DEER HUNTER, THE 83
Follansbee and Weirton, West Virginia. The deer hunting scenes were shot in the
Heather Meadows area of Mount Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest and at Nook-
sack Falls in the North Cascades range of Washington State—2,700 miles from
Clairton but visually spectacular (the deer was actually an elk, which is not indig-
enous in the Eastern states). The Vietnam scenes were filmed on location in Thai-
land during the second half of the six- month shoot. The production’s liaison in
Thailand was General Kriangsak Chomanan, head of the Thai military, who pro-
vided the film with army vehicles, weapons, and aircraft— but had to take it all
back, at least temporarily, because he needed the war matériel to stage a coup on
20 October 1977. Bangkok substituted for Saigon. The harrowing prisoner of war
(POW) camp scenes were shot on the famous River Kwai, in the Katchanburi dis-
trict of northern Thailand, near the Burmese border, and took an entire month to
shoot. A perfectionist notorious for shooting large numbers of takes, Cimino was
already well over bud get when he started the Thailand portion of the production.
Bad weather and logistical difficulties doubled the duration of the shoot there, from
two to four months. Originally allotted $8 million for production, The Deer Hunter
ended up costing $13 million ($52.5 million in 2017 dollars).
Plot Summary
[Act I] The setting is Clairton, Pennsylvania, at the end of 1967. A group of Rus-
sian American steel workers—Michael “Mike” Vronsky (Robert De Niro), Steven
Pushkov ( John Savage), and Nikanor “Nick” Chevotarevich (Christopher Walken),
along with friends and co- workers Stan ( John Cazale) and Peter “Axel” Axelrod
(Chuck Aspegren) and local bar owner and friend John Welsh (George Dzundza)—
ready themselves for marriage and military assignments. Before Mike, Steven, and
Nick leave for basic training, Steven and a pregnant Angela (Rutanya Alda) have a
Rus sian Orthodox wedding. All the while, Mike tries to cover up the fact that he is
in love with Nick’s girlfriend, Linda (Meryl Streep). While enjoying the wedding
reception, the men notice a lone Green Beret (U.S. Army Special Forces) sitting at
the bar. Mike tells the soldier that he and his friends are headed to Vietnam, and
the Green Beret toasts them saying, unnervingly, “F— it.” Linda and Nick get
engaged after she catches the bride’s bouquet. Nick later makes Mike promise not
to leave him in the combat zone if anything should happen. The friends go hunting
the next day, and Mike gets frustrated with Stan, who is unprepared and shows
no respect for what Mike considers a sacred ritual. Mike kills a deer with a single,
well- aimed rifle shot. [Act II] In Vietnam, U.S. soldiers attack an enemy village
with napalm. Mike, a staff sergeant, watches a North Viet nam ese Army (NVA)
operative kill a woman with a baby and then kills the operative. Si mul ta neously, a
group of “Huey” he li cop ters delivers a number of American infantry troops to the
combat zone, including Nick and Steven. Mike, Steven, and Nick re unite, but are
soon taken prisoner by enemy combatants and sent to a POW camp. The sadistic
guards have the POWs play Rus sian roulette, gambling on the outcome. Mike, Ste-
ven, and Nick all play, but Steven is unable to play against Mike and shoots at the
air instead. As a result, the guards cage Steven underwater with rats. Mike and
Nick plot an escape, convincing the guards to let them play with extra bullets and