Photo by Universal/Getty Imagesīut none of that mattered in the end. Robert De Niro And Christopher Walken celebrates with the rest of the wedding party in a scene from the film ‘The Deer Hunter’, 1978. The set of what became a cult classic involved bitter infighting, a terminally ill cast member, a deteriorating budget, and a director who may not have been cut out for the job. The production was riddled with not just typical problems but major ones, and right from the get-go. To put it simply: The Deer Hunter shouldn’t have been as good as it was (is). Var finalLink = originalLink + sid + ".aspx?Source=Media" Was_ad_clicked : boolean, was_ad_closed : boolean, close_reason : (string | null), was_ad_liked : boolean*/ *spot_id : string, spot_size : string, spot_scroll_position : number, ad_id : string,ĭemand_source : string, widget_id : (string | null), widget_type : (string | null),Īd_format : (string | null), display_duration : (null | number), was_ad_watched : boolean, _API.FireAdEngagementPixel("etoro_aff_" + kw, "", 0, kw, "etoro", null, "keyword", null, null, true, true, false, null, false) Googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest() adjust the bid in real time before the auction takes place The Deer Hunter is available on HBO through November 30.// = DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE = // It set a provocative standard for actors depicting veterans - and allowed Walken to prove he’s far more than a character actor. A less-than-cheery narrative shouldn’t deter you, however, from discovering (or revisiting) the film, and specifically Walken’s performance.
Through Walken’s vulnerable Nick, we’re also forced to look at the consequences of combat - the aftermath of a war that was deemed impossible to win - and the debilitating horror of PTSD. Straddling blue collar Pennsylvania and Vietnam’s napalm-hazed jungles, The Deer Hunter offers a no-holds-barred look at the front lines of battle - a given when it comes to war movies today, but back in 1978, it set a visual precedent (see, opening scene of Saving Private Ryan). (Oscars fun fact: Walken starred in two back-to-back Best Picture winners: Annie Hall in 1977 and The Deer Hunter in 1978). The following year, The Deer Hunter stormed into theaters and the world was properly introduced to Walken, who shocked and awed, and eventually snagged the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role of the quietly maniacal Nick Chevotarevich.
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All true - but it’s a classic, not only because of its aforementioned merits, but because of a man by the name of Christopher Walken.īefore he was the “more cowbell” instigator on Saturday Night Live, the do-your-best-impression go-to, the cultural icon he is today, Walken paid his dues appearing in TV movies and bit parts through the mid-’70s - until his first break in Annie Hall (1977) as the titular heroine’s psychopathic brother. Michael Cimino’s classic Vietnam exploration is, perhaps, best remembered as the Russian roulette how-to starring Robert De Niro, that also earned Meryl Streep her first Oscar nomination.