The Deer Hunter

Mike, Nik, and Steve are captured by the Vietcong and imprisoned in cages filled with water up to their legs. Some prisoners are kept in cages where the water is up to the men's noses and rats are swimming around them. They are forced to play Russian Roulette, where one bullet is placed in a revolver's chamber and terrified victims are forced to put the gun to their heads and pull the trigger. Some survive and some shoot themselves, with the attendant blood seen. Vietcong soldiers bet on this game and beat those who delay pulling the trigger. Wounded and dead soldiers are seen, some with blood on them. A drunk driver recklessly and deliberately passes a large truck on the right. Linda is beaten by her father. A man puts his hands on a woman's behind as they slow dance. A jealous boyfriend tears them apart and punches his girlfriend. Mike has a bloody wound over his eye. A broken bone is seen sticking out though a man's leg. A man loses his legs and the use of an arm. A Vietcong soldier tosses a grenade into a bunker where women and children are hiding, presumably killing them all. In combat a man is set on fire and screams. Nik loses much of his memory and his mental stability and is easily recruited by a devilish war profiteer. As he becomes a professional Russian Roulette player, he abandons his previous life -- friends and love -- to enter a living hell.

Men are shown showering from behind. A woman in a robe and bra is in bed with a bare-chested man. They embrace in the dark. A bride is pregnant. A couple makes out in a coat room. A man puts his hands on a woman's behind as they slow dance. A jealous boyfriend tears them apart and punches his girlfriend. While drunk, Mike tries to put the moves on Nik's girlfriend, leaning in to kiss her, but withdrawing out of loyalty. Drunken Mike strips all his clothes and runs from his friends. Full nudity is seen from far and in the dark. In a Saigon red light district, girls dance in bikinis at a bar. Prostitutes solicit men in bars. One takes Nik upstairs to a room, but her small child is there and Nik leaves. A woman invites a man to bed so they can "comfort" each other.

"F--k," "motherf--er," "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "goddamn," "bastard," "hell," "faggot," "p---y," "piss."

Adults smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, sometimes to excess. Men drive while drinking. Men drink in the morning. Track marks are seen on the arm of a presumed heroin addict.

Parents need to know that The Deer Hunter, director Michael Cimino's 183-minute, 1978 epic, uses extreme violence to underscore the brutality of war and men's best and worst tendencies. The lives of three great friends are ruined when the Pennsylvania steelworkers join the army, see hideous combat in Vietnam, and suffer post-traumatic stress. The graphic violence and depiction of psychological trauma are not for kids. Women and children are deliberately killed by soldiers. Prisoners are tortured and, most famously, forced to play Russian Roulette for the amusement of captors gambling on the outcomes. Several men shoot themselves in the head. War trauma sends some of them even deeper into a netherworld of violence and, in at least one case, drug addiction. A drunk man who has stripped off his clothes is seen nude from far in the dark. The language is coarse: "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "p---y," "bitch," "bastard," and "faggot." Men drink shots and beers with their breakfast. Drunk driving is depicted. The movie was a critical success, won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and was designated number 79 on the American Film Institute's list, "100 Greatest Movies." The commentary on violence, war, survival, and friendship may be lost on younger viewers amid the horror and violence.

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