Synopsis for
The Deer Hunter (1978) More at IMDb Pro »

In Western Pennsylvania during the late 1960s, Russian-American steel workers Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), Nick (Christopher Walken), Stanley (John Cazale), John (George Dzundza), and Axel (Chuck Aspegren) are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military service.

During the infantry combat in Vietnam, the three are captured and held prisoner in a riverside prisoner of war camp along with other US Army and ARVN prisoners. For entertainment, the guards force their prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome. All three are forced to play; Steven aims the gun above his head, grazing himself with the bullet and is punished by incarceration to an underwater cage. Believing Steven broken, Mike considers abandoning him. Nick angrily rejects Mike's consideration.

Eventually, the three escape the camp by floating downriver on a tree. An American helicopter rescues them, but only Nick boards. The weakened Steven falls into the river. Mike jumps in to rescue him, as Steven has broken his legs in the fall. Mike carries him to friendly lines. The psychologically devastated Nick recuperates in a military hospital in Saigon. Afterwards, he aimlessly searches for Mike in the red light district. Nick encounters Julién Grinda, a champagne-drinking Frenchman outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money. Grinda entices Nick to participate, then leads him in to the den. Unbeknownst to Nick, Mike is in the crowd, as a gambler. Though Mike sees Nick, they do not reunite.

Back in the U.S., Mike eventually becomes romantically involved with Linda. Nick and Steven are still missing. Mike later reunites with Steven, who has lost his legs and is partially paralysed. Steven reveals that someone in Saigon has been mailing large amounts of cash to him, which indicates that Nick is still alive, and playing Russian roulette. Mike travels to Saigon just before its fall in 1975. With the help of the Frenchman Julién Grinda, he finds Nick in a crowded roulette club, but Nick appears to have no recollection of his friends or his home in Pennsylvania. Mike's attempts to persuade him to come home are unsuccessful. Nick raises the gun and shoots himself in the head.

The film ends with Nick's funeral back in America and his friends' response to it.