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Deliverance

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For other uses, see Deliverance (disambiguation).
Deliverance
Original movie poster
Directed byJohn Boorman
Written byJames Dickey (novel & screenplay)
Produced byJohn Boorman
StarringJon Voight
Burt Reynolds
Ned Beatty
Ronny Cox
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
July 30, 1972
Running time
109 min
LanguageEnglish

Deliverance is a 1972 Warner Bros. motion picture drama directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox, Jon Voight, and Ned Beatty. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey.

Motion picture

Widely acclaimed as a landmark film, Deliverance is the story of four suburban professional men from Atlanta, Georgia on a weekend canoe and camping trip. The film is noted for the memorable music scene near the beginning that sets the tone for what lies ahead: a trip into unknown and potentially dangerous territory. In the scene, set at a rural gas station, character Drew Ballinger plays the instrumental "Dueling Banjos" on his guitar with a mentally challenged mountain boy named Lonny (implied as being an inbred albino in the novel, portrayed by Billy Redden in the film). The boy eventually outplays Drew with his banjo. The song won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Deliverance was shot in the Tallulah Gorge in Tallulah Falls, Georgia and on the Chattooga River, dividing the states of Georgia and South Carolina. Additional scenes were shot as well in Clemson, South Carolina. In the years following the film's release, more than thirty people have drowned attempting to recreate the canoe trip along the section of the river where the film was shot[citation needed]. The rapids within both book and film become a major symbol and plot device to reflect the natural dangers of the untamed wilderness in the face of inexperienced urban outsiders.

In 2001, the book was named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library. The film was selected by the New York Times as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made", whilst the viewers of Channel 4 in the United Kingdom voted it 45 in a list of "The 100 Greatest Films."

Plot

Template:Spoiler Four Atlanta businessmen — Lewis, Ed, Bobby, and Drew — (played by Reynolds, Voight, Beatty and Cox, respectively) decide to canoe down the fictional Cahulawassee River in the remote Georgia wilderness, expecting to have fun and see the glory of nature before the river valley is flooded over by the upcoming construction of a dam and lake. The trip turns into a terrifying ordeal revealing the primal nature of man, his animal instincts of predation and survival, and even his potential for violence.

File:ReddenDeliverence.jpg
Billy Redden as "Lonny"

Travelling in pairs, the foursome's two canoes are briefly separated. The occupants of one canoe (Bobby and Ed) encounter a pair of grizzled mountain men emerging from the woods, one wielding a loaded shotgun. Bobby is forced at gunpoint to strip naked, his ear twisted to bring him to his hands and knees, and then ordered to "squeal like a pig" before being brutally raped by one of the mountain men while Ed is bound to a tree and held at gunpoint by the other, who is nearly toothless. After tormenting Bobby, the two turn their attention to Ed, as the toothless man declares "He's got a real purty mouth, ain't he?" before he attempts to force Ed to fellate him.

Hearing the commotion, Lewis — who is wary of danger in the woods — secretly sneaks up and kills the rapist with an arrow from his recurve bow. Meanwhile, the other mountain man quickly escapes into the woods. After a brief but hotheaded debate between Lewis and Drew about whether to inform the authorities, the men vote to side with Lewis' recommendation to bury the dead mountain man's body and continue on as if nothing had happened. Lewis argues that they wouldn't receive a fair trial, as the local jury would be composed of the dead man's friends and relatives. In addition, Bobby doesn't want what had happened to him to be known.

The four make a run for it downriver, cutting their trip short, but soon disaster strikes as the canoes reach a dangerous stretch of rapids. As Drew and Ed reach the rapids in the lead canoe, Drew clutches his head and falls forward into the river. The reason for Drew's fall is left unclear; Drew was either shot and killed by the surviving mountain man, committed suicide, or had suffered a fatal stroke or heart attack. The latter fate is more plausible; during the argument, Drew was deeply fearful, quite emotionally agitated and strenuously but inadequately argued in favour of informing the authorities as to what they had done. He claimed self-defense, suggesting that none of them would be able to live with what they had done or return to their friends and families with the knowledge that they would be concealing a homicide from everyone they knew and trusted.

