51st Academy Awards · 1979
The Deer Hunter
Directed byCooked up by Michael Cimino
“One of the most important and powerful films of all time!”
“The friend group chat was never the same after this. 💔”
The storyThe lore 📖
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
Three besties from a Pennsylvania steel town go from hunting trips and a big wedding party to serving in the Vietnam War, and fr it hits different. The war leaves them changed in ways that are genuinely heavy, and coming home is its own boss level. Lowkey a movie about friendship, loyalty, and how hard it is to get your old life back. 🦌💔
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
86%
Fresh
#75 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it's all about. The deer has to be taken with one shot.
Nick: One shot.
Michael: One shot, one shot.
Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain't something else. This is this.
I love you, Nick. … Come on, Nicky, come home. Just come home.
If anything happens Mike, you don't - don't leave me over there. You got, you gotta...Just don't leave me. You gotta promise me that, Mike.
When a man says no to champagne, he says no to life.
What goes through your mind comes out your mouth.
You're so full of shit, you're gonna float away.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
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St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Tremont, Cleveland, Ohio
The epic wedding ceremony was filmed here over five days, with the parish priest cast as the priest.
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Lemko Association Hall
Tremont, Cleveland, Ohio
The rowdy wedding reception, with extras drinking real liquor, was filmed at this nearby hall.
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Khwae Noi River
Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
The prison camp and first Russian-roulette scenes were shot in bamboo cages along the River Kwai.
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Patpong
Bangkok, Thailand
The Bangkok nightlife district represented Saigon's red-light district.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming locations
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U.S. Steel Central Furnaces
Cleveland, Ohio
The opening steel-mill scenes were shot inside, with the actors placed around the furnace floor.
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Mingo Junction
Ohio
The bar was built in an empty storefront here and soon became a real saloon for mill workers.
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Nooksack Falls
North Cascades, Washington
The deer-hunting scenes were filmed in the Cascades around these falls and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming locations
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Struthers
Ohio
Used for exterior house and road shots, plus the Bowladrome Lanes bowling alley.
Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming locations
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- Extras at the wedding were asked to bring gift-wrapped boxes to stand in for presents, and the crew later discovered the boxes were full of real gifts, from china to silverware.Wikipedia · The wedding scenes
- Meryl Streep accepted the small girlfriend role largely to stay near John Cazale, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer; The Deer Hunter was his final film, and Streep wrote all of her own lines.Wikipedia · Filming
- According to Michael Cimino, Robert De Niro asked for a live round in the revolver when his character forces John Cazale's into Russian roulette; Cazale agreed but obsessively rechecked the gun before every take.Wikipedia · Vietnam and the Russian roulette scenes
- Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs conceived the idea for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington after seeing a screening of The Deer Hunter in March 1979.Wikipedia · Honors and recognition
- During a helicopter stunt, the skids caught on the rope bridge and threatened to seriously injure Robert De Niro and John Savage, who shouted warnings to the crew; the footage is in the film.Wikipedia · Vietnam and the Russian roulette scenes
- The first actor hired to run the Russian roulette game couldn't bring himself to slap Robert De Niro, so the casting agent found a local man with a particular dislike of Americans; Christopher Walken's reaction to an unannounced slap was genuine.Wikipedia · Vietnam and the Russian roulette scenes
- At the 1979 Berlin Film Festival, the Soviet delegation protested the film's portrayal of the Vietnamese, leading to walkouts by several Eastern Bloc delegations and the resignation of two jury members.Wikipedia · Critical response
- Protesters from Vietnam Veterans Against the War met the limousines at the 1979 Oscars with signs reading 'The Deer Hunter a bloody lie,' and Variety reported a brief, bloody clash with police that led to 13 arrests.Wikipedia · Lead-up to awards season
- Michael Cimino fired editor Peter Zinner after catching him trimming the wedding scenes, which had grown from a planned 21 minutes to 51, yet Zinner went on to win the Oscar for Best Film Editing.Wikipedia · Post-production
- The studio wanted to dismiss the terminally ill John Cazale, but Meryl Streep and Michael Cimino threatened to quit; Cazale was almost uninsurable, and according to Streep, Robert De Niro paid for his insurance.Wikipedia · Cast