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Deliverance (1972)
Director: John Boorman
Cast overview: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds
Running time: 110 minutes
John Boorman's 1972 film about four friends - Ed, Lewis, Bobby, Drew - who go on a canoe trip down the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a huge lake has become something of a cult seventies classic. In all honesty, it's not hard to see why. This is a film that gets under your skin and sticks with you emotionally. It's disturbing, powerful, brutal and harrowing, and - although it's not a horror film - it provides many horrific and frightening moments that provide lessons in suspense and fear. It also happens to be intense - this is fast-paced and it's clear that this works to its advantage. The most famous scene is perhaps that of the duelling banjos, but virtually all of this film sticks with you, even if not all of it works as well as it could.
One thing that does work very well is the backwoods Georgia setting. I'm a strong believer that a film can be made on its setting, and this is a very good example. The fast-flowing river and dense woodland both serve to create a sense of isolation that wouldn't exist as powerfully without such stunning scenery. I was reminded of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in both the odd locals but also in the scenery and landscape that is a character in itself, and this character is a violent one.
The plot is believable (perhaps adding to the film's overall impact), and the acting is second-to-none, with all four of the main cast acting as well as they've ever done, particularly Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. What I do like is the versatility and variety within the four main friends, as well: one is typically macho, another an overweight insurance salesman, another a meek everyman, and there is also the humanitarian family man and guitarist. These believable characters make it all the more disturbing, and as a result we empathise with and understand them. The crazy locals also add to this film's brutal qualities.
There's no doubt that this is a very good film and, while I don't think it's quite as good as some reviewers have suggested in naming it one of the best films of the seventies, it still holds up as a brutal and shocking picture, over forty years after it was first released. Recommended.
Quotes
Lewis: Sometimes you have to lose yourself 'fore you can find anything.
Mountain Man: What do you want to do now?
Toothless Man: [grinning] He got a real pretty mouth ain't he?
Mountain Man: That's the truth
Toothless Man: [to Ed] You gonna do some prayin' for me, boy. And you better pray good.
Ed: Look, what is it that you require of us?
Mountain Man: What we, uh, "re-quire" is that you get your god-damn asses up in them woods.
Trivia
Burt Reynolds broke his coccyx while going down the rapids when the canoe capsizes. Originally, a cloth dummy was used, but it looked too much "like a dummy going over a waterfall". After Reynolds was injured and recuperating, he asked, "How did it look?" The director replied, "Like a dummy going over a waterfall."
Billy Redden, the boy with the banjo liked Ronny Cox, and disliked Ned Beatty. When at the end of the dueling banjos scene, the script called for Billy to harden his expression towards Drew Ballinger, Cox's character, he was unable to fake dislike for Cox. To solve the problem, they got Beatty to step towards Billy at the close of the shot. As Beatty approached, Billy hardened his expression and looked away - exactly as intended.
To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured - and the actors did their own stunts. (For instance, Jon Voight actually climbed the cliff.)
Trailer
Director: John Boorman
Cast overview: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds
Running time: 110 minutes
John Boorman's 1972 film about four friends - Ed, Lewis, Bobby, Drew - who go on a canoe trip down the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a huge lake has become something of a cult seventies classic. In all honesty, it's not hard to see why. This is a film that gets under your skin and sticks with you emotionally. It's disturbing, powerful, brutal and harrowing, and - although it's not a horror film - it provides many horrific and frightening moments that provide lessons in suspense and fear. It also happens to be intense - this is fast-paced and it's clear that this works to its advantage. The most famous scene is perhaps that of the duelling banjos, but virtually all of this film sticks with you, even if not all of it works as well as it could.
One thing that does work very well is the backwoods Georgia setting. I'm a strong believer that a film can be made on its setting, and this is a very good example. The fast-flowing river and dense woodland both serve to create a sense of isolation that wouldn't exist as powerfully without such stunning scenery. I was reminded of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in both the odd locals but also in the scenery and landscape that is a character in itself, and this character is a violent one.
The plot is believable (perhaps adding to the film's overall impact), and the acting is second-to-none, with all four of the main cast acting as well as they've ever done, particularly Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. What I do like is the versatility and variety within the four main friends, as well: one is typically macho, another an overweight insurance salesman, another a meek everyman, and there is also the humanitarian family man and guitarist. These believable characters make it all the more disturbing, and as a result we empathise with and understand them. The crazy locals also add to this film's brutal qualities.
There's no doubt that this is a very good film and, while I don't think it's quite as good as some reviewers have suggested in naming it one of the best films of the seventies, it still holds up as a brutal and shocking picture, over forty years after it was first released. Recommended.
Quotes
Lewis: Sometimes you have to lose yourself 'fore you can find anything.
Mountain Man: What do you want to do now?
Toothless Man: [grinning] He got a real pretty mouth ain't he?
Mountain Man: That's the truth
Toothless Man: [to Ed] You gonna do some prayin' for me, boy. And you better pray good.
Ed: Look, what is it that you require of us?
Mountain Man: What we, uh, "re-quire" is that you get your god-damn asses up in them woods.
Trivia
Burt Reynolds broke his coccyx while going down the rapids when the canoe capsizes. Originally, a cloth dummy was used, but it looked too much "like a dummy going over a waterfall". After Reynolds was injured and recuperating, he asked, "How did it look?" The director replied, "Like a dummy going over a waterfall."
Billy Redden, the boy with the banjo liked Ronny Cox, and disliked Ned Beatty. When at the end of the dueling banjos scene, the script called for Billy to harden his expression towards Drew Ballinger, Cox's character, he was unable to fake dislike for Cox. To solve the problem, they got Beatty to step towards Billy at the close of the shot. As Beatty approached, Billy hardened his expression and looked away - exactly as intended.
To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured - and the actors did their own stunts. (For instance, Jon Voight actually climbed the cliff.)
Trailer