After Drew's fall into the river, the survivors enter dangerous rapids, and both canoes collide on the rocks, spilling Lewis, Bobby and Ed into the river. Lewis breaks his femur and the others are washed ashore alongside him. Encouraged by the badly-injured Lewis, who believes they are being stalked by the other mountain man, Ed climbs a nearby rock face in order to dispatch the other mountain man using his bow while Bobby stays behind to look after Lewis. Ed reaches the top and hides out until the next morning. The other mountain man appears on the top of the cliff with a rifle, looking down into the gorge where Lewis and Bobby are located. Ed clumsily shoots and kills him, accidentally stabbing himself with one of his own spare arrows. When he looks in the dead man's face, he notices that the man has front teeth; whereas the surviving mountain man had not. Ed's horror is somewhat abated when he touches the man's teeth and realizes that the man is wearing removable false front teeth. He lowers the body and himself back to where Lewis and Bobby are. Bobby asks if Ed is sure that he killed the right guy. Ed is not entirely sure and shoves the dead man's face toward Bobby and says, "You tell me!" He ties a large rock to the body and sinks it. Ed, Bobby, and Lewis then continue downstream in the surviving canoe.

Shortly afterwards, they happen across Drew's body. Doubtful about what could have caused his death, Ed and Bobby opt to weigh down and bury Drew's body in the river to ensure it will never be found, rather than risk bringing it to town and incriminating themselves. They then canoe to the town of Aintry and take the injured Lewis to the hospital. They carefully concoct a cover story for the authorities about Drew's death and disappearance being an accident, lying about their ordeal to Sheriff Bullard (played by author James Dickey) in order to escape a possible double murder charge. The sheriff clearly doesn't believe them, but unable to find any conclusive evidence, he allows them to leave and tells the men never to come back. They readily agree. The trio vows to keep their story of death and survival a secret for the rest of their lives.

