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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Michael Cimino's The Deer
Hunter (1978) is perhaps the most aggressively
critical and monumental critique of the Vietnam
experience ever put on film. The story is a frank,
brooding and foreboding deconstruction of lives
plunged into the horrors of war. Michael (Robert
DeNiro) is an honorable loner who doesn't perceive
much to be admired from his life as a
Pennsylvanian steel mill worker. His one ray of
sunshine in an otherwise dismal and inescapable
future is Linda (Meryl Streep). She is seemingly
pledged in marriage to Nick (Christopher Walken) –
if only he'd realize it and ask her to marry him.
But Nick is a hotshot first and a lover second.
Knowing full well that Linda will wait for Nick,
presumably forever, Michael keeps an honorable
distance from his own foolish romantic fancies. He
also plays big brother to naïve Steven (John
Savage), the youngster of their motley crew that
includes boorish, John (George Dzundza), laconic
Axel (Chuck Aspengren) and meddling Stanley (John
Cazale). Indulged by misguided patriotism Nick,
Michael and Steven go off to Vietnam shortly after
Steven marries his beloved, the pregnant Angela
(Rutanya Alda). They are captured by the Vietcong,
brought to a prison camp and forced to play
Russian roulette against each other. And although
Michael's quick thinking affords them the
opportunity to temporarily escape, they are soon
separated once more – and arguably forever ripped
from the binding mindset that once united them.
Cimino (whose critical misfire on Heaven's Gate
would effectively end his all too brief
directorial supremacy in Hollywood) labors
intensely on this film and at an excruciatingly
slow pace. Indulging is every whim in very long
takes (and for that matter, scenes) the story is
told around four pivotal events in these
character's lives: Steven's wedding, the deer
hunt, the nail biting roulette game and Nick's
death and aftermath. Clearly, the film is an opus
magnum of self-indulgency for the director – shot
sometimes in an almost documentary style (as are
the opening scenes in the steel mill or the
evacuation of Saigon, that actually employs news
reel footage to help fill in the blanks). Yet
Cimino has forgotten a fundamental of filmmaking:
that economy of the shot is usually best to appeal
to the tastes of a wide audience base. For those
who are first time viewers more attuned to
contemporary editing style this film is a decided
change of pace. It refrains from tedious
exposition but replaces dialogue with stagnancy of
the narrative. Hence, The Deer Hunter is NOT for
everyone – even in 1978. But as time rolls on it
seems to narrow its fan base considerably. At 3
hours and 9 minutes it is apt to put many to
sleep.
The Deer Hunter was made previously available from
Universal in one unworthy transfer recycled twice
in different packaging. This new 2-disc edition is
an improvement on the previously issued disc, if
only that it has been enhanced for 16:9 displays.
When displayed on a widescreen television the
resolution on this transfer is considerably
improved with rich colors that, on the original
disc, were muddy and undistinguished at best.
Flesh tones are remarkably realistic (consider the
vintage of the film stock). Fine detail is fairly
well realized, even during the darkest moments in
the film. Only the vintage stock footage of the
actual conflict in Vietnam betrays their origin
with a considerable increase in film grain and age
related artifacts. The rest of the film is, by far
and wide a very smooth, grain free visual
presentation. Universal has also remastered the
audio to 5.1. The new mix exhibits a sonic
characteristic that is dated but very well
delineated across all five channels of one's home
theater.
My biggest bone of contention with The Deer
Hunter: The Legacy Series DVD is that it is
embarrassingly scant on extra features –
especially for a 2-disc set. Disc one contains
only the film with a new audio commentary by
cinematographer Vilmo Zsigmond and journalist Bob
Fisher. Disc two contains several deleted scenes
(not remastered or presented anamorphically) and
the film's rambling theatrical trailer. Both are
presented without any fanfare or introduction and
in the poorest of video and sound quality. Truly,
there is NOTHING to recommend the inclusion of
that second disc. And for a film that – at its
initial release – was hailed as an enduring
masterpiece (though arguably, it's not) – the
absence of any retrospective documentary or at
least interviews with some of its stars is a
general embarrassment to Universal DVD. Perhaps
we'll eventually see The Deer Hunter: Deluxe
‘Absolutely Everything You Ever Wanted To Know
About The Vietnam War But Were Afraid to Ask'
Edition somewhere on the horizon. |
