Deliverance

Horrorphile

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Deliverance

September 2nd 2010 23:27

Four Georgian city men head up into the Appalachian hills and embark on a weekend’s canoe trip down the volatile Cahulawassee River, intent on enjoying the surrounding wilderness before the river is dammed up and the forest land is leveled. Their adventure turns into a nightmare of survival as they are terrorised by two huntin' hillbilly mountain men. Deliverance (1972) is a deeply affecting, hugely impressive, disturbing portrayal of men and the nature of man that has lost none of its visceral power and dark poetry since it was first released.

Jon Voight as Ed

Based on the brilliant first novel from James Dickey, an acclaimed American poet and university lecturer, who also wrote the excellent screenplay, and directed with consummate skill by Englishman John Boorman, Deliverance is a tale of shattered naiveté and primal machismo with an undercurrent of social commentary (awe and contempt) that is apparent only through the movie’s superb use of symbolism and metaphor. Freedom is sought with single-mindedness, but the darkness of the soul is eventually laid bare, only after the mind and body is subjected to humiliation and violation.

Burt Reynolds as Lewis

Lewis (Burt Reynolds in a breakthrough career performance) is the macho leader, an imposing go-getter, who loves the great outdoors. Accompanying him are his buddy Ed (Jon Voight), a pipe-smokin’ family man who likes a tipple and a challenge, Drew (Ronny Cox), another family man, with strong morals and a dab hand on the guitar, and chubby Bobby (Ned Beatty), who likes to complain, but yearns to cut loose. These four friends drive up into the heavily-wooded hills and negotiate for some local moonshiners to drive their two cars down the mountain road trail to the Aintry river-stop where they’ll rendezvous in their canoes a couple of days later. The greasy gas griners wonder what the hell they wanna tackle the river for. “Cos it’s there,” replies Lewis smugly.

Ed and Bobby (Ned Beatty), shells of their former selves

Not a scene or shot is superfluous in Deliverance. I raise my hat to Boorman and Dickey who along with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (one of my favourite DOPs), editor Tom Priestley, and special effects technician Marcel Vercoutere, fashioned a nightmare thriller as sharp and deadly as the powerful bow and arrow brandished by Lewis and Ed (which is almost a character in itself, the other “character” being the Chatooga River which divides South Carolina and Georgia).

Drew (Ronny Cox) in a state of shock while Ed tries to steer the canoe

The performances from the four leads are terrific, especially Jon Voight, and it was Ned Beatty’s first movie, but special mention must go to Bill McKinney as Don Job, who forces poor Bobby to squeal like a pig, a nasty piece of work he is, and with few lines to utter, Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward, as Job’s toothless grinnin’ bosom buddy. These two backwoods bandits are an understatedly fearsome pair. Decades later McKinney named his own website squeallikeapig.com (!)

Howard Coward, Ned Beatty, Bill McKinney

The mountain men (Howard Coward and Bill McKinney) confront Ed and Bobby

It’s hard to believe but the Deliverance production was uninsured. The actors all performed their own stunts, the rapids tossing resulted in Burt Reynolds breaking his coccyx. Jon Voight actually scaled the sheer vertical cliff face. Ned Beatty was the only one who had any canoeing experience, the others learned on set. To further minimise costs, locals were hired to play the resident hill folk, with one elderly gentleman improvising a buck dance jig which was included in the movie.

Deliverance Ned Beatty, Jon Voight, Ronny Cox, Burt Reynolds, Bill McKinney

The first aftermath

Sam Peckinpah wanted to direct, and when Boorman was signed on Peckinpah went off to make Straw Dogs (1971). Donald Sutherland turned down one of the roles because he objected to the violence (and later regretted his decision), yet ironically a year later he starred in Don’t Look Now (1973). Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando both declined the role of Lewis, as did Lee Marvin for the role of Ed, telling Boorman he thought he and Brando were too old for the parts. James Dickey appears in a small, but convincing, part as the Aintry Sheriff who suspects the mens' story might be a little taller than they’re admitting to.

Ed in his moment of truth

Billy Reddon as the dueling banjo hillbilly boy

There’s an apocalyptic atmosphere that permeates the narrative of Deliverance, the title of which is a clever play on being rescued or set free and a thought or judgment, often from an authoritative voice. In this case, the title suggests the pursuit of unbridled adventure amidst the wilderness that is being threatened by urban development and the plunder of human progress. Dickey was passionate about this socio-political stance and he designed his novel as a nightmare metaphor. Boorman had a kinship with Dickey and used his skill as a director to design a mise-en-scene, a vivid, succinct visual narrative that employed both symbolism (Ed’s faltering when he tries to kill a deer and the river reducing Lewis from He-man to wimpering invalid) to the analogy of the violence of man’s inhumanity to man vs. the violence of humankind’s geographical greed.

