Based in part on an unproduced screenplay by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker titled The Man Who Came to Play, The Deer Hunter follows three buddies from the steel mill town of Clairton, Pennsylvania. Michael Vronsky (Robert De Niro), Nick Chevotarevich (Christopher Walken), and Steven Pushkov (John Savage) work together, hang out in a local bar, and enjoy weekends deer hunting in a larger group with three other friends. But their placid life is soon to be changed after the three buddies enlist in the airborne infantry to go to Vietnam. So they all celebrate a goodbye at Steven's wedding and they leave for Vietnam. They are captured by the enemy and forced to play games of Russian Roulette to amuse their guards. They escape and Mike returns home to find Nick has stayed in Vietnam and Steven is handicapped after losing his legs and the use of one arm after the escape. Mike finds that deer hunting has changed for him after Vietnam and he returns to Vietnam during the fall to attempt to rescue Nick.

​When the record company EMI formed a new company called EMI Films in 1968, producers Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley purchased the first draft of the script for $19,000. It was originally about people who go to Las Vegas to play Russian roulette. When the movie was being planned during the mid-1970s, Vietnam was still a taboo subject with all major Hollywood studios, where it seemed that no American would want to see a picture about Vietnam. After consulting various Hollywood agents, Michael Deeley found writer-director Michael Cimino, whose background included TV commercials and the crime film, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Cimino himself was confident that he could further develop the principal characters of The Man Who Came to Play without losing the essence of the original. Over the course of several meetings, Cimino and Deeley discussed the work needed at the front of the script, and Cimino believed he could develop the stories of the main characters in the first 20 minutes of the film. By the time it entered post-production, the producers were pleased with the first cut, which ran for three and a half hours. However, executives from Universal were not very enthusiastic, especially Sid Sheinberg, who thought it was anti-American. Deeley agreed with Universal that the film needed to be shorter, not just because of pacing, but also to ensure commercial success.

The Deer Hunter premiered in New York City and Los Angeles on December 8th, 1978. After Oscar nominations were announced, Universal released the film nationwide on February 23rd, 1979. On April 9th, 1979, The Deer Hunter won 5 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Cimino), Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken), Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. The film also ended up becoming important for helping release patterns for so-called prestige pictures that screen only at the end of the year to qualify for Academy Award recognition.