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| Deliverance
Actors/Actresses:
- Burt Reynolds
- Ned Beatty
- Ronny Cox
The Real River Wild
John Boorman will probably forever be best known as the director who gave us the brillianly conceived screen production of "Excalibur", but in 1971 he came up with this adaptation of James Dickey's novel of the same name, and with the help of four 'game' actors, created one of the best films of all time.
Even if it's not your cup of tea (due to the disturbing nature of the film), it's something everybody should watch at least once. John Voight is the audience member's representation--even if he doesn't say much, he does a great understated acting job, making clear the horror that he feels, and that we feel through him.
Ronny Cox plays the conscience, Burt Reynolds the ego, and Ned Beatty the victim of the human condition, and tied in with the wonderful cinematography, filmed on location in Georgia, this is one of the most suspenseful movies of all time.
It's also famous for the 'Duelling Banjos' scene that opens the film--unforgettable, and it sets the tone for the rest of the film, when Ronny Cox puts it best:
"I'm lost!"
Classic storytelling.
De De Ding der Ding der Ding der Ding...
Deliverance is an incredibly powerful movie. That it has lived so long in the cultural memory is testament to both its power and its beauty. While by no means a cult film, it does maintain a certain hold over people, especially city folk who are naturally mistrustful of the rural environment anyway.BR>The story revolves around a bunch of city boys who set out to do some white-water canoeing down a river that's about to be flooded forever, and the difficulties they encounter along the way, with the natural environment and with their fellow men.BR>It is easy to become swept up in the controversy surrounding certain parts of this movie, but to concentrate on the more unforgettable scenes does an injustice to the vision of the writer and director as a whole. Together they create a reality that is at once both intimately familiar and yet frighteningly alien. If you go into this movie expecting 2 hours of edge-of-your-seat thrills, you'll be sadly disappointed. The movie takes its time to build a feeling of eeriness and beauty and for long periods of time all that happens is the guys battling the river, beautiful shots of the Georgia wilderness and a wonderful reminder of how great "The Great Outdoors" can be.BR>The movie really begins to find its voice when the freakish mountain people are encountered. The people and the culture are so outside of the experience of an average urban, amazon.com user that it becomes gripping, terrifying and ultimately essential viewing.
The movie raises some brilliant and disturbing questions about morality, trust and what it means to be a human being.BR>If you haven't seen Deliverance, I highly recommend you waste no time and go see it now, if you like visually stunning, challenging and thought provoking-movies. And yes, the "dueling banjos" scene is simply one of the best 5 minutes of movie history ever!BR>Also available is a 25th Anniversary version of this film. My complaint with this is that it includes a "The Making of" feature which, while being informative and fascinating (did you know the actors lived on the river and did all their own stunts and no-one would insure it?) on the VHS edition it is included at the start of the tape - before the film!!! I recommend you fast-forward through this and come back to it later, as it contains some spoiler you'd rather not see. Also included is the original theatrical trailer, which is of great historical interest. Watch it and you will see what I mean!
Thrilling, Exciting and Still Disturbing...
DELIVERANCE (1972) was adapted from the great and controversial best-selling novel, written in 1970 by James Dickey. Made by British director John Boorman, who was relatively new to Hollywood at the time, this film was a faithful adaptation of the book, with the exception of some humor being interlaced into some of the earlier scenes. In some ways, it is even more disturbing; by juxtaposing some light comedy in the first half, Boorman makes what happens in the second half that much more nightmarish by comparison. And it is a nightmare...happening in the middle of the woods on a sunny day in the deep South.
The book told the story of four middle-aged surburbanites---Ed Gentry, Lewis Medlock (guess he did have a last name, after all), Drew Ballinger and Bobby Trippe---encouraged by nature-loving, alpha-male Lewis to brave the rapids of a river before it gets dammed for good. Told in first-person by Ed, who harbors latent homosexual desires for Lewis (though never acts upon them), the men paddle downstream in two canoes---Lewis ; Drew in one, Ed ; Bobby in the other---when they are separated at a river fork. As Ed ; Bobby manage to get their boat ashore, and try to figure out a way to rejoin their friends, they are confronted by two mountain men with shotguns. Both are ugly. One of them is toothless. The non-toothless one forces the chubby, soft-bodied Bobby to strip half-naked and then rapes him at gunpoint, as Ed is restrained by being chained to a tree. When he has finished with Bobby, the toothless man prepares to force Ed to go down on him when Lewis finally catches up with his lost friends and shoots the first attacker with his bow ; arrow, killing him almost instantly. As the toothless man runs off, Lewis attempts to lead his friends to safety down the river. However, banjo-playing Drew is shot to death by an unseen sniper (presumably the Toothless Man) and Lewis is incapacitated in an accident soon after. It is up to citified friends Ed and the now-broken-spirited Bobby to somehow gather their muster, and for Ed to learn to use his long-buried primordial instincts to help them get out of this horrible situation *and* to not arouse suspicion by the law. P>The book was a compulsive page-turner and nail biter, and the well-made film is no different in that respect. Deciding to work with a 30-something cast instead of 40-somethings, Boorman cast then-rising-stars Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight as Lewis and Ed, supporting player Ronny Cox (who would achieve stardom over a decade later in BEVERLY HILLS COP, 1984) as Drew, and then-unknown Ned Beatty (in his film debut) as the unfortunate Bobby. It was casting genius. Reynolds fills Lewis Medlock perfectly, with his macho swagger hiding a surprising sensitivity which emerges once he is rendered practically useless. This performance made him a superstar (and should have earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination), and began a decade of Burt dominating at the box office, tho
Buy Deliverance at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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