The Deer Hunter (1979) movie review - Sneak Previews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel
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- čas přidán 12. 05. 2019
- This is the original review of The Deer Hunter by Siskel & Ebert on "Sneak Previews" in 1979. All of the segments pertaining to the movie have been included.
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Roger is actually dressed like a deer hunter.
exactly..dressed appropriately like DeNiro for the review lol
It's a very influential film. 🤣
I sometimes forget what an intense, incredible, explosive, emotional, and brilliant actor DeNiro was in the 70”s and 80”s. I ran to the theatres to see his movies! Wow. Getting old sucks.
Well, we'll all get there one day, and all I can do is envy you for growing up in such a fruitful time for cinema
RIP TO BOTH SISKEL AND EBERT and give thanks to them for making me a movie buff
Same here.
The American public and the movie industry misses these 2 men desperately. Hollywood today makes so much garbage and has nobody to hold them accountable.
Thats because the industry was destroyed by piracy and file sharing. The only projects that get greenlit are ones they can guarantee will have an audience, so the lowest common denominator is the target audience. Blame the greed and stupidity of the average human being
wow that's a bad take. think about what you just said for more than a minute. its not even remotely true...
One of the most emotional films ever to hit the screen. Absolutely gut-wrenching masterpiece.
When I watched this movie the first time...I didn't get it. Thought it was too long and dragged. After watching it a second time...I got it. It is now one of my favorite movies.
It's a shame that Cimino was never again able to match the maturity and sensitivity shown in this film. He had some interesting misses after this, but this was definitely his masterpiece.
I'd be happy with one masterpiece in my career....most film makers never even get that far :)
Tinderbox... I think Heaven's Gate became his 2nd masterpiece over time. And much more appreciated later on.
Cimino was a self-indulgent narcissist who made ONE of the greatest films ever. He also made Heaven’s Gate and The Desperate Hours, both unintentional jokes in their own way.
Sad part is what wanted his Magnum Opus to be was Heaven’s Gate
Only problem is, things went to Cimino's head, and Heaven's Gate was the result.
One of the very finest movies ever made. I could watch this film every single week. The performances, the direction, the cinematography, the themes and tone. There's so much raw emotion in this movie, extremely powerful.
This film should go into re-release. The DVD and download culture allows great films to be swept under the carpet.. It deals with universal issues and should been seen in an immersive environment..
Agree.
There is a 40th Anniversary bluray out now. It looks great.
I'd love to see it in IMAX
I will not let these films be forgotten. Just know that there is at least 1 young person that appreciates these master pieces, experiencing them for the first time. Movies used to really mean something, and if we keep watching the ones like this then they still do.
Several years later, They've stopped making DVDs in favor of streaming and I'm not a happy camper...
Walken was so good he deserved that oscar. That russian roulette scene is just terrifying. The movie was a little long.
This movie is horse shit
I liked De Niro a lot though I this. Its the most sympathetic character I think I've seen him play. I'm used to see him playing unlikeable characters but he's so so good in this.
@@jothishprabu8 I never watched the whole film but saw the russian roulette scene & a few others. It is a very long film & I think by 79 people were sorta done with the depressing Vietnam type films. That's part of why many feel star wars did so well. People wanted to go to the movies to be excited & entertained
@@natalieps2387 by 79? Were there really that many Vietnam movies already out by 1979? I always think of mid 80s being the heyday for Vietnam movies. Platoon, Full Metal Jacket
@@natalieps2387 You have no idea what you are talking about. This and Coming home where the first two US films to have the war in Vietnam as a backdrop.
Wow! So you kept all your VHS recordings????? Incredible collection
It takes me back.
Thanks for sharing this. Just watched the movie for the first time and it was interesting to watch this segment / analysis in 2021.
Dude thanks so much for uploading, this is wild!
It is interesting. I did not care for the opening and the wedding sequence when I watched this film as a young man. But in later viewings, I loved it. Perhaps being a little more experienced allowed me to appreciate it more... Who knows?
The Deer Hunter is a great film and really does show the kind of society that used to exist in America.
There is a scene where Deniro’s character is walking Meryl Streep’s to work, the day after he’s arrived back from the war. As they go through town, everyone greets him ... It’s very heartbreaking...
