The Deer Hunter (1978)
Drama, War • 3h 3m
Director: Michael Cimino
Cast: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza, Rutanya Alda, Pierre Segui, Amy Wright, Richard Kuss, Joe Grifasi, Dennis Watlington, Shirley Stoler, Chuck Aspegren, Mary Ann Haenel, Mady Kaplan, Paul D'Amato, Christopher Colombi Jr., Victoria Karnafel, Jack Scardino, Joe Strnad, Helen Tomko, Charlene Darrow, Jane-Colette Disko, Michael Wollet, Robert Beard, Joe Dzizmba, Stephen Kopestonsky, John F. Buchmelter III, Frank Devore, Tom Becker, Lynn Kongkham, Nongnuj Timruang, Po Pao Pee, Dale Burroughs, Parris Hicks, Samui Muang-Intata, Sapox Colisium, Vitoon Winwitoon, Somsak Sengvilai, Charan Nusvanon, Jiam Gongtongsmoot, Chai Peyawan, Mana Hansa, Sombot Jumpanoi, Phip Manee, Ding Santos, Krieng Chaiyapuk, Ot Palapoo, Chok Chai Mahasoke, Joel Thingvall, Gary A. Jones
Best video release
2020 Shout! Factory 4K
2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV
Best audio release
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.
UHD tiers
About the film
A group of working-class friends decide to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.
- Featured Lists
- TSPDT
- 2026: #1592025: #1682024: #1672023: #1662022: #166
- Alternative Titles
- The Man Who Came to Play
Director: Jean Vigo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
France Rimini 4K Blu-ray see caps vs Artificial Eye Blu-ray
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton & Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Otakar Vávra
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review
Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD
Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original LaserDisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Director: Basil Dearden
Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray vs Criterion
Three masterings of the original Dolby Stereo SR mix exist: the original Orion video releases, the Criterion (which is from their LD) and the Arrow. All three are excellent with slight mastering differences between them. The original Orion still is probably the one with the most fidelity, the Criterion is the cleanest with a kind of warm feel to it and the Arrow has a bit of both aspects. The Arrow mastering has a tiny almost imperceptible bit of audio bleeding into the surround that isn't on the Criterion. Each has their own pluses and minuses but you can't go wrong with any of them. Whatever you do though: DO NOT WATCH WITH THE 5.1 REMIX. It is another MGM botch job that fundamentally alters the impact of many scenes. It is vastly inferior to the original mix in every way.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: Michael Cimino
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Capelight 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber caps. Capelight has better encoding than the Kino.
Recommended upgrade for viewers who aren't DV compatible due to Capelight properly encoding the HDR10 base layer instead of Kino, who require a huge DV layer to "fill in" picture information from a more compressed / compromised
Director: Michael Cimino
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Not sure about foriegn
Edit history
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.