Robert De Niro, Christoper Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, and Chuck Aspegren are steel-workers who have known each other from childhood. George Dzundza is the owner of their favorite tavern. Meryl Streep is the often distraught girlfriend of Walken, and later De Niro. Rutanya Alda is the early-term pregnant bride-to-be of Savage, and their wedding is the focal point of the first third of the film.
De Niro, Walken, and Savage have unwisely volunteered to serve in Vietnam. They are promptly captured by sadistic Vietnamese soldiers who force them to play Russian Roulette against each other. De Niro manages to turn the tables and lead an escape, but Savage is crippled during their subsequent rescue. Walken is so traumatized that he remains in Vietnam as a near-zombie compelled to play Russian Roulette in gambling dens. De Niro returns home briefly, but as Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese, De Niro journeys to Vietnam to bring back Walken.
How others will see it. An early entry in the wave of Vietnam movies, The Deer Hunter became a must-see movie and a box office hit. It won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Walken). De Niro and Streep were nominated but did not win. Cazale did not live to witness the film's reception, as he died during post-production.
While the film did wonders for the careers of its leads, Cimino squandered his gains on his very next film, the costly debacle Heaven's Gate (1980). Cimino has since had little impact, although he occasionally writes and directs.
But The Deer Hunter has always been highly regarded, and at the time of writing is ranked #134 in the imdb.com Top 250. The user ratings are also very consistent, with a slight gender gap likely due to the graphic violence and an early scenes of domestic abuse. The gender gap would likely have been larger except for the substance of Streep's supporting role.
How I felt about it. The Deer Hunter is quite a film, and its effects on the first-time viewer are devastating. The wedding scenes are especially convincing. We are also impressed by the cast, down to the despicable Vietnamese soldier (Somsak Sengvilai) who forces his prisoners to play Russian Roulette.
Naturally, some story elements don't quite come together. Cazale doesn't fit in with his group of cooler buddies. Why should Savage marry the clearly older Rutanya Alda when the latter is pregnant with another man's child? Would De Niro go to such lengths to save Savage and Walken if it wasn't a movie? Would a military doctor really release the disturbed Walken into the streets of Saigon? Would Walken really become a suicidal zombie? If so, would he survive for several years playing Russian Roulette every night? I know that Kate Smith sang "God Bless America" before Penguins home games, but would the buddies know all the words? Heck, I don't know all the words to the Star-Spangled Banner.
Ultimately, these concerns are relatively minor. It is a good to great movie despite its flaws. Not only is it generally well made, but it has a clear theme in demonstrating the devastation caused with by the evils of war.