Its because they dont make movies this good now so you are taking it all in.i did the same.
That was always one of my favorite parts. Having grown up in very more Russian Greek Orthodox / Eastern European immigrants steel mill community in Western Pa. (Clairton was 5 minutes from me), it was comforting.
This movie is not for most younger adults that will probably not appreciate it as much as us older people that have been through some tough times.
For me it’s the juxtaposition of the second part of the movie. Seeing them joyful and celebratory in a huge and traditional fashion seems like it drags at first. But on a rewatch, knowing what happens to them, I think it’s so powerful to see them together and joyous and overall ignorant of how horrible the war was.
Such detail in character development today audiences have too short an attention span for such detail.
you are correct, sir
@Red I truly believe the movie experience of the 1970s was the greatest since moving pictures were invented.
Nice generalised view of everyone that goes to cinema these days lol.
@@johnmc3862 Compare the movie audience of 1979 to 2021 lol.
@@johnmc3862 He is right.
My favorite DeNiro performance and the whole cast is stellar. My only criticism is that I never believed that men as old as these characters would voluntarily enlist in order to fight in Vietnam. These men were not wet-behind-the-ears, young and idealistic. They were too street-savvy to romanticize war like their fathers did in WWII. Vietnam was not a popular war; the fact that men would go voluntarily did not ring true to me.
True, perhaps if it was very early in the conflict, but there was no dialogue of politics or there thoughts on the war. They had the mentality of draftees but the faces of career soldiers.
Mainly it was Hollywood bullshit, as usual, but the movie is so well done and the cast is so great, you don't really mind.
Don't take these thing literally . There's a story here.
What I remember most about this film was it was the first time I saw what the interior of an Orthodox church looked like.
When was that? In the wedding scene?
One of the greatest movies ever made.
They don’t make them like they used to. It was all about story and characters back then.
@@theholymackerel072 story. Character. They used beautiful real locations to film. Not that green screen garbage and stupid marvel movies
I’ve watched it several times through the years. I think you have to consider Cimino was Italian. He structured the film like a grand Italian opera. The first act paints a picture of a community through a wedding ritual. Fate is indicated by a drop of wine. The second act is immediate horror with no escape. The third act is attempted resolution and the survivors coming to terms with the loss of their friends and of their naivety, and their continued love of country. It was the first of only a few films I’ve watched where I was left speechless.
I found the film boring but liked your comment.
Can you expound on the drop of wine symbolism?
@@derfunkhaus more foreshadowing.
@@williamshaw9047 lol at the idiot
@@derfunkhaus Blood will spill over in Vietnam, that's what
Patton would have went nuts seeing Nicky just sitting around in the hospital like that uninjured.
The Russian roulette scene is the most intense and frightening thing ever filmed.
After 20 or so viewings since 79, I am drawn to the relationships, this heart of the film is why at will last forever.
Brilliant film all around. The acting is off the charts, and Cimino's direction was exceptional
Ebert looks like he's about to go deer hunting.
The way it ended disturbed me in a way that no other move had and still has yet to.
For growing up in the northwest I loved “heavens gate” ever second of it was like wine couldn’t get enough I always thought Camino made a masterpiece that would take decades to really be appreciated… still waiting.. lol
Will always be my favorite movie.Saw it in my late teens and I am now 60.
Everything about this film is perfect, the acting,the directing by Michael Cimino ,a totally Magnificent film
To me it's one of those movies that really has something to say, but then doesn't really say much of anything. Which the critics love. Plus, they all seem to old for Vietnam anyway, even if they weren't drafted but enlisted.
It’s crazy that his directing career plummeted after this with bomb after huge bomb. At least we have this great movie
It drags on in places.
So many great movie reviews!
I wonder how Chris Walken was so good when there was no cowbell.
Mike Rogers 🤣
And no Cham-pag-nay.
I don't understand the joke, I must be missing something. Christopher said in a tv interview in 1979 that one of his brothers went to Vietnam and he was afraid something bad was going to happen to him.
@@dora1980 it refers to a famous Saturday Night Live Skit Walk-in was in.
@@mego73 I didn't know that.
