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MOVIE FEATURE

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Widely regarded as one of the greatest war films ever made, The Deer Hunter makes a stunning return this month in breathtaking 4K Ultra HD. Words Bob J The Deer Hunter (1978) BOUND BY WAR

Appearing at the wedding and the deer-hunting episodes is Stan, another friend of Mike’s (De Niro). He was played by John Cazale, who was suffering considerable pain from terminal cancer. This was Cazales last film and he died shortly after filming wrapped. He never saw the finished film. The other films in Cazale’s short but prolific career were The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

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T o mark the occasion, we revisit Michael Cimino’s powerful and enduring masterpiece - a film that redefined the war genre and left an indelible mark on cinema history. From the early days of Hollywood, modern war movies initially provided one of the most compelling subject areas that attracted mass cinema audiences. The silent films What Price Glory (1925) and The Big Parade (1926) firmly established that war based films were guaranteed money-makers. Furthermore, William Wellman’s Wings (1927), depicting World War I flying aces, became the very first film to win an Oscar for 'Best Picture'. During the course of WWII the Hollywood studios released more than 450 films based on the conflict. As far as the movie moguls were concerned, war films always delivered healthy box office returns. However, when the U.S. went off to fight communism in the jungles of Vietnam, something

went disastrously wrong during the late 1960s and early 1970s that nearly tore America apart. For the very first time the United States lost a war and, with it, a great deal of pride and thousands of American casualties. Hollywood reacted swiftly and retreated from making movies

of Saigon in 1975 that the first mainstream American movie to focus on the Vietnam War was released. The Deer Hunter directed by Michael Cimino relates the story of three young Pennsylvania steelworkers - Mike (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and

most suspenseful in any movie depicting the horrors of war. Mike, however, manages to engineer a daring but successful escape which unfortunately results in the three friends being separated. Mike subsequently returns home alone and uninjured but is unable to face any of his old steel worker friends. He later learns that Steven, now a paraplegic, is a patient at a veterans’ hospital and pays him a visit. He asks him if he knows what happened to Nick, Steven says he doesn’t but relates that he has been receiving money from an unknown source in Saigon. Mike realising it must be Nick sending the money now returns to Saigon during the American withdrawal, determined to locate and bring his friend home. This masterful movie garnered Academy Awards for 'Best Picture', 'Best Director' and a well-deserved 'Best Supporting Actor' Oscar for Christopher Walken. Christopher Walken, Robert De Niro, Chuck Aspegren, John Savage, and John Cazale

Nick (Christopher Walken). These three close friends are excited by the prospect of shortly leaving for Vietnam on a tour of duty. Several days before their departure they celebrate Steven’s marriage and later go on one last deer-hunting trip, where Mike bags a prize buck with a single shot. These early scenes of the three sensitive and life-loving young men are explored in

Dorector Michael Cimino with Robert De Niro

with what had now become an extremely controversial subject. Only one film was made about the Vietnam War during the conflict itself, that was John Wayne’s ”gung-ho” The Green Berets released in 1968, which was reviled by both movie critics and audiences. Subsequently, it would be three years after the fall

such depth that when they arrive in Vietnam the audience genuinely cares what happens to them. Sure enough their illusions of glory are swiftly shattered when, after a brief skirmish with Vietcong soldiers, all three are taken prisoner. The following Russian roulette scenes where the Vietcong guards bet on the outcome is one of the

30 JUNE 2025

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