The Deer Hunter 1978

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: Is it as good as its advance word and nine Academy Award nominations suggest? Yes. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: A disgusting account of what the evil Vietnamese did to poor, innocent Americans stands at the center of this Oscar-laden weepie about macho buddies from a small industrial town. Read more

Pauline Kael, New Yorker: It has no more moral intelligence than the Clint Eastwood action pictures, yet it's an astonishing piece of work, an uneasy mixture of violent pulp and grandiosity, with an enraptured view of common life -- poetry of the commonplace. Read more

Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News: In trying to measure the devastating impact of Vietnam on the lives of three American soldiers, Cimino brings home the true horror of that senseless conflict in a way that the 6 O'Clock News never could. Read more

Vincent Canby, New York Times: Its feelings for time, place and blue-collar people are genuine, and its vision is that of an original, major new film maker. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It is a heartbreakingly effective fictional machine that evokes the agony of the Vietnam time. Read more

Frank Rich, TIME Magazine: This excruciatingly violent, three-hour Viet Nam saga demolishes the moral and ideological cliches of an era: it shoves the audience into hell and leaves it stranded without a map. Read more

Chris Auty, Time Out: This is probably one of the few great films of the Seventies. Read more

Charles Schreger, Variety: The film is ambitious and it succeeds on a number of levels and it proves that Cimino is an important director who deserves to be watched carefully. Read more