Trivia

  • There are two versions of the rape scene between Beatty and McKinney. The original movie version includes the scene, while another version, edited for broadcast televison, does not have the Beatty character being raped--only ridiculed.
  • Although the film closely follows the novel, some sections are different. Examples include the character description of Ed (in the novel, Ed was bald and in his late 40s), the missing introduction (explaining why they decided to go on a canoe trip instead of playing golf), and an epilogue after the tragedy.
  • Ned Beatty claims to have come up with the infamous "squeal like a pig" line while he and actor Bill McKinney were improvising the scene.[1]
  • Billy Redden, the Banjo Boy, could not really play the banjo and all his music was dubbed.
  • One local was played by Randall Leece Deal, a real convicted moonshiner. In 2006, he obtained a pardon for a conspiracy conviction from President George W. Bush.[2]
  • The police officer standing guard at the door of the hospital room is played by Ed O'Neill, the future Al Bundy in an uncredited role.
  • In the film Wrong Turn, four campers stumble upon a cabin that is, unbeknownst to them, home to an inbred cannibal family of mountain men. When approaching the cabin, one character voices his concern by saying, "And I just want to remind you of a little movie called Deliverance".
  • In the TV Series Everybody Loves Raymond, there is a scene where Frank Barone (Peter Boyle) wins a canoe ride from a silent auction in which he hiked up the bids and eventually won almost everything. Frank calls it crap. His daughter-in-law says that it's not crap. Frank says, "It's 'floating crap." When his wife says, "Some would consider a canoe ride romantic," Frank retorts, "Guess you never saw 'Deliverance'."
  • The PC game Redneck Rampage is a tribute to Deliverance, complete with a banjo-playing alien.
  • The first-person shooter game HeXen has a cheat code called "DELIVERANCE", which temporarily transforms the player into a pig.
  • An episode of the US TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air features a story told by Will and Carlton of the family being relocated to "Deliverance, Alabama" as part of the Witness Protection Program. While there, the family interacts with the stereotypical "country" McCoy family, headed by a man named Hatfield McCoy.
  • The single mixes of the song "Beers, Steers, and Queers", from industrial band Revolting Cocks, opens with dialog taken from the homosexual rape scene from Deliverance.
  • In one MADtv comedy sketch (episode "Ozark Singled Out") between Debra Wilson and Phil LaMarr, the two portray characters camping in the woods at night. When the two are confronted with triple threats from a wolf, a bear, and two mountain men, LaMarr's character tells his companion, "They're Deliverance Men! Don't taunt them. Don't acknowledge them. And try not to look like Jon Voight."
  • In a Halloween episode of the show Martin titled "The Night He Came Home", while listening to a scary story told by Martin's girlfriend Gina, Cole mistakes a Banshee for an old banjo. Martin then asks, "Cole, who in the hell would be scared of an old banjo, man?" Cole responds, "Remember that movie, Deliverance?"
  • There is a Drama34 parody called 'Deliverance: The Musical.' [3]
  • In one episode of Robot Chicken, there is a short segment where three rednecks are standing behind a tied up alien. One of the rednecks states that in the name of science, they are going to do an "experiment up inside uranus". He then tells the alien, "Now squeal like a pig!"
  • In the video game Manhunt, the final part of the game is entitled "Deliverance", where a psychopath dressed as a pig is the enemy.
  • In Grand Theft Auto III, a pedestrian will yell, "Squeal like a pig!" if attacked.
  • In the 1991 EP "Fiend for Blood" by Autopsy, the third track is titled, "Squeal like a Pig."
  • In the episode of the television series Home Improvement titled "Shopping Around", Tim spots his old shop teacher kissing another woman. His wife, Jill is reluctant to believe him and suggested maybe they're siblings. When he tells her that they kissed, she replies that many families have siblings who kiss. Tim responds "Yeah, families from Deliverance"
  • The band Primus use a line from the movie in their 1993 hit "My Name Is Mud": "Where ya goin' city boy?" They have also done Dueling Banjo teases at live shows.
  • The TV series Kids In The Hall contains a sketch where a husband (played by David Foley) is repeatedly watching the "squeal like a pig" scene and commenting on what a great piece of cinema it is (possibly making fun of the critics who consider it a landmark film). At the same time, his wife (played by Mark McKinney) argues that he seems more interested in the sodomy than the cinematography.
  • Swedish metal band Opeth released an album in 2002 entitled Deliverance, and during live performances of the title track, lead singer and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt sometimes tells the crowd to "squeal like a pig".
  • In the animated TV series Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko gets on a virtual canoeing machine that automatically selects a difficulty setting called "Deliverance." As Rocko goes through the river, he passes under a bridge with a person playing a banjo saying, "We're gonna make you squeal, piggy!." The person then pulls out a pig and tickles it with a feather, making it squeal.
  • An episode of the UK comedy series 'Still Game' contains repeated references to Deliverance including a boat trip gone wrong, rapids, a wilderness (rough parts of Glasgow instead of Georgia) and marauding CHAVs who could be seen as the mountain men.
  • In Jeff Foxworthy's Games Rednecks Play album, he notes that the river where the olympic kayaking events are taking place during the Atlanta 1996 games is the same river where they filmed the movie. He would note that "If Ned Beatty couldn't get down that river, a frenchman in biker shorts hasn't got a chance."
  • In the Futurama episode The Deep South, Bender hums the begining of "Dueling Banjos" when arriving Atlanta.
  • On an episode of Married...With Children entitled, "The Camping Show" (aka "A Period of Peace"), Al and Steve "air-banjo" and imitate the song "Dueling Banjos" together over their eager anticipation of heading out to a relaxing camping trip.
  • A sample from the "squeal like a pig" speech is on Esthero's "Breath From Another"

Crew

Cast

Award nominations

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