They eventually manage to escape and the rest of the film details their post-war trauma: Michael feels estranged, Steven loses his legs and refuses to see his wife, and Nick disappears into Saigon's underground gambling where Michael returns to try and rescue him. The three friends are reunited only to be captured by the Vietcong. The film depicts the shock of being thrown into battle by abruptly cutting from the friends' quiet hunting trip to a terrifying combat scene in a burning village. Director Michael Cimino stretches out the opening scene to build up the sense of dread in their last few moments of normalcy. The first hour of the film depicts Steven's wedding, only two days before their departure for basic training, in methodical and novelistic detail.
'The Deer Hunter' follows three friends from a blue-collar, Russian Orthodox community in Pennsylvania - Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Steven (John Savage).