With all due respect to Michael Cimino, there was no way he could top himself after The Deer Hunter. While I don't think his followup Heaven's Gate is as bad as some say, I will agree that the movie doesn't have a story, and its lead character's motives are confused and difficult to understand. Heaven's Gate also has a beautiful final sequence inside a boat. A marvelous shot of Kris Kristopherson looking melancholy and closing the door. I like this scene even though I don't know what's going on lol. He then made "Enter the Dragon", a film I originally thought was good but hurt by being overly violent and excessive, but now its grown on me and now I think it's very good and has a terrific, powerful lead acting job by Mickey Rouke. Michael Cimino is one of the most interesting directors in movie history in my opinion.
Thumbnail looks like an NES game 😂
Yeah maybe like contra lol
I have to rewatch this one. I saw at at 15 or 16 when it first came out. Except for the Vietnam sequence, it bored me to tears. Especially the long wedding scenes.
8:10 - 8:12 was Gene's reaction to a hearty bowel movement.
I think why it wasn't shown in theaters across the country at the time also had to do with the running time of over 3 hours. In 1979 we didn't have multiplexes. A lot of theaters didn't want a movie they could only show once in an evening. They wanted movies they could show twice to double their ticket sales and stay in business.
There were long movies back then, but usually not with such a somber tone. Also, Vietnam was barely a memory when the movie came out.
Exactly..Only after the film was awarded with 9 Oscar nomination could the theater owners justify screening a 3 hour movie every night..
It went into wide release once the studio saw the rave reviews. I think Time magazine made a big deal out of it being the first movie for which New York City theaters were charging five dollars for tickets. I saw it twice in my small town, the first time with a Vietnam vet.
First time I had ever seen or heard of Meryl Streep. The scene outside the church, after the wedding, as the couple was getting into the car, in which Meryl was just standing there watching them, smiling, she looked absolutely like a real person, not an actress, and I couldn't take my eyes off her.
John Savage always top notch performance in every role he plays also walken scene with the doctor I thought the actor playing the doctor did great just standing there kind of not really knowing what to do next while this soldier is having a breakdown or is waiting for the breakdown to end so he can finish and move on to the next man
Miss these guys so much
Come And See
The Deer Hunter
Two greatest war movies ever!
great movie
Meryl Streep...one of the greatest female actresses to ever grace the screen. She did this and Out of Africa...two completely different characters both equally amazing.
now we know that Walken's character is upset because of the uncomfortable gold watch in his ass
When you’re into fisting, you’re into fisting
The intensity that DeNiro brings to that Russian Roulette scene has always been in a class of its own. Trying to keep things together and his friends alive long enough to get more bullets in the gun. All of this while his own anger and frustration keeps on boiling over. He wants to kill that Vietnamese guy sooo fucking bad. It’s terrifying and heart breaking to watch.
Who else recalls the WFLD Channel 32 in Chicago TV premiere of this film in around 1981, showing it totally UNCUT with all the swear words including the few 'F' Bombs in it, and yes even leaving the entire, very intense Russian Roulette scene completely intact. Pretty gutsy move back then, and if I recall correctly there were only one or two commercial breaks as well...after all it WAS commercial TV, and not HBO lol, but I always wondered what kind of deal WFLD struck with the FCC or whomever to show it uncut, and I imagine part of the deal was including the strong parental guidance warnings before broadcast, of which I recall as well.
What do you mean UNCUT? The uncut Deer hunter is 3 hours and 45 minutes. And they cut 45 minutes! Did you see the whole almost 4 hour film?
The scene where Nick finds the Russian Roulette club breaks my heart every time. Michael and Nick were SO CLOSE to reuniting and avoiding tragedy, but it wasn't to be...
Yes, the Dear Hunter is a masterpiece of filmmaking. The problem I have with it is it portrays the Americans as the victims and underdogs, and the Vietnamese as pure evil.
So what if it does?
It's tough because I agree with you somewhat and know that some Vietnamese see it the same way. They think this film is antivietnamese. I can't agree with that. Think of Abu Gharib in Iraq and the torture given out by our side against Iraqi prisoners. It seems to me that war brings out the worst in everybody, no matter the nationality. You can't say for sure that American POW were not treated to horrific treatment under the Viet Cong or prisoner camps run by sadists. The film needs to be appreciated for the reasons S&E outline in their review: the Vietnam middle section is condensed to encapsulate the most horrific experience that innocents from the Midwest could endure.
