De Niro versus Walken at Russian roulette. If you looked at the billing of the picture on your way in, did you ever doubt who was going to win? Zap—De Niro is unscathed but Walken dies—with a touch of the heroic smile on his lips. All this was exciting, and I enjoyed it every bit as I used to be enthralled by Batman having it out with the Penguin— —and precisely on that level. What Deer Hunter told me was what I already knew and believed in: No matter how horrid the notion of war, Robert De Niro would end up staring soulfully at the beautiful, long-suffering Meryl Streep. So I say in spite of
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