A richly detailed, angry picture, for many 'the' Vietnam war film, but one that also deals with such subjects as American small-town life, rites of passage, and love and death, in a way that haunts the memory. Director Michael Cimino trained as an architect and he has constructed the film like a mighty building where every stone has a function: here each frame has a tale to tell. He extracts convincing portrayals from De Niro (Oscar-nominated), John Cazale and John Savage and a marvellous dominating performance from Christopher Walken that established his star status and won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Other Academy Awards included Best Picture, Best Director for Cimino, Best Editor for Peter Zinner and Best Sound. Meryl Streep, in one of her earliest roles, plays the girl who turns from Walken to De Niro in the numbingly poignant later stages of the film.

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