Another point is that the inferior technology of North Vietnam had to be reinforced with brutal methods to instill fear. It was a bulwark against this disadvantage, for better of worse.
The Asians in general have less respect for human life, executing American wounded, cutting their genitals off pulling out their intestines in some cases. In Vietnam if you have a war film that depicts a VC dying they call you anti Vietnamese so their reaction is no surprise
@@jimmycakes7158 Human life, animal life, the planet. Most Asian countries don't give AF
Would it have made the film more digestible and the overall plot arc more understandable if they removed the entire Roulette scene (you know, to paint the Vietnamese in a better light). Would that have made the film better? Pretty sure it wouldn't have, and pretty sure making the Vietnamese look more caring and the Americans as equally heinous would have also defeated the purpose of of the movie, which was to show the trauma that the experience of war inflicts in one small group of friends perspective, not to document both sides tragedy in an unbiased and fair perspective.
A great film. Easily Cimino’s best.
His best? What about Heaven's Gate? Just kidding. :D
Thank you for this helpful logic in my mind
Saw this on Starz Encore a couple months ago.
As a Canadian I giggled a little at the end when they began singing God Bless America. I found it cringe and I wasn't alone.
It's been a long time Gene since a movie....
Ebert must have said that every few shows.
Raises glass "f**k it!"
Foreshadowing.
wow, the "F" word at 2:54 did not get censored on the TV broadcast?
It was PBS. They didn't have to.
interesting. other clips certainly had "censored" blips.
@@TobeyStarburst 40 years later and it would never have passed on today's PC tv.
Back then, the only "F" word was FUCK. Faggot wasn't even considered an obscenity back then. Even now, it's commonly used among teenagers, especially in hip hop culture I noticed. So no, it's not going to be censored. Certainly not in 1979.
This was a brilliant performance by Christopher Walken, but also people back then didn't realize that he's always like that.
He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen and an incredible actor
Great film though it does drag up until they go to Vietnam. Walker was outstanding especially in the Russian roulette scene in that hut.
Amazing movie!
I never want to see that movie again. Does that make it the best movie ive ever seen?
Yes it does because many of us CAN'T see it again.Once is more than enough for the Deer hunter. And If I could give an advice to someone who hasn't seen it and wants to see it is , switch on the lights and don't watch this film alone or very late at night like I did almost 30 years ago.
Nahhh they're wrong Deer Hunter isn't a combat movie at all its rather about veterans back home similar to Coming Home. That vietnam sequence felt more like Deliverance. It's a great movie but for me the combat movies were Platoon, Hamburger Hill and Full Metal Jacket.
This is a movie you love or hate. I love it!
Thought it OK. The pacing was odd, like a super long wedding. But then, it zips through 4 or so years, to 1975....
Deer Hunter is as hard a film to watch as you will ever see. Don't get me wrong, it's a great film IMO ,but get ready cause this one is gonna rip at your emotions for real. But if you like movies you should see it.
gene loved this and hated apocalypse now
Aw, man - neither of them liked FAST BREAK ?!? look fast @9:03
This movie made my dad change his views on Vietnam war..
The Russian Roulette scenes look contrived. The actors looked too old for Vietnam War.
The friends were together in the exact same unit on the same misson which would be rare if it ever happened at all
@@jimmycakes7158 Good point
@@jimmycakes7158 Not all of them, they stumbled across Deniro at the end of his mission before they were all captured together. But what's the point. It's all fiction, so why be nit-picky.
Christopher was 35 and he looked 25-27.
This is this...
When were those guys actually heading to Vietnam, 1977? And how old are they? The beginning of the movie they all look old enough to be parents, but they're shipping out to Vietnam? I think that's why this movie didn't really work for me, there was too much that was unbelievable to me, starting with that.
The movie takes place around the time the war was ending and they’re pretty much young adults (early ‘20s).
@@TooCooFoYou Yeah, I get it's not the 60's, but to me they still look/seem too old for the story. That's just how I see it though, I don't think the filmmakers made a mistake, and tried to pass older guys off as much younger, or anything like that. But for me, it was a distraction.
That's the problem with Hollywood: they go for big names over realistic casting. Look at "Shaving Ryan's Privates", Stephen Ambrose scoffed at the fact that Tom Hanks was playing a Captain. He claimed Hanks was way too old to be playing a captain.
