnam”. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially They protested against the screening of the film and insisted that it violated the statutes of the festival, since it in no way contributed to the “improvement of mutual understanding between the peoples of the world”. ^[2] The ensuing domino effect led to the walk-outs of the Cubans, East Germans, Bulgarians, Poles and Czechoslovakians, and two members of the jury resigned in sympathy.

DVD releases

The Deer Hunter has twice been released on DVD. The first 1998 issue by Universal, with no extra features and a non-anamorphic transfer, has since been discontinued. A second version, part of the "Legacy Series", was released as a two-disc set on September 6, 2005, with an anamorphic transfer of the film. The set features a cinematographer's commentary by Vilmos Zsigmond, interviews of the cast and crew, and deleted and extended scenes. The region-2 version of The Deer Hunter, exclusive to the UK, features a commentary track from director Michael Cimino. On disc based video formats an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers that plays in real time with video The film was released on HD DVD in 2006. not insert the publicly disclosed HD DVD key into this article for the time being

Miscellanea

• During an American Movie Classics broadcast of the film, Gossip said Robert De Niro requested a live bullet in the Russian roulette revolver, to heighten the intensity of the situation. AMC is a cable television network that primarily airs movies The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics.
• To render himself ghostly, Christopher Walken exclusively ate rice, bananas, and water for the week before he filmed the third act.
• During screenings of the short version of the film, director Cimino bribed the projectionist to interrupt it, in order to obtain better reviews of the long version.
• The tie-in novelisation opens with an epigraph by Ernest Hemingway:

• All scenes involving John Cazale, who had end-stage bone cancer during the shoot, had to be filmed first. John Holland Cazale ( August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) was a distinguished Golden Globe Award nominated American Cazale passed away shortly after filming wrapped. Because of his illness, the studio initially wanted to get rid of Cazale, but his real-life fiancee, Streep, threatened to walk away if they did.
• The animal that Michael hunts in the second hunting scene is not a deer, but an elk.

References

External links

• The Deer Hunter at Filmsite.org
• The Deer Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
• The Deer Hunter at Allmovie
• The Deer Hunter at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Deer Hunter screenplay
• The Deer Hunter: Viewings of the film The Deer Hunter have been tied to a number of Russian roulette suicides (Snopes. Filmsiteorg is a Website operated by Tim Dirks since 1996. It contains about 300 in-depth reviews of what Dirks judges to be the "greatest films" Allmovie (previously All Movie Guide) is a commercial database of information about Movie stars movies and television shows. Rotten Tomatoes is a Website devoted to reviews information and news of Movies. com)
• The Deer Hunter Review
• The Deer Hunter at Unofficial french website
• The filming location Detectives have sleuthed The Deer Hunter
• Newspaper articles on the filming of The Deer Hunter
• The Deer Hunter Discussion Forum