The Deer Hunter

Dir: Michael Cimino, 1978 (9.0*)

Best Picture (AA, GG)

Story of small steel-town buddies (Robert De Niro, John Savage, Oscar winner Christopher Walken) from the rust belt who enlist for the Vietnam War and find their own private hells as a result. The brutal war sections deal with a ruthless game of Russian roulette played by the Viet Cong with their American prisoners, which has lasting consequences on the group. Mixed with much footage of pre- and post-war hometown life, this received worthy praise (and some criticism for patriotism) for accurately depicting the shattering effect war can have not only on the soldiers but their families as well. Oscar nominee Meryl Streep was only in the film to be with John Cazale while he was terminally ill with brain cancer; this was his last film. Cimino's classic, and an Oscar for directing, he was never to have made another good picture. 5 Oscars