When I thought about this movie I always "remembered" that the deer scene was the last scene in the movie and was very powerful. I just re-watched and was surprised that it was actually closer to the 2/3 point. Didn't come across as powerful compared to my memory.
shareThe deer scene was powerful but the ending was unimaginably sad.
shareWhen I re-watched it (probably after 20 years, also) I was surprised that there was basically no dialogue for the first hour of the film. Just establishment of the life they led before going to war.
shareI have recently done the same, watching it with my college senior son who has a great appreciation for film. I r,embers how moving the final deer hunting scene was, but also knew that the film ended with the extremely sad post-funeral scene. I found that scene to still be heartbreaking but also clearly reflective of the negative, disappointing light in which the Viet Nam war was portrayed/viewed in the late 1970s when the film was made and even in the mid 1980s when I first saw it.
What struck me most was DeNiro’s performance. I recalled that he was great but was duly impressed all over again. I was also struck by how it seemed to forecast the quirky and offbeat roles that Christopher Walker would play in the coming years.
My son agreed that it was a great and moving picture although he felt it dragged some. I don’t think that is just a generational observation - I sensed it as well, to some extent, more than I recalled from past viewings.