To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the epic masterpiece The Deer Hunter out now on stunningly restored 4k restoration Blu-ray release, we take a look back at the work of the enigmatic director behind the film: Michael Cimino.
Magnum Force
You know you have major talent at your disposal when despite only having one previous credit to your name, you are hired to write the screenplay for the Dirty Harry sequel. Not to say that Cimino had complete creative control over said screenplay; the initial idea of vigilantes killing wealthy criminals who’d evaded justice came from a draft script for Dirty Harry, written by Terrence Malick. Don Siegel was not a fan of the concept, but Clint Eastwood was so impressed by the idea that it formed the basis of Magnum Force. By adding in some expert action sequences (particularly car chases), Cimino added some excitement to a very simple script, helping it to become one of the highest grossing films of 1973.
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Having impressed Eastwood so much with his rewrite of the Magnum Force script, Cimino was bought on to direct Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a comedy crime drama about an experienced bank robber (Eastwood) who brings his old gang back together for a daring new heist, with the help of a wise-cracking young sidekick (Jeff Bridges). Given perceptions of Cimino being an autocrat and a perfectionist with his later works, it seems as though Eastwood and Cimino brought the best out of each other as collaborators, as Eastwood was not a fan of doing more than three takes per shot, while Cimino tasked the young Bridges to make Eastwood laugh on and off set. A task he completed expertly. The film was a modest box office hit in its day, and this early success led the way for greater career highs for Cimino.
The Deer Hunter
Easily the highlight of Cimino’s admittedly short career, this film won 5 Oscars in 1979, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken. Much is known about the filming and post-production of the film, particularly the poor editors being given 600,000 feet of film to edit down. What might not be so known is Cimino’s commitment to realism; everything was shot entirely on location and it was the first film about the Vietnam War to be shot in Thailand. If you’ve seen the film you know how hard-hitting it is, imagine how it must have been for the actors. From hiring a local who disliked Americans to play the ruthless instigator of the Russian roulette game to John Savage yelling to Cimino during the river scene because of his fear of rats (which was left in the film), this was not an easy task. The result was one of the most successful and greatest films of the 1970s.
Heaven’s Gate
How do you follow up a legendary film like The Deer Hunter? Well if you’re Michael Cimino you follow it up with Heaven’s Gate, possibly the most legendary of film disasters that sunk United Artists and helped to kill off New American Cinema. Costing an astronomical (for the time) $40 million dollars and the original cut being 5 hours long with the edited cut Cimino begrudgingly shorted to 3 hours, the film also took so long to make that John Hurt had time to go and film The Elephant Man in-between. Much has been made of Cimino’s behaviour on set but he also fought hard to cast Isabelle Huppert over the objections of United Artists Executives.
Year of the Dragon
After Heaven’s Gate, Cimino didn’t direct another film for five years and when he did, it was involved in more controversy, as the film was protested by the Chinese American community for a stereotypical depiction of Chinatown. However, despite his past, the studio did give Cimino control over the final cut (provided he make one small change to the ending). Additionally, Cimino’s trademark perfectionism was actually an asset in Year of the Dragon, as the sets built for the New York City exterior locations were so convincing they fooled Stanley Kubrick, who was born in the Bronx.
THE DEER HUNTER IS OUT NOW ON BLU-RAY, COLLECTOR’S EDITION (INCLUDING FIRST EVER 4K ULTRA HD VERSION) AND EST BY STUDIOCANAL