If all you got out of this film was the age of the actors .....
@@SandfordSmythe-Exactly. I was thinking the same thing.
" it's not against the war ..." SERIOUSLY??? one of the strongest anti war arguments i've ever seen on the screen
Saw part of it. It's another rehab movie ... like all movies. I'm not against it, but I used to think movies were more than just dramatic experiences. They're just rehab stories with some cheering involved. Not a bad thing, but they don't tell you that in film school. I wasted my time with it. You want to be a successful film maker? Then go become a doctor and shoot a rehab story.
This film was released during 1978, not 1979.
Stupid comment but ok. Have you called the academy to report the mistake
The movie didn't come to Chicago until early 1979 after the Oscar nominations were announced...it only played in NY and LA in December 1978 to qualify for Oscar consideration...after the new year is when is slowly started to play in different markets around the country...that's how a lot of movies got released back in those days and still do depending on their importance and Oscar caliber prestige....that's why you see 1979 here in the caption and that's when Gene and Roger themselves finally saw it....
No desire 2 see it. Too sad.
If you don't embrace sadness, you'll never truly appreciate happiness.
war is hell.
GET ON WITH IT!!!
"One shot."
you want me to say what, like i dont get it, is that it?
GET ON WITH IT!
Could have cut This Deer Hunter by an hour easy.
Start with the wedding scene!
I love the cast, but just don’t get the adulation for this movie. It’s way too long, and has an absolutely preposterous plot with some over the top, melodramatic moments. It’s one of those movies that’s more “important” than actually good in my opinion.
The choice of this Russian Roulette thing - a historical slander of the (North) Vietnamese, however bad they actually were - was very unfortunate. Sadly S&E did not talk about this point.
It's s symbolic thing. At the time of the movie, there was still anger at the torture they did.
@@SandfordSmythe It's not symbolic. Michael Cimino in 1979 (search the interview , it's here on youtube) said that the russian roulette was a real thing in Vietnam.
@@dora1980 I'm not aware of that. I always saw suicide as the flip side of war. MASH the movie came out during the war, and it had a catchy theme song of "Suicide is Painless" which summed up my attitude towards possibly going to Vietnam. The scene had a powerful effect, and I think we miss a lot by seeing it as a documentary.
@@dora1980 it is symbolic. the visualization you see of the later 2 russian roulette scenes is pretty obvious, young men playing a game of chance with death as both vietnamese and white men in business suits watch and bet. all the while laughing and treating their lives as disposable. theres no honor in it, it takes the war and reduces it to a crude game of chance for the entertainment and enrichment of rich people who themselves dont have to put their lives in the line
The Deer Hunter is one of the most overrated movies ever. It drags on and on, has a non-representative episode in its Vietnam segment, and then doesn't know what to say about it afterward. It's got good segments but overall they don't add up to much. I've watched it probably a dozen times and get less impressed every time.
Finally saw this a few years back. Thought the whole Russian Roulette thing was weird. Felt it was overly-long. Dragged. Didn't really care about the characters. Film didn't really work for me.
For me, everything that happened before and after they were in country really hit me. They were just working class regular folks who had no idea what was heading towards them. Great performances.
I wondered why three guys in there late twenties and/or early thirties suddenly decided to all join the military and go off to fight in Vietnam at the same time.... That seemed pretty ridiculous to me.
@@tomwellman4500 It happens. They probably took pride in their country, and since they were all friends, they joined together for america.
@@kakashi101able, please. Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken were both 35 when the Deer Hunter came out in 1978 (and both looked every minute of their ages), and John Savage (who looked slightly younger) was 29. "It happens." Yes, but it's not very likely--especially for a war that had already been raging for several years before these three friends suddenly decided they wanted to join "for America". I'm sorry that I didn't like this movie as much as you did. Don't even get me started on the fact that they all met up again when they were in Vietnam (as if the entire country is the size of Mayberry) or any of that ridiculous stuff about being forced to play Russian roulette. You found it gripping and compelling. I found it overlong and pretentious.
Great performances in a weak film.
Whew. I'm not the only one who didn't think it was all that and a bag of chips.
I thought it had great scenes and acting but it was too long.
