Deliverance
From The Deuce
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Also Known As
- Beim Sterben ist Jeder der Erste (Germany)
Main Details
- Released in 1972
- Color
- Running Time: 109 Min.
- Production Co: Warner Bros. | Elmer Enterprises (in association with)
- Distribution Co: Warner Bros. Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical) | Warner Bros. (1972) (France) (theatrical) | Warner-Columbia Film (1972) (Sweden) (theatrical) | Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
Cast and Crew
- Directed by John Boorman
- Written by James Dickey
- Starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
- Produced by John Boorman
- Cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond
- Film Editing by Tom Priestley
Film Review
Based on the novel by James Dickey, Deliverance is a cult classic about 4 vacationing businessmen who take a canoe trip down the fictional Chattooga River somewhere in Georgia. The main characters are Louis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (Jon Voight) Bobby (Ned Beatty) and Drew (Ronny Cox).
The city boys have planned a little getaway for the weekend. They are all looking for some rest and relaxation. We join them as they travel the back-backroads of Georgia looking for a good place to put their canoes in the river. They arrive at an old house and they come upon some really dirty hillbillies who live there. As Louis is trying to find someone to bring their trucks down to the end of the river, Ed and the boys look around to see whats going on. As they are looking around, Ed spies through a window and sees an old woman knitting and a deformed young girl. When you see this, you come to the conclusion that something is wrong in a bad gene pool way.
Drew has brought his guiitar along to play on the vacation. After he plays a few bars, he hears a sound, its a boy with a banjo on the porch. The boy is obviously the result of inbreeding. As Drew plays his guitar, the inbred boy follows along on his banjo. They begin strumming the first few chords of the famous song "Duelling Banjos". As Drew picks up the pace, the boy follows right along. As they play, one of the other hillbillies does a little jig, Its pretty funny. Soon, they are both rockin' away at the song, playing the tune like they've both been playing together in a band for years. The inbred kid might not be very good lookin' but he sure plays a mean banjo! After they finish the song, Drew goes to shake the kid's hand, but the kid turns away quickly. Drew is puzzled and he says his compliments anyway and he walks away.
Louis finds an old craggy hillbilly working in a shed, hes pretty rough lookin and Louis and him converse about him and his buddies taking the trucks down to the end of the river to a town called Aintree. The old craggy guy wants more money to do it. Louis relents, but he then gives the guy the amount he wants. Louis and the boys hop in their trucks and hightail it down the backroads looking for a place to get into the river with their canoes. Louis is particualarly anxious to find the river and he and Ed go 4 wheelin through the woods, scraping and busting through the heavy brush. They finally get to a spot and Louis jumps out, he can hear the running water of the river nearby.
The boys get their canoes and their belongings and set out down the river. As they begin to float downstream, in the distance, they see something. Its the inbred boy on a bridge above the river. The boy is holding his banjo watching them. He swings the banjo like a pendulum in an ominous way. The guys look at him and slowly drift away.
While theyre together, Louis and Ed talk about why their on vacation. They chat about what the city does to them and that the nature and the outdoors is the best environment to be in. Louis is really the macho man of the group. He has his bow and arrow and he tries to show off. Ed is the more timid, quiet man. Drew is the fun loving entertainer and Bobby is the cautious one. Novelist James Dickey created the characters to represent 4 different characteristics of one man.
When the night arrives, the boys camp out on the edge of the river. They talk a while, but suddenly they hear some noises in the woods nearby. They all get nervous at this and Louis, the big man goes check it out. The others stay at the camp and wait, as they start looking where Louis entered the woods, he appears behind them. I really liked this shot. One of many great set ups by master director John Boorman. He tells them it was nothing and he decides to turn in for the night. This is one of the ways Louis tries to show he's a real tough guy.
The next day they continue their descent down river. At one point they get broken up. Ed and Bobby get a little ahead of Louis and Drew. They pull off onto the edge of the river and while theyre waiting up in the woods they see some dark figures walking around. As they try to confront the men, they realize something isnt quite right. These guys are some scary lookin' dudes. They aren't friendly, countryfolk. Ed asks them what theyre doing. He then gets the point that these guys are up to no good. So he tells them, if they have a moonshine still nearby, he wouldn't tell anyone. They explain that they don't have no still. They want Ed and to do something else for them. This is one the classic scenes in the movie as the two mountainmen start to sexually harass them. They tie Ed to a tree and poor Bobby gets the worst part of it. One of the mountainmen tells him to take off his clothes. He does, then the man chases him around and wrestles with him in the dirt. He grabs him and the worst part happens when the man starts to rape him in the butt. He tells Bobby to "SQUEEL LIKE A PIG!!" and he does. The mountain man grunts and we see a close up of his face as he plows away. (Not for the squeemish)
As Louis is watching, he looks out through the woods and hears Louis and Drew coming near in their boats. The toothless mountainman holds a shotgun on Ed and the other mountainman finishes up with Bobby and walks over to give Ed the same treatment, but we see that Louis is aiming his bow n arrow right at the guy in the distance. He shoots and plants one right in his back. The toothless one, takes off and barely escapes. The boys are in trouble now, they have killed a man. Louis decides that they have to bury the man in the woods somewhere. They all agree to this and they carry his body to an enclosed spot and dig a hole and bury him. They all promise its a secret between them.
They all get in their canoes and start downstream again. Things are all fucked up now and the boys don't know what will happen next. The other mountain man is still out there. The boys hit some rapids and as they are going through, Drew falls out of his canoe. They find out that he was shot by the other mountain man from high up on the river's cliffs. Louis gets injured as well, his leg gets torn up on the rocks and so, he cant do much. Its up to Ed to ascend to the top of the cliff and try to get rid of the other mountain man himself.
Ed climbs up the side of the rock with the bow and arrow and gets to the top, and he's exhausted. He falls asleep and the next day he wakes suddenly to the sound of crunch. We can see the mountain man in the distance. Ed quickly moves and hides. He has to shoot the guy with the bow and arrow, so he tries to aim at the guy, but his hand is shaking so bad, he misfires and the arrow goes through his side. But this is where things get confusing. As we watch, it looks as of Ed misfires and the arrow goes into himself, but this isnt possible. What happens is, he shoots the arrow at the mountainman and hits him, but Ed then falls on one of the extra arrows he has with him.
Ed ties to the mountainman up on a rope and lowers him down to the river. Then he climbs down himself. Louis is verey badly injured, so Ed and Bobby have to get him to Aintree as soon as they can. They make it down to the end of the river and they goto the town. Louis is placed in the hospital and Ed and Bobby stay at a local hotel. In a telling scene, Ed breaks down at the dinner table and cries. The local sheriff of Aintree (Author James Dickey) is suspiciuous of Ed, Bobby and Louis after they find Drews body. He realizes that they came into some trouble, so he explains that he'll let them go, but that they should never return. The boys return home, haunted forever by what happened.
Reviewed by Popeye Pete - 9/22/07
