Everyone loves a controversy, especially in Hollywood when there is little to do but make a fuss or make a film. The 1978 film "The Deer Hunter" served both Californian pastimes in its contentious depiction of three buddies from a Pennsylvanian coal town and their experiences in the war in Vietnam. Jane Fonda, nominated for an Oscar that year, lambasted the movie for being racist. The film's vicious representation of the Vietcong as coldhearted and animalistic sits at the heart of its controversial appeal.
As Oscar winner's go, "The Deer Hunter" is rather long and boring, even for a movie from the 1970s, which valued long panning shots over the fast-paced, quick cut trends of contemporary film. At three hours long, the movie spends way too much time showing the perennially drunk industrial workers at a wedding of one of their compatriots. In fact, the movie itself wanders like a drunk with no real direction or plot.
While Robert DeNiro, as the titular character puts out a decent performance, it's really the supporting characters that make "The Deer Hunter" bearable. Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep both used their roles in the movie to catapult their successful careers, and it is easy to see why for Walken, as his sullen portrayal of Nick is alarmingly haunting. Streep, on the other hand, is barely on screen in a serviceable role as the typical "girl back home" of any war movie.
As Vietnam movies go, it lacks the powerful punch of "Platoon" and the "what the..." bizarreness of "Apocalypse Now," and instead settles for an unsatisfying in between quality. While the competition in 1979 wasn't exceptionally strong, "The Deer Hunter" shoots and misses when measuring up to other Best Picture winners. Twenty-five years ago, Oscar was fawning over the wrong buck.
More from The Tufts Daily
Trending
The Print Edition
