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| “ | You have to think about the one shot. One shot is what it's all about. A deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that but they don't listen. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky's most famous line. |
| “ | I feel a lot of distance, and I feel far away. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky to Linda, about his feeling of distance after the war. |
Staff Sergeant Michael "Mike" Vronsky is the main protagonist of the 1978 epic war film, The Deer Hunter.
He is a Slavic-American steel worker, who is drafted during the Vietnam War, along with his best friends, Nick Chevotarevich and Steven Pushkov. After experiencing various traumatic events in the war, the trio attempt to reenter into society, but fail in several different ways.
He was portrayed by the legendary Robert De Niro, who also played Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Moe Tilden in Cop Land and Benjamin Ford in Killing Season.
Biography[]
In late 1968, Michael Vronsky is a Slavic-American living in Western Pennsylvania, who works in a steel mill along with his best friends, Nick Chevotarevich, Steven Pushkov, Stanley Stosh and Peter "Axel" Axelrod, along with their bartender friend, John Welsh. At this time, Steven is getting married, but he, along with Mike and Nick are drafted to be soldiers during the Vietnam War. During Steven's wedding, Mike asks his long time girlfriend, Linda to marry him.
One year later, Michael is seen murdering a Viet Cong soldier who had murdered a group of women and children hiding inside of a village. While at the village, Mike stumbles onto Nick and Steve, where the trio are then captured by Viet Cong soldiers, who force them to play Russian Roulette. After using his wits to mislead the soldiers, Michael murders the soldiers and rescues Nick and Steve. The trio are rescued by a helicopter, but Steve falls into the river due to his shot leg, with Michael jumping along with him in order to rescue him.
Nick is transported to a military hospital, now suffering from PTSD and encounters a business man by the name of Julien Grinda, who brings him to a gambling den, with two men competing in a game of Russian Roulette, where Nick then takes the gun and pulls the trigger on himself, with Mike watching the whole scene transpire.
In 1970, Michael returns home, now feeling extremely distant from his own friends and family, with him avoiding his welcome-home party. The next day, Michael learns that Nick is now missing and Steven is now invalid with his wife is now catatonic. During a hunting trip with Stan, Axel and John, Stan gets annoyed with Axel and points his revolver at him, to which Michael then points the revolver, now with one bullet inside, towards Stan and pulls the trigger. Stan thankfully survives, with him, Axel and John having no idea what Michael's going through.
Some time later, Michael visits Steven in a veteran's hospital, with Steven's legs now having been amputated due to his leg being shot during the war. Steven informs Mike about the large amount of money he received from Vietnam and how he refuses to return home after feeling that he no longer fits in with society. Despite this, Mike forcibly returns Steven home.
Mike returns to Vietnam and plans to return Nick home as well. Michael once again encounters Julien Grinda, and asks to play a game of Russian Roulette, knowing that Nick is still competing in Russian Roulette games. At this point, Nick has now become a master of the game, but also fails to recognize Mike. While playing the game, Mike tries to make Nick remember him, which somewhat succeeds when Nick remembers their conversation about the "one shot", the act of killing a deer with one shot. Just after this, Nick pulls the trigger on himself, with him then dying due to the bullet. Mike cries at the sight of his fallen friend, with Mike, Steven, Stan, Axel, John, along with their wives, reuniting with each other during Nick's funeral. After Nick's funeral, the group goes back to John's bar, where they sing "God Bless America" together in a way of honoring Nick.
Personality[]
On the surface, Michael seems to be the straight man in his group of long-time friends, acting the most serious and caring towards his friends. He also seems to be the most respectful of the group, as seen when Stan remarks at Mike, calling him a "f****t" due to Mike not having constant casual sex with random attractive women. Throughout his time in the war, he is seen supporting both Nick and Steven during the Russian Roulette scene, telling them that everything will be alright. After Steven falls into the river, Mike jumps into the water in order to save his life, showing how much he cares for others instead of himself.
After the war, Michael suffers from a sense of PTSD, mostly from the Russian Roulette competition. Despite seeming to be extremely passive-aggressive after the war, this is mostly from his feeling of isolation from his friends and family after Vietnam. One good example of his PTSD is the seen in which Mike nearly kills Stan, due to Stan, Axel and John having no idea what happened to him both mentally and physically during the war. Despite this, Michael is still the same person, caring for others, especially when he cries over seeing Nick kill himself in front of him.
Quotes[]
| “ | If I found out my life had to end up in the mountains, it’d be all right. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky. |
| “ | Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain’t something else. This is this. From now on, you’re on your own. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky criticizing Stanley. |
| “ | It’s a million-to-one shot against a sure thing. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky. |
| “ | I’ll tell you, Nick, you’re the only guy I go hunting with, you know? I like a guy with quick moves and speed. I ain’t gonna hunt with no a**holes. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky to Nick Chevotarevich. |
| “ | You wanna play games? All right, I’ll play your f***ing games. | „ |
| ~ Michael Vronsky before nearly killing Stan. |
Trivia[]
- Robert De Niro was nominated for Academy Awards' Best Actor, British Academy Film Awards' Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Awards' Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and American Movie Awards' Best Actor for his role as Michael Vronsky.
- During the infamous Russian Roulette scene, Robert De Niro didn't feel Nick's actor, Christopher Walken, was not into the scene enough, and so he asked the actor who played the leader of the Viet Cong soldiers, to slap Christopher Walken extremely hard during filming.