The Deer Hunter with its unforgettable Russian Roulette scenes, is released

The Deer Hunter Released: December 8, 1978 Studio: Universal Genre: war epic Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 48.98 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 176.50 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Michael Cimino Screenwriting: Michael Cimino, Louis Garfinkle, Quinn K. Redeker, Deric Washburn Starring: Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep Directing: Michael Cimino Review: This is a “disturbing, emotionally powerful film” FS is “still America’s most controversial (and affecting) movie about the U.S. experience of the Vietnam War.” T98 “This sensitive, painful, evocative work packs an emotional wallop.” LM The story focuses specifically on Michael (De Niro), Nick (Walken), and Steven (Savage), three Pittsburgh steelworker buddies “who hang out in bars and hunt deer.” FS “Steven is getting married while Michael and Nick compete over the affections of Linda (Streep).” FS Their “lives are irrevocably changed by a tour of duty in Vietnam” A98 in which they are captured by the enemy and “among other things, …are forced to endure a game of Russian Roulette in the P.O.W. camp.” FS “De Niro is classic as the force that gets them out of a sadistic Vietnamese riverside prison.” VD He returns to Vietnam to try to rescue his “estranged friend Walken” A07 who regularly plays Russian Roulette “in a back alley of Saigon.” A07 This was director Michael Cimino’s second film. He’d debuted in 1974 with Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, “a cult crime caper starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges as the titular characters.” FS However, his career was destroyed by the disastrous epic Heaven’s Gate (1980).” FS Sources: A98 American Film Institute (1998). “AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies” A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” T98 Time Out (1998). “Readers’ Top 100 Films” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 5 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Walken), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Nominations: 9 – including Best Actor (De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Streep), Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leonard Maltin First posted 5/31/2023.

 

The Godfather Part II released

The Godfather Part II Released: December 20, 1974 Studio: Paramount Genre: gangster/epic drama Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 57.30 Worldwide: 88.00 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 214.30 Worldwide: 329.12

Directing: Francis Ford Coppola Screenwriting: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo Starring: Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Michael V. Gazzo Review: The Godfather Part II functions both as a sequel and prequel to its 1972 Best-Picture-winner predecessor. With “its meditations on family, the past and the corruption of America’s soul, melds historical sweep with searing personal intimacy” TV “the continuing saga of a Mafia family and dynasty” FS is, by some accounts, “considered superior to the original.” FS It is the only sequel to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The “hypnotic multigenerational saga” TV “intertwines and compares the lives” VD of Michael Corleone (Pacino) as the present-day leader and “De Niro, in a remarkable, uncommonly subtle performance,” TV as his father, Vito Corleone, before becoming “the ‘don’ of old.” VD “The film’s extended flashback sequences” A07 follow Vito as he “immigrates to America from his native Sicily at the turn of the century and maneuvers his family to power in the ghetto of Little Italy.” FS As the new godfather, Michael struggles “to bring his family into the modern age.” A07 He “confronts a second generation of criminal and family affairs in Vegas, Cuba, and in a Senate hearing on organized crime. After eliminating all rivals and enemies, he is a brooding” FS and “spiritually-broken” TV “character, alienated from his wife (Keaton), and the murder of own brother Fredo (Cazale).” FS “Aside from establishing its cast (Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, to name a few) as the premier actors of their generation…Coppola’s masterpiece is the cinematic equivalent of an un-put-downable book: Just try watching for only a few minutes. Impossible.” TV “Along the way are some of the most memorable, disturbing and affecting scenes in all of cinema: Vito’s first vision of the Statue of Liberty, his first murder, the attack on Michael’s Lake Tahoe estate, his quiet ruthlessness as he shuts the door on his estranged wife (Diane Keaton). And then there’s the lonely execution of Michael’s pathetic brother (John Cazale) as he fishes on a lake, a sequence so elegantly photographed and perfectly timed that every film school should offer a course on it.” TV Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 6 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (De Niro), Best Original Dramatic Score Nominations: 11 – including Best Actor (Pacino), Best Supporting Actor (Gazzo), Best Supporting Actor (Strasberg), Best Supporting Actress (Shire) Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin First posted 8/9/2019; last updated 6/3/2023.