After watching The Deer Hunter for the first time..

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I can safely say it is easily one of the best films I've ever seen. I can't recall the last time I've watched a film that was literally breathtaking. Stunning, just stunning.

I'm currently studying the Cold War at school; lately in one of my lessons the film popped up in a discussion and everyone agreed how good it was. I've been meaning to watch it, and funnily enough out of the blue I managed to catch it on ITV last night.
 
i have the deer hunter on my shelf right now, just waiting for a right time to watch it. can't believe i haven't seen it already, but am looking forward to settling down with it at some point this term.
 
Indeed, it's a terrific movie, especially in terms of acting. Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep and especially Robert De Niro delivered by far their best performances.
 
I found it tedious to be honest, especially the first part.
 
Ah gad, THAT film.

I watched almost an hour, and gave up. Havent been that bored since before I could masturbate. Although I appreciate that its a classic.
 
The first hour of this three hour movie is basically a ridiculously extended wedding scene. You could skip the entire hour or so after you get an idea who the main characters are and not miss a thing. I found that to be annoying, but the meat of the movie was very good!
 
It's one of the classics I don't like.

It's unnecessarily slow. What's with the wedding, WHY am I watching this.

Boring. Only a few interesting scenes.
 
Unfocused said:
Boring. Only a few interesting scenes.
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Yeah, exactly. The Russian roulette scenes are of course classics, but other than that the movie could hardly hold my interest. As far as Vietnam movies from that era go, Apocalypse Now is a lot better imo, but even that became tedious in the end. Marlon Brando's long speech always manages to make me fall asleep.
 
In regards to the early scenes of the film: character development! Personally, the length of these first scenes didn't bother me in the slightest. The phenomenal acting and witty pieces of humour more than made for an enjoyable experience in my eyes. I'm going to quote this review on IMDb, which I wholeheartedly agree with:

"A lot of the comments criticize the first half hour as being too long. In my opinion, these comments miss the point of the movie.

Of course many of the scenes in the first hour don't advance the narrative. They're not supposed to; they're for character development.

The whole point of the movie is to show us how the various characters were affected by the war. It wouldn't have worked nearly as powerfully as it does had the first hour been trimmed down. We have to sense the careless and frat-boy-like immaturity of these young men. That's why the scenes all revolve around frivolity and seemingly senseless boyish behavior; it creates such a stark contrast to the devastated characters of the three who went to war (and the relatively unaffected personalities of those who stayed behind, like Stanley)."

Highlighted bold is particularly significant.
 
My main objection to the movie is the crude, not to say racist, portrayal of the Vietnamese.
 
The Monkey said:
and especially Robert De Niro delivered by far their best performances.
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You think so? Taxi Driver? Raging Bull? Goodfellas?

Although I suppose Taxi Driver wasn't anything too special, he did alot of sitting and staring but I still think it's great.
 
xombine said:
You think so? Taxi Driver? Raging Bull? Goodfellas?

Although I suppose Taxi Driver wasn't anything too special, he did alot of sitting and staring but I still think it's great.
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I'm not too impressed my De Niro's performance in Goodfellas or Taxi Driver, even though they're both good movies. I agree with you on Raging Bull, though, that is an outstanding performance, but I still think Deer Hunter contains his best acting moments.
 
taxi driver not that good, the deer hunter is boring. wow some of you have no attention span. the first half of the deer hunter is what makes the second half so raw and emotional.
 
ya well it wasnt made for you. no really it wasnt it was made for americans just waking up from the nightmare that was the vietnam war. watching the movie from today's perspective kinda drains it somewhat of the emotional impact of the audience of the day. You kind of have to get that part before even watching the movie. sometimes movies are relative to their time period and dont age all that well because people's sensibilities change. I mean Midnight Express was shocking when it first came out over 30 years ago but would hardly raise an eyebrow today in an era of guantanamo

the whole point of the first half is to paint a picture of the main characters; to flesh out why they react the way trheu react throughout the second half.
 
That's what I thought when I watched it - that it probably had a stronger impact on the viewer back in the day; bonus impact if you can relate to the events.
 
I saw it for the first time a couple of days ago and was really impressed. At first the wedding scene was boring me, but I got caught up in the energy of it all and found it quite enjoyable.

I have to say SPOILER


The scene where they're being forced to play Russian roulette by the vietcong really had me going. When they turned the tables and started gunning the bastards down, it really made me very energetic, I was shouting at the screen for them to kill every last one of the vietcong people.

I surprised myself, as leftist media and music had the idea in my mind that for some reason the vietcong were the good guys, perhaps they were, but if the film can change my mind in an instant to calling for their blood....

Very good film. 10/10
 
Great movie indeed, I liked how ordinary life of the characters was portrayed (factory, wedding, hunt) and it was nice to see focus on big friendship of the characters before and after Vietnam war. Also best cut ever.

Solaris said:
I surprised myself, as leftist media and music had the idea in my mind that for some reason the vietcong were the good guys, perhaps they were, but if the film can change my mind in an instant to calling for their blood....
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Are you kidding? There weren't any good guys in the Vietnam war. Vietcong used to terrorize and torture civilian population and burned countless villages to the ground (pretty much like some US troops, sadly).
 
Solaris said:
I surprised myself, as leftist media and music had the idea in my mind that for some reason the vietcong were the good guys, perhaps they were
Click to expand...

oh man that's lol funny. wha? I mean where the hell ..what kind of "leftist" music are you listening to? and what the hell is "leftist" music? Crosby Stills and Nash? Creedence Clearwater Revival? Jose Feliciano?

man you're quickly becoming the western Numbers ..all brainwashy and silly



also ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0XKhAHR5I

ZOMG LEFTISTS!!!
 
I was thinking for the intro to fight the power by public enemy 'yet our best trained best equipped best prepared troops refused to fight, as a matter of fact it's safe to say that they would rather switch! than fight!'

stuff like that + to many years reading socialist worker.
 
Solaris said:
I was thinking for the intro to fight the power by public enemy 'yet our best trained best equipped best prepared troops refused to fight, as a matter of fact it's safe to say that they would rather switch! than fight!'

stuff like that + to many years reading socialist worker.
Click to expand...

fight the power? that was 20 years after the fact. a quick look through wikipedia says the person was a civil rights attorney who was using a popular slogan of the day

""Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!" is an enduring slogan which appeared in magazine, newspaper, and television advertisements for Tareyton cigarettes from 1963 until 1981."

in any event a single quote from a song 20 years after the fact does not mean "leftist" music made the vietcong out to be the good guys.


......see what I mean about taking things out of context?
 
Oh Captain Stern, you and your antics...
 
I'm not the one who thinks Wavy Gravy would have you believe the vietcong are the "good guys" because it fits their leftist music agenda
 
At this rate by the time 2012 rolls around Solaris will be a full fledged Sara Palin supporter (maybe I'm making a mistake assuming that he isn't already).

I'll have to check this movie out, never even heard of it. Not a huge movie buff.
 
I watched this movie based on this thread. I am less happy for having seen it.
 
The Deer Hunter is a ****ing brilliant film. I watched it a little over a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
 
Dan said:
I watched this movie based on this thread. I am less happy for having seen it.
Click to expand...

Comments like this simply bewilder me; how can people not recognise integrity for what it is? Brainwashed by the majority of shit that the film industry spews out nowadays? I don't know. It's just beyond me I'm afraid.

No offense Dan, this wasn't directed at you, I just had to get that out of my system.
 
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