THE MOVIE

The Deer Hunter is definitely one of the most powerful films ever made. Featuring a strong story line, which covers a wide span of time, the film is a look at how people deal with life changing situations. Centered by a series of brilliant performances, it is one war film, which stands out amongst similar films and will go down in history as one of the best war films ever.

The film tells the story of a group of Pennsylvania steelworkers and their lives before, during and after the Vietnam War. The film begins with an inside look into the lives of these four men. Michael (Robert De Niro), the leader of the group, John (George Dzundza), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken) are all good friends. Michael, Steven and Nick are soon to leave for Vietnam, but not before Steven gets married. After the wedding the group, along with another friend, Axel (Chuck Aspegren), go on a hunting trip, one of their favourite pastimes.

Next we are taken to Vietnam and see the men on the front lines, currently stationed in a village in the South of Vietnam and under attack from the Viet Cong. The men are captured and held in a floating prison on a river. In this prison the prisoners are forced to play Russian roulette against each other. When Steven refuses to participate he is locked in a cage with water up to his face. Michael hatches a plan to free Steven and convinces Nick that the only way that Steven will survive is if the two friends play against each other, and with 3 bullets in the gun. The men are able to escape, but are soon separated. Michael and Steven manage to get to a medical center whilst Nick finds his way to a Hospital in Saigon. Michael then returns home. Although he is treated as a hero he is upset, as he fears that Nick is still missing in Vietnam.

Nick, meanwhile, becomes involved in a gambling operation where the game of choice is, Russian roulette. Only this time he is playing for money and not the entertainment of his captors. When Michael learns that Nick is possibly still alive he returns to Saigon to try and find him.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The Deer Hunter DVD features a 2.30:1 widescreen presentation, which is 16x9 enhanced. Given this film’s age the image, overall, looks nice. The image is reasonably sharp throughout, certainly better than some other films of this age I have seen. There is some edge enhancement, but this isn’t really that much of a distraction.

Shadow detail poses somewhat of a problem for the transfer and the level of detail varies greatly. However, for the most part it is below par. Leading to scenes where most of the action is lost in the darkness. Despite not being an overly colorful presentation the colors we are given look good. They are a little muted, but this was most likely a deliberate choice.

Grain and blemishes are present in the film, but these aren’t overly distracting and indeed I feel they add to the ‘dirty’ nature of the film. Overall, this is a decent visual transfer which is only really marred by poor shadow detail.

Audio:

The disc features a Dolby Digital 2.0 sound track, that, to be honest, isn’t very good. The biggest problem is the dialogue. Whilst, audible and easily understood, it seems to range vastly in regards to how it was mixed. Leading to a disjointed sounding affair. Lip sync wasn’t really a problem and the sound effects were okay, although some did suffer from the same mixing problems as the voices. The score, by Stanley Myers, was always present and supported the film well. There was little use made of the surround channels and no use made of the subwoofer. Overall, this is a basic audio presentation that could have been mixed a whole lot better.

THE EXTRAS

There aren’t many extras here to speak about. We are treated to a few, though. These include: Biographies, the film’s Trailer, Production Notes and a Photo Gallery. Nothing amazing, but better than nothing.

SUMMARY

This is an undeniably powerful film, which, despite running for more than three hours utterly engrosses the audience. Whilst at times difficult to watch, it ultimately triumphs as a wonderful story with some brilliant performances. This is one movie everyone should see and what better way than on DVD. Whilst the video and audio aren’t great, they are better than any VHS version you are likely to find.