1. The Deer Hunter Is Too Damn Long
Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter is a cinematic masterpiece, bringing home the torment of the Vietnam War and its effects on the soldiers with brutal, sledgehammer force, topped by a career best performance from Christopher Walken especially. However, it's also a notoriously long film that, at 182 minutes, doesn't really justify that length. The film is divided into chapters in which we see the soldiers at home, then they head off to war, then some return, and then some of them head back, and the most noticeably lengthy section is the opening 40 minutes or so. While this does introduce us to the characters in impressive detail, the sagging pace really makes us feel exhausted before we even really get to the narrative meat underneath. Perhaps that's the intended effect, to mirror the wear and tear of the Vietnam War, but at the same time, there's an inescapable feeling that it could have been trimmed down by a good half-hour or so. I love the film, but because it's a demanding sit, I can only watch it every few years. Am I right? Am I wrong? Which great films do you take a little umbrage with? Let us know in the comments below.