The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter (1978) is in three parts and the first runs an hour. It is essential to know that, because most viewers spend that hour unsure what they are watching. Three friends work in a Pennsylvania steel mill. One of them is getting married and the film stays at that wedding for a very long time. Then Vietnam. Then coming back. That first hour is the most important part of the film. The war section only means anything because of the life established there. Without seeing what is lost, the second part would just be violence. The Russian roulette sequences are among the most cited scenes in cinema. They are also historically contested: there is no record of any such systematic practice in Vietnam, and the film was criticised for it. Cimino argued it was a metaphor. Christopher Walken won an Oscar for it. John Cazale had cancer during filming and this was his last film. The insurers did not want him and Meryl Streep insisted he stay. It runs 183 minutes. Good for: films about what war leaves behind, and seventies American cinema. Less good for: suicide, captivity and violence are all severe. It is long and slow and hard in one sitting.