Deliverance

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For other uses, see Deliverance (disambiguation).

Template:Copyedit Template:Infobox Film Deliverance is a 1970 novel by American author James Dickey that was made by Warner Bros. Studios into a 1972 motion picture drama starring Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and directed by John Boorman.

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Motion picture

Widely acclaimed as a landmark film, Deliverance is the story of four Atlanta, Georgia suburban professional men on a weekend canoe and camping trip. The film is also 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 at the rural gas station, character Drew Ballinger plays the instrumental "Dueling Banjos" on his guitar with a mentally-handicapped mountain boy named Lonny (implied as being an inbred albino in the novel, portrayed by Billy Redden), who eventually outplays Drew with his banjo. The song won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Deliverance was shot on the Chattooga River, dividing the states of South Carolina and Georgia. In the years following the film's release, more than 30 people have drowned attempting to recreate the canoe trip along the section of the river where the film was shot. 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 UK voted it 45 in a list of the "The 100 Greatest Films." Image:ReddenDeliverence.jpg

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Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Four Atlanta businessmen -- Lewis, Ed, Bobby, and Drew -- 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 with 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.

Travelling in pairs, the foursome's two canoes are briefly separated and the occupants of one canoe (Bobby and Ed) encounter a pair of grizzled mountain men emerging from woods, one wielding a loaded shotgun. In what remains one of the most disturbing scenes in film history, Bobby (played by Beatty) 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 sodomized by the shotgun-wielding man while Ed is bound to a tree by his belt tightened around his neck and held at knife point by the other man.

Hearing the commotion, Lewis-- who is wary of danger in the woods-- secretly sneaks up, and kills the sodomite 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 whether to inform the authorities, the men vote to side with Lewis's recommendation to bury the dead body and continue on as if nothing had happened -- since Lewis said that they wouldn't receive a fair trial, as the local jury would be composed of the dead man's friends and relatives; likewise, 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, or he had suffered a fatal stroke or heart attack. The latter fate is more plausible because during the argument, Drew was deeply fearful, quite emotionally agitated and strenuously but inadequately arguing in favour of informing the authorities as to what they had done. He claims 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 Lewis's bow while Bobby stays behind to look after Lewis. Ed reaches the top and hides out until the next morning, when a man appears on the top of the mountain 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. However, it is left unclear whether the man killed by Ed was the same mountain man who attacked them back in the forest or merely "some fellow out for a hunt." Ed and Bobby weigh down and bury Drew's body in the river to ensure it will never be found, then 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 after thinking it over, he seems to realize what had happened and simply tells the men never to come back. They readily agree. The trio vow to keep their story of death and survival a secret for the rest of their lives, a vow far more psychologically burdensome than any of them could have imagined.

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Trivia

  • Although the film closely follows the novel, some parts 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]
  • The stream along which the rape scene was filmed is now called Sodomy Creek.
  • The PC game Redneck Rampage is a tribute to Deliverance, complete with a banjo-playing alien.
  • In the TV series The Simpsons, two groups of rafters get separated, one group hears the "Dueling Banjos" and a giggling noise while the viewer is able to see a shadowy figure hiding in the woods.
  • In the TV series Futurama the character Bender 'sings' the tune to the "Dueling Banjos" when entering the city of Atlanta
  • Billy Redden, the Banjo Boy, could not really play the banjo and all his music was dubbed.
  • The TV series The Kids In The Hall (a sketch comedy show similar to Saturday Night Live) 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 then 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 Akerfeldt sometimes tells the crowd to "squeal like a pig".
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Crew

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Cast

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Award nominations

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External links

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