With a strong anti-war theme, the movie is set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, and tells the story of three young Americans in a small town in Pennsylvania who experience the Vietnam War and the physical and mental devastation it brings to them.
The movie opens with Steven’s wedding to the pregnant Angela, which is also a farewell party for the three main characters, Nick, Steven and Michael, who are about to leave for the front lines in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, they are captured and forced to participate in a brutal game of “Russian Roulette,” a tense scene that demonstrates the brutality of war and the test of humanity.
After the war, Michael returns to the U.S., but finds himself unable to adapt to a quieter life, deeply affected by the war.
Stephen, crippled for life by the war, lives in a sanitarium and is reluctant to return home.
Nick, on the other hand, becomes addicted to a game of Russian Roulette in Vietnam and ends up drinking a bullet in front of Michael’s eyes.
1978 / USA / Drama War / Michael Cimino / Robert De Niro John Kizer
During the Vietnam War, three of the five best friends in the American town of Clayton who often hunt wild deer together, Nick (Christopher Walken), Stephen (John Savage) and Michael (Robert DeNiro), are about to head to the front. Robert DeNiro) are about to head to the front lines.
On the eve of their departure, Steven ties the knot with another close friend and girlfriend, Angela, and the wedding is their farewell party.
The three young men are captured on the battlefield by the Vietcong, who force them to play a game of “Russian Roulette”, and Michael takes the opportunity to take the Vietcong soldier’s gun.
Although the three friends managed to escape, they were separated during the escape.
Michael and Steven eventually made it back to the United States, but Steven was crippled for life and stayed in a sanatorium, unwilling to return home to drag his family down.
On the eve of the end of the Vietnam War, Michael learns from Stephen that he often receives anonymous money transfers from Saigon, which Michael concludes must be Nick.
In order to find his brother, Michael decides to venture into Vietnam again.