Great film but the Russian wedding stuff in the beginning goes on far too long, no?
too much rich actor method play acting and overlong indulgence. coppola’s was better.
Can I say something very unpopular? I hated the Deer Hunter. So many scenes dragged on, especially the wedding reception. The idea of russian roulette seems pretty thin. I don't know how anyone could sit through this overlong junk. The actors are fine, but they can't hold up this boring movie. I don't know how it won Best Picture, but at least Michael Cimino was given enough money to waste it on Heaven's Gate and we didn't have to sit through anymore of his pretentious garbage.
I saw this movie years after it won all its awards. I could not figure out what all the fuss was about. Three working class guys in there late twenties/early thirties all decide to fight in the Vietnam War at the same time? They all get shipped out on the same day and all end up not only being captured but also being held in the same prison camp.... That was simply to much disbelieve for me to suspend. And the whole being forced to play Russian roulette thing? Sheesh!
Long and annoying wedding scene more like
The movie is not really all that good. It’s mostly that one good scene-the Russian Roulette scene. The rest of the movie is padding for that. And from knowing people with military and war-time experience, I can tell you that it is highly unlikely that if four friends enlist and then go to another country to fight, they are ever going to see each other there. But all these guys end up together. It’s not going to happen.
I agree. “The notebook”. Is a real movie about true love. Meryl streep dosnt hold a candle to that Spanish actress in GILI. And bob denior character could of been played by Gilbert Godfrey
No the film is about the struggle many soldiers feel returning to so called normal life after witnessesing things no person ever should do. My favourite part was De Niro's character returning home.
I hated this movie
these guys don't deserve to call themselves critics. all they can do is describe a narrative and then stick out a thumb. fuck.
One of my least favorite movies about Vietnam.
Probably because it's not about Vietnam, but about how war and it's trauma effected a community and a group of friends. They could have easily made this happen around the Korean War, or WWII.
It still suggs, no matter what war it was based on.
I never liked this movie. I always thought Coming Home was far superior to this. It should have swept the Oscars.
Is that you, Jane Fonda?
Am I the only who thought that the Deer Hunter was completely stupid? I have been scouring the internet for just one harsh review but every single critic thinks early Cimino just craps cotton candy.
You are right. It's a terrible film.
Idiots
That's Heaven's Gate you're talking about.
Heaven's gate was boring and cruel to animals. The Deer Hunter was cruel to the audience's intelligence.
@@dominickk5293 Right about Heaven's Gate. Wrong about The Deer Hunter.
Sorry movie is a bit overrated...but that RR scene..scary
This movie was so boring. Also, thank you critics for spoiling major plot issues.
The most overrated film of all time. Figures that these two turds would think otherwise. Completely unlikable characters, ridiculous "plot". An absolute mess. Did anyone notice that Cimino's career went nowhere? That is not what happens when you have talent.
These "two turds" think otherwise because it's a terrifically powerful film.
Another crappy American movie about the US invasion of Vietnam. I would be willing to forgive the film's god-awful portrayal of the Vietnamese if the film was at least entertaining or interesting on some level. It is just so booooooring.
I found it boring and pointless. The story jumped around senselessly. The Russian roulette stuff was just a bunch of bs. No verified stories of this ever happening. I didn’t get the appeal at all.
I gave you a thumbs down.
tomloft2000 same
I don't think pointless. The roulette, I think, was a stand-in for war itself, which we never see much of in the movie. It's chaos, random chance as much as anything can be. That's the brutal truth of war that gets a lot of veterans truly demoralized: that lives are taken and broken without meaning, design or justification, and even more importantly, that there's very little one can do to protect one's self. Militaries and soldiers go on an on about drilling and preparation and fitness and weapons and equipment and patriotism and just cause and rah-rah-blah-blah, but it's really all crap, isn't it? That's the roulette...De Niro's character is special forces, Green Beret apparently, and he keeps a steadier head than the other two, who either give in to the emotional breakdown (Savage) or embrace only the chaos (Walken), but they all equally have to play the game. And in the end, survival isn't really enough. De Niro can no longer shoot the deer: He knows too much about how it feels to be on the other end of a weapon by the end.
The Russian roulette was a metaphor.
@@raymondm.9954 Something like the song " Suicide is Painless" in MASH?