One of the best war movies ever is airing on TV tonight

The film won five Oscars, including in the Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor categories.

The film begins in 1968 and follows Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), lifelong friends from a working-class Pennsylvania steel town.

Preparing to ship out for military service in Vietnam, before they go, they attend Steven's elaborate wedding and embark on one final group hunting trip.

"In Vietnam, their dreams of military honour are quickly shattered by the inhumanities of war," the plot synopsis reads.

"Even those who survive are haunted by the experience, as is Nick's hometown sweetheart, Linda (Meryl Streep)."

The Deer Hunter sparked controversy for its depiction of Vietnam, particularly its much-publicised scenes of the Viet Cong forcing American captives to play Russian roulette, a plot point widely criticised as having no historical basis.

Nevertheless, the movie was a massive hit at the box office and with critics. It went on to win five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Cimino, and Best Supporting Actor for Walken.

Decades later, the three-hour-long drama remains a devastating exploration of what critic Roger Ebert called "the deliberately random violence" of war and how it impacts an ordinary group of friends.

The film also boasts some of the best acting viewers are ever likely to see. It's worth noting that the great John Cazale (Fredo in The Godfather) has a supporting role in The Deer Hunter, which was his final movie appearance before his death at 42.

The war drama is airing on TV tonight on the channel Legend at 1.25am.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Dune - RTÉ One - 9.30pm

Denis Villeneuve's 2021 sci-fi drama, starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya.

Sweet Home Alabama - Virgin Media One - 12.15am

A successful New York fashion designer excitedly planning her wedding has to return to her home town in Alabama to persuade her first husband to sign the papers to finalise their divorce.

She Said - Channel 4 - 11pm

Two New York Times reporters break a story that helped ignite a movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood. 

The Lost Future - Legend Xtra - 3.10am

The world becomes an inhospitable jungle in the far future as a result of some long-forgotten catastrophe.

22 Jump Street - E4 - 10pm

2011 comedy, starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel and Lucy Punch.