Stanley Kauffmann

“…. I hope that … film will find ways to use more of what [Walken] has already shown in the theater.

“The Deer Hunter does exactly that with Meryl Streep. She, too, has an unconventional face and a big talent, both of which were poorly displayed in a small role in Julia. I’ve seen her many times in the theater, beginning with her student days, and have happily watched her develop—her voice, especially—until now she is one of the best young actresses in the country. Here she looks beautiful, uniquely so—Zsigmond does better with her Degas-Monet face that with Walken. Her performance has the stamp of confidence: in her actor’s imagination and in her ability to realize it completely for us. She plays a commonplace girl entirely credibly and, at the same time, makes her archetypal.”

Stanley Kauffmann
The New Republic, Dec. 23 & 30, 1979
Before My Eyes, 324