Roger Ebert gave The Deer Hunter 4 stars... his highest rating for a movie but he said it still wasn't a perfect film and one of his complaints was "unnecessary ambiguities in De Niro's character." Does anyone have any idea what exactly he might have been referring to?
shareHomosexual subtext.
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The streaking scene was the first major clue.
shareAs i pointed out in another thread, when Nick catches up to Mike on the basketball court, Mike is laying there butt naked with a hard pole sticking up between his legs. Cimino denied any homosexual subtext, but I honestly think he put it in the movie whether it's true or not. Adds a lot of conversation and interest.
shareI personally liked his character. I would guess Ebert meant that he thought that the character was conflicted on too many levels -
1. A closet intellectual working in a steel plant.
2. Being secretly in love with his best friends girl.
3. His entire "one shot" theory of hunting.
4. His loner complex in male bonding movie.
All the conflicts can make the character seem ambiguous to the first time viewer and detract from the story.
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I respect Ebert's critical reviews but his job was to give his opinions from ONE viewing IMMEDIATELY after seeing the film.
Time and repeated views can give the viewer a different take on the film and it's characters.
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