#67 The Deer Hunter - My name is Bambi, oh if someone would have put me out of my misery I wouldn't have had to sit through this...

1978. dir. Michael Cimino, starring Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, Meryl Streep, John Cazale.

Seen it before? No.

One of my very good friends lost her brother to Russian Roulette. To her and to others who have lost loved ones to gun violence I must say, DO NOT WATCH THIS!!!! Three hours is a long amount of time for a movie...especially one that didn't have much going on for huge chunks. It was like ugh...and yet I managed to stay awake for the whole thing. Even the painful scenes where the men are forced to play Russian Roulette.

Meryl Streep is just beautiful...then and now. I couldn't tear my eyes off of her when she was on-screen. Oddly enough I watched the Oscars right after we finished the movie and there she was nominated again (her 16th nomination). She's probably one of my favorite actresses of all time...I've seen a LOT of her films...she's incredibly versatile. And she has a softer beauty that Glenn Close, talented as she is, doesn't have with her sharp features.

I liked DeNiro in this film...He brought the tough as nails but damaged by trauma characters together nicely. I was rooting for him to get together with Meryl Streep...but that was a bit of an odd love triangle with Christopher Walken, Speaking of Christopher Walken, he wasn't nearly as creepy in this early film as he is to me now...though his character was so damaged by Russian Roulette that he started making a living out of it...ARGH. That ruined his not-so-creepy factor for me. As for the third guy, John Savage, I kinda just felt bad for him...he gets married at the beginning, gets completely damaged by the Viet Cong during their shooting game, and then doesn't want to leave the VA hospital to be with his wife and kid...Talk about being put through the ringer...

I thought the guy who owned the bar was probably the sweetest character. He cooked for them, he took care of them (them meaning the crew from the steel plant) even when he himself was feeling sorrow and grief.

I can't put myself through this movie. The scenes with the Russian Roulette (yes, I realize it's part of the main idea of this movie) just were too much for me.
No I wouldn't own it.