'The Deer Hunter' Ending explained: What happens to Mike in the end?

The Deer Hunter is a 1978 war-based film directed and co-written by Michael Cimino. This epic war film is one of the most celebrated war-based films in world cinema. The Deer Hunter stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, and Meryl Streep. But this film’s end has left many audience members confused over the years. Find out how the film ends and how a war tour in Vietnam affects the lives of three soldiers/ friends.

The Deer Hunter ending explained

The Deer Hunter is a film that focuses on the life of three friends who are soon leaving to serve in the military and their posting is in Vietnam. Before leaving for the tour, the three friends – Mike (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken). Before leaving for Vietnam, Steven gets engaged to Angela, but she is pregnant with another man’s child. Steven is unaware of this. Mike and Nick both love Linda, but Linda ends up accepting Nick’s proposal.

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Before leaving for Vietnam, Nick and Mike go on a final deer hunt. While in Vietnam, Nick, Mike, and Steven are captured by the Viet Cong. They are forced to participate in a game of Russian Roulette and Steven ends up being thrown into a cage. This cage is then thrown into a river full of dead bodies. Mike and Nick devise a plan to save Steven and escape the Viet Cong. They kill their captors and starting floating on a tree trunk after helping Steven escape.

Soon Nick is rescued by the aircraft crew, but Steven and Mike get stranded. Nick is admitted to a hospital and is suffering from major psychological and physical trauma. Whereas Steven and Mike are in Saigon. Mike returns to his normal life in Pennsylvania but finds it difficult to connect again. When he returns he notices that people around him cannot understand his situation and trauma.

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How does Nick die in the end?

When Mike visits Steven in the hospital he sees that both of Steven’s legs have been amputated due to the pain they suffered while the aircraft crew failed to rescue him. Steven tells Mike that he has been receiving huge chunks of money from Vietnam. Miek and Steven piece it together and are sure that Nick is sending the money.

Mike returns to Vietnam to search for Nick. He ends up finding Nick in a gambling den in Saigon. Nick is now a professional gambler but also a heroin addict. He fails to recognise Mike at the den. Mike tries to convince Nick to come back home but he fails. When Mike and Nick end up playing a game of Russian Roulette, Mike remembers his hunting trips with Nick and talks about them to him. Nick recalls the “one-shot” method and ends up killing himself by pulling the trigger of his gun and killing himself.

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