MovieChat Forums > The Deer Hunter (1979) Discussion > I found this movie highly overrated

I found this movie highly overrated


I really did not enjoy it that much, maybe I was not in the mood for this type of film, but really found it overrated for me anyways, usually I enjoy what IMDB rates highly but this got my lowest rating for the top 250, only give it 5/10, kind of boring to me!
PS, I do enjoy war movies or movies that have some relationship to wars but not in this case!

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I just watched it, and I agree with you! It may have been great for it's time, but I found it over long and slow moving. The wedding ceremony and party seemed to last forever. I prefer Platoon, when it comes to films about Vietnam.

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[deleted]

Platoon is horse *beep* Oliver Stone is probably the most overrated director in Cinema. Way too preachy. This film is entertaining and the bond between friends is realistically shown. I don't know of one war film that is accurate from a Vets outlook... But most point to Apocalypse Now for its subconscious level and newer films like We Were Soldiers for there realism. I don't think any realism necessarily makes a good FILM. Its the STORY that holds up over time. This does...

Hamburger Hill... Combines realism and a cinematic view for one of the best and well rounded Vietnam films. Much better than Stones crap

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and that is the problem. It was a great movie that was hidden by bad editing decisions. This film could have easily been 2 hours instead of the 3-1/2.

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It is highly rated because it was one of the first ones to show the impact of Vietnam war in daily lives of soldiers. Otherwise it should be rated 2 or 3 stars.

In those times everyone was experimenting and some made movies about Vietnam war. Apocalypse Now is the best Vietnam war movie of those times.

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. - Charles Dickens

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I think there's more that goes into the plot of a movie. Yea, it definitely doesn't bring out the same emotions in people today as it did when it came out, but the acting is what makes it hold up.....watching Deniro, Walken Is a beautiful thing.

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I finally saw it a few years ago,was a chore to sit through,I give it a 5

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Good movie, but its run time is atrocious...no reason it should have run over 2 hours. That was Cimino's downfall, as evidenced by 'Heaven's gate'. He didn't know how to edit the storyline.

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I agree it was too long. It's a good movie, but dark and depressing. Very good acting--I loved the music. It shows how war changes people. Going in they were young an inexperienced and coming out they were forever changed, and not in a good way. It's a movie that stays with you long after it's over.

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Good movie, but its run time is atrocious...no reason it should have run over 2 hours. That was Cimino's downfall, as evidenced by 'Heaven's gate'. He didn't know how to edit the storyline.

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I feel it's to detailed and really long. The parts that work gets overrun by the parts that don't work.
Was it really necessary to make it 3 hours long? Was it that interesting to show the whole wedding process and party? Was it gripping to see how Mikey bowled, or go the store? We don't need all those details, we get the characters anyway.
It's a 2 hour movie being stretched out to a 3 hour movie. A great example of what happens when you give the director to much power and freedom.

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Agreed. It wasn't because it was long and boring. It was long, but I didn't find it boring. It held my attention just fine, but it wasn't all that powerful or impressive.

Didn't enjoy it on any level, and I feel like it was a little pretentious, the type of pretentious that somehow resonates with people.

Strong cast, maybe some tension for people who don't know what happens, but otherwise 3 hours that didn't really have much to say.

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Basically agree with OP. My rating is 5.3 out of 10 - and that is forcing some generosity because I know it was a fresher point in 1978 that had not been made a million times - as it has by now.

It definitely had a feel of doing homework to get through it. Very low on the rewatchability continuum.


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Weird.

Because I found this film to be an beautiful piece of art.

Everyone to their own opinion anyhow.

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I have never been able to get into this film, either. I have tried about 4 times, and just can't get through it. It has a truly incredible cast...everyone in it is amazing...but it just feels very disjointed to me, and VERY overlong. Again, though, stellar cast.

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The problems I found with this film are that it's long and it doesn't explain much. It's one of those ''artsy'' films that are extremely subtle, full of little hints and nuances. You have to guess all the time what the characters are thinking and how they're feeling. And that is exhausting, specially when you don't care too much about the characters in the first place. (I made a thread asking questions but I was massively ignored –maybe because my questions were stupid or maybe because the movie doesn't really answer anything, I don't know–).


Frankly, I hate that. I think movies should have a concise story and a good dialogue. When it's full of silences and stares and they leave everything to the viewer's interpretation and the dialogue doesn't reveal much, is like I have to make sense of the movie, which is the director's work. and I feel cheated, like the screenwriter/director was too lazy to do his work right and make something coherent and realistic and, instead, to disguise it, decided to make it ''artsy'' for (mostly) pseudo-intellectuals and hipsters to praise.


And that's why I hate David Lynch, Terrence Malick, 2001: A Space Oddyssey...


However, I can understand there are some people who love exactly what I despise. So I can understand the high mark.


What I find most weird though is how no one has come to this thread yet to say: ''you didn't like 'cause you don't get it'', ''you didn't get it because you're an idiot'', ''you're just a troll'', ''you're a simpleminded idiot''... etc.

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that is actually an astute observation. It is refreshing, isn't it? No people telling strangers that they must be idiots for not having the same opinion...

I personally loved this movie for every reason that you disliked it. The greatest war movies to me are about the battle fought within, after the war is over. I think this movie was the first in that vein. (I do agree with you on 2001, though! I must be the biggest idiot, but I cannot get through that damn movie!)

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