The Deer Hunter (1978)

[moviesceleton]

According to you, everybody is a free rider until they pay their debt with blood.

I'm not a pacifist. If somebody threatens my life, I'll take his if necessary. It's indeed the dying part I have a huge problem with. No way I'm going to give my life for a piece of land, a piece of dirt. As long as there is a place in this world where I can escape a war, you can be sure I won't be fighting that war. It's another thing if my loved ones are in danger. There are a handfull of people in this world I'd die for, but if they choose to stay and die for some country I think I couldn't change their mind or save their lives.   

There is no country, no nation, no people, no politics, no religion, no system I'd die for. And you can call me a free rider, anarchist, parasite or coward. I acknowledge the problems in my views. If all people in the history would have thought like me, the world as we know it (or me as I am) wouldn't exist, possibly the human race wouldn't exist at all. You can be sure there was not a single day in the six months I spent in the army that I didn't think about this. And really we can't know for sure until a war is knocking at the door; who knows, maybe I wouldn't run after all. But why am I not fighting in every single war in the world right now, then? There's a lot of unjustice going on, why am I not fighting against it?

Because it doesn't concern me directly. The only purpose of life is to stay alive long enough to reproduce. Unless something is threatening my existence or the existence of my offspring (which I don't have and probably will never have) it doesn't concern me. Now the question is: do I think my existence is just that I breath and stay alive or is it something much more complex built on the system and things surrounding me? Would my picture of myself shatter if the system around me became nonexistent and so I'd need to defend the system in order to exist as I am now?

[dave jenkins]

According to you, everybody is a free rider until they pay their debt with blood.

Not true. You have to be willing to do it, and when the time comes, you have to face the risks that all the other fighters face. Not everyone who fights will die. But in order to participate in the lottery, you have to put your life in danger.

[PowerRR]

who the hell cares about pacificsts and shit? this movie is awesome

[dave jenkins]

The movie is crap.

[stanton]

Masterpiece for me. I love it 10/10

Unfortunately Cimino never made again a similar good film. Heaven's Gate is in parts overwhelming, but there are massive pacing and structural problems. Year of the Dragon is interesting, but thereafter everything went only downhill for Cimino.

[Kurug3n]

Bringing this thread back from the dead because of a new blu-ray release!

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=23510

I just rewatched the film and totally almost agree with Stanton but I did watch it on DVD and the transfer looked terrible so that might have impeded my judgement.

[PowerRR]

Awesome! But I wonder if the 4K UHD disc will be region free.... I think most of them are. It looks like the Blu-Ray is labeled as being Region B though.

If so it's a Day 1 purchase, this used to be my favorite film ever and I haven't seen it in ages. Certainly would still be Top 10.

[PowerRR]

Well, I pre-ordered the collector's set anyways. Here's to hoping it'll play on my player.

[Kurug3n]

Came across this information that can help answer your question: http://www.220-electronics.com/blog/region-free-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-players-fact-fiction/

[Folkis]

Well, I got a Bluehost plan pre-ordered the collector's set anyways. Here's to hoping it'll play on my player.

Oh Lord, I need to see this movie in 4k ultra HD... My mouth is watering at the thought of it. One of my favorite movies of all time.

[Novecento]

Unfortunately Cimino never made again a similar good film. Heaven's Gate is in parts overwhelming, but there are massive pacing and structural problems. Year of the Dragon is interesting, but thereafter everything went only downhill for Cimino.

I like all of Cimino's other stuff (although I've never seen Sunchaser). I think he was one of those incredibly talented individuals who unfoftunately went largely unacknowledged after his precocious beginnings (won an Oscar too early). That reminds me of Tornatore's situation with Cinema Paradiso a little actually...

[stanton]

He was talented, but le lost his reputation with the increasing loss of that talent as visible (or better not visible) in his later films.

I haven't watched Sunchaser either, but The Desperate Hours is already a catastrophe. Cimino suffered from the Corbucci syndrome ...

[Novecento]

Well Cimino took himself seriously while Corbucci at least gave off the impression that he didn't

We've debated "Desperate Hours" before on its own thread. I still say it is visually truly stunning in places.

[Novecento]

Finally, another critic who appreciates Cimino's visual brilliance:

“Of the American directors of so-called New Hollywood, Cimino was by far the most visually gifted."

He continues further down:

" 'The Deer Hunter' is the least visually distinguished of Cimino’s films (and that includes his mainly workmanlike remake of 'The Desperate Hours', from 1990), the one that’s most dominated by his script and by the showily earnest, quasi-Methodical, white-heat performances of its stars."

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/postscript-michael-cimino-1939-2016