James Dickey as the local Sheriff

Whilst nowhere near as graphically violent as most of today’s R-rated horror movies, Deliverance still contains the power to shock and upset, especially in the rape and murder sequence, and later when we witness Lewis’s horrendous leg injury (that’s one gruesome compound fracture!), Ed impaling himself on an arrow, and the discovery of Drew’s twisted corpse (Ronny Cox suggested taking advantage of having a double-jointed shoulder!). There is an implicit violence that courses through the entire movie, despite the natural beauty of the surroundings. The movie even ends in a dream-like paroxysm of guilt and fear … and finally stillness, but with anxiety floating just below the surface. Just what did happen on the Cahulawassee River?

No prosthetic work here!

The only thing that noticeably dates Deliverance is the use of day-for-night shooting during Ed’s nocturnal scaling of the cliff. In 1972 anamorphic lenses and film stock were a lot slower and night scenes had to be under-exposed and given a blue tint during post-production. Little else apart from that gives Deliverance away from being nearly forty years old (it’s not like mobile phones would’ve helped the men's predicament!) Even the famous Dueling Banjos scene somehow seems ageless.

Friend or foe?

I can’t help but fear for Deliverance in this endless climate of remakes (an irony it would be too). If Straw Dogs is being remade, then what are the chances smug producers have their grubby mitts all over the rights to Deliverance, The Exorcist (1973), The Conversation (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Alien (1979), even Apocalypse Now (1979) ... and numerous other “untouchable” 70s classics …?

If you haven’t seen Deliverance, hurry and rent it, buy it, before the inevitable!

NB: In Germany the title was changed to (and translated as) In Dying, Everyone is First. Deliverance was nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing), but lost out to Coppola’s behemoth, The Godfather. It should have been nominated for a few more (Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Song, Best Cinematography). However, in 2008 it was awarded a place in the National Film Preservation Board of America’s Film Registry.

Here’s the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

10 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Anonymous

September 3rd 2010 00:59

I remember this flick the first time it came on...and man how .......icky......
it gave new meaning to the words squeal like a pig

Comment by Deni

September 3rd 2010 01:44

Abstract Magick
Cinema Herald

A brilliant film. I first saw it when I was young and didn't really grasp what was happening and it stuck with me for days! The Film-Facts you've included were very interesting.

Comment by Bryn

September 3rd 2010 03:01

Horrorphile

Deni, Deliverance was one of those "adult" movies that I discovered young(ish) too, when I waded into the deep end with mates (pre-cert VHS releases), along with The Deer Hunter, Alien, Dressed to Kill, Scum, and other dark and subversive movies of their time.

Comment by ShaunK

September 3rd 2010 05:04

Screen Adventure

Fun read Bryn - havn't seen this in over ten years but the images of Beatty squealing like a pig then the cutting to Burt Reynolds with that crossbow was the stuff of an early psyche imprint.

the whole remake thing is terrible, I never mentioned this in my Le Samourai review yesterday but john woo is trying to remake Samourai now too. I have to just close my eyes and prey that the cunt doesnt get funding for it.

Comment by JohnDoe

September 3rd 2010 20:23

Film & TV on DVD

I remember when I wrote my review for Deliverance that you commented it was up there for you too.

Reading this I can see the passion you have for it and as you know I agree with every word.

That final image was a buckshot to my fragile psyche as a child and it still haunts.

Comment by Mitchell Hooter

September 4th 2010 00:07

LadyDiazepam

Excellent article. Never had the nerve to watch this film [shudder]. Speaking of pointless remakes of horror classics, I've read that "The Wicker Man" with Nicholas Cage is awful.
Couldn't decide about the remake of "Cape Fear"--probably only Robert DeNiro's performance saved it from mediocrity.

Comment by Deni

September 4th 2010 02:39

Abstract Magick
Cinema Herald

Mitchell, I've seen bits of the remake of The Wicker Man, and it is loathsome! That's one movie that should NEVER have been remade.

Comment by Bryn

September 7th 2010 05:08

Horrorphile

Mitchell, cheers! I've never seen The Wicker Man remake ... but I do need to review the original some time.

Comment by Michaelie

September 15th 2010 09:38

Flick Wit

It seems everyone saw this as a kid! Maybe it's an unspoken rite of passage... ha.

I saw it when I was young, and it scared the shit out of me. But you know there's something a bit special when it sticks in your head forever. Haven't actually seen it as an adult! Whenever I haven't seen something since I was a child I never know whether to revisit it in case it destroys my first impression... maybe I should just keep that theory for Storm Boy...