R2 Deer Hunter SE Box Set in March!

[RichB]

According to an article at www.r2-dvd.org Warner plan to release a SE of The Deer Hunter, this is news to me and great news it is :D

[Thomasd]

I HAVE JUST WEED MYSELF. WHAT ARE THE EXTRAS? WHATS IN THE BOX? WHY IS IT NOT MARCH?

This will be great. Roll on March:clap:

[RichB]

Is that an attempt at taking the ****?
Was my wording so terrible?

:confused:

[Thomasd]

No! This is my favourite film EVER.

[RichB]

Oh! Well in that case
Cool :clap:

[urruri]

Great news

[charlie angel]

Great news indeed :)

'One shot...'

[Mike]

Excellent news. I have my doubts about the film but there's no denying that it's brilliantly made and powerfully moving.

[Doc Jim]

Cue John Williams' Cavatina ... ! :clap:

[Joe91]

there's no denying that it's brilliantly made and powerfully moving.
I couldn't disagree with you more! The interminable wedding sequence is surely one of the most boring ever filmed. Mark Kermode was spot on with his view of the film:At the risk of being thrown out of the 'respectable film critics' circle, may I take this opportunity to declare officially that in my opinion The Deer Hunter is one of the worst films ever made, a rambling self indulgent, self aggrandising barf-fest steeped in manipulatively racist emotion, and notable primarily for its farcically melodramatic tone which is pitched somewhere between shrieking hysteria and somnambulist somberness. It is a monument to everything that was wrong with American cinema in the mid-seventies, and a testament to the fact that, if allowed to do whatever they want, filmmakers will take their cameras and crawl up their own backsides. If you ever wanted proof that we really need producers like Joel Silver in the world (producers who will tell their directors to stop behaving like babies and cut to the chase now) then The Deer Hunter is it.

Read the full review here (http://www.filmfour.com/ff/ff_channel_kermode_archive_display_item.jsp?id=222) ;)

[John Hodson]

I used to love this movie - it just goes to show how ones tastes can change. I just can't watch it now; 20 odd years back, I thought the singing of The Star Spangled Banner at the end was intended as irony!

Anyone read Steven Bach's Final Cut about the making of Heavens Gate ? Mr Cimino was talented, but not quite as much as he thought he was. Still, De Niro and Walken were very impressive.

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So many films, so little time..

[Vinyl-Pants]

Ouch! That review of Kermode's is hyper-critical, but then he lost all credit when he declared he thought the best film ever made was the Exorcist. However he is very much in the minority with his opinion regarding The Deer Hunter - I cant think of a more powerful ending in any movie.

Lets hope the forthcoming R2 isnt too expensive and is substantially better than the mediocre R1 non-anamorphic transfer that is probably the worst quality DVD I own - the only one where interlacing is apparent.

[John Hodson]

Originally posted by Vinyl-Pants
Ouch! That review of Kermode's is hyper-critical, but then he lost all credit when he declared he thought the best film ever made was the Exorcist. However he is very much in the minority with his opinion regarding The Deer Hunter - I cant think of a more powerful ending in any movie.

That's my point, it works as irony, but Cimino says he never intended it as such, it is meant as a patriotic statement (!)

How bizarre is that?

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This is not 'nam; this is bowling.

[Mike]

I've read "Final Cut" - one of the best books ever written about filmmaking.

Having said that, I think "Heaven's Gate" is some kind of masterpiece, albeit a highly flawed one, and I generally prefer it to "The Deer Hunter".

[Gary Couzens]

In defence of the wedding sequence... It works as character drawing and also visual spectacle, not as "plot". The trouble is, viewing habits and expectations have changed over the last two or three decades, and for many people "character-driven" equals "slow" and "no plot".

As for the visual spectacle, it's fine on a cinema screen in 2.35:1, but it loses something on a small screen in the correct ratio and a huge amount if panned-and-scanned. (My first viewing was BBC2's pan-and-scan presentation in the early 80s, followed by a 35mm Dolby Stereo showing of an excellent-quality print at University, so I speak from experience.)