Robert De Niro And Christopher Walken's Classic '70s War Movie Still Holds Up Today

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Michael Cimino's 1978 war film, "The Deer Hunter," was never supposed to be a crowd-pleaser. A harrowing look at the Vietnam War, "The Deer Hunter" unpacks post-war disillusionment/trauma in ways that are deemed controversial to this day. This was also one of those war films that caused a fair bit of studio hullabaloo, especially with regard to its 184-minute runtime and oft-debated ending. While Cimino's film had no choice but to contend with these factors, "The Deer Hunter" ended up being a box-office success that earned nine Academy Award nominations (of which it won five, including Best Director and Best Picture). Its legacy certainly isn't confined to its success on release, as "The Deer Hunter" is widely applauded for the taut mastery over its script, which was created out of a disparate story about Las Vegas and Russian Roulette.

There's a conversation to be had about the somewhat fantastical (and deeply problematic) interpretation of a horrific real-world tragedy, as Cimino doesn't portray the Vietnamese with the contextual depth they deserve. Only the American soldiers — Robert De Niro's Mike, Christopher Walken's Nick, and John Savage's Steve — are afforded nuance, sentimentality, and sympathy. These aspects have certainly not aged well, but Cimino's film was (rightfully) under scrutiny since the moment it hit theaters. The only defense that can be mounted is an artistic one, such as when critic Roger Ebert gave the film a perfect score and argued that its themes were purely symbolic, and nothing more. Ebert was more appreciative of the film's "emotionally shattering" qualities, including the tragic implications of "The Deer Hunter"'s point-of-no-return ending.

Keeping its obvious drawbacks in mind, "The Deer Hunter" still emerges as a devastating war drama. It's a story about friendship, the loss of innocence, and the upsetting aftermath of the same.

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Spoilers for "The Deer Hunter" ahead.

Mike, Steve, and Nick work in a steel mill and often hang out together to hunt deer. After being enlisted in the Vietnam War, the trio do their best to leave without leaving any regrets behind. While Steve marries Angela (Rutanya Alda), Nick spontaneously proposes to Linda (Meryl Streep), who Mike secretly has a crush on. Unprepared for what lies ahead, they go on one final hunting trip together, where Mike kills a deer in "one shot" to cement his code of mercy — one that is later contrasted against the arbitrary violence of war.

Things go south once the trio is imprisoned by the Viet Cong and subjected to a cruel game of Russian Roulette (which is one of the film's most macabre sequences). Although they manage to survive the ordeal, the trauma attached to this chapter dictates Mike, Steve, and Nick's tragic arcs ahead.

De Niro plays Mike as a deeply perceptive young man, but this sense of openness feels futile when he's plunged into the heart of combat. Mercy or honor are not among the violent vocabulary of war, which destabilizes these men and their perception of what these concepts mean. Walken is the clear standout here: His Nick becomes a shell of the gentle, sensitive man he once was, carrying a brokenness that only makes sense to him when he relives his trauma in Saigon. Steve and Mike's earnest efforts to bring Nick back home prove futile, as the senseless fallout of war — symbolized by the arbitrary nature of Russian Roulette — has already consumed him whole.

"The Deer Hunter" can be grueling to watch. Even so, it is an artistically rewarding experience that deserves every revisit.