The Deer Hunter (1978)

The Deer Hunter rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.1/10· 387K votes

Rotten Tomatoes86%

Metacritic90%

TMDb8/10· 4K votes

With 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.1/10 on IMDb and 90/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About The Deer Hunter

Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.

Cast of The Deer Hunter

• 

  Robert De Niro

  as Michael Vronsky

• 

  Christopher Walken

  as Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich

• 

  John Cazale

  as Stan

• 

  John Savage

  as Steven Pushkov

• 

  Meryl Streep

  as Linda

• 

  George Dzundza

  as John

• 

  Rutanya Alda

  as Angela

• P

  Pierre Segui

  as Julien

• 

  Amy Wright

  as Bridesmaid

• 

  Richard Kuss

  as Linda's Father

• 

  Joe Grifasi

  as Bandleader

• D

  Dennis Watlington

  as Cab Driver

The Deer Hunter facts

Budget

$15M

Box office

$49M

Our take on The Deer Hunter

Michael Cimino's 1978 war drama traces three steelworkers who enlist together and ship out to Vietnam, one leaving behind a hurried marriage, the others a shared love. What they endure in the war marks them permanently. Cimino takes his time, building an unhurried working-class world before the violence arrives, so the rupture lands with real weight. This is a long, demanding film that lingers on friendship, faith and the damage men carry home rather than on combat spectacle. It rewards patient viewers who want emotional immersion over pace, and anyone drawn to sober American cinema about the war's private, lasting cost.