Deliverance (1972)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

John Boorman

Writers:

James Dickey (screenplay)
James Dickey (novel)

Release Date:

30 July 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Deliverance from evil

Plot:

Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.

Plot Keywords:

River | Trip | Nightmare | Canoeing | Survival

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 10 nominations

Cast

Jon Voight	...	Ed
Burt Reynolds	...	Lewis
Ned Beatty	...	Bobby
Ronny Cox	...	Drew
Ed Ramey	...	Old Man
Billy Redden	...	Lonnie
Seamon Glass	...	First Griner
Randall Deal	...	Second Griner
Bill McKinney	...	Mountain Man
Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward	...	Toothless Man
Lewis Crone	...	First Deputy
Ken Keener	...	Second Deputy
Johnny Popwell	...	Ambulance Driver
John Fowler	...	Doctor
Kathy Rickman	...	Nurse
Louise Coldren	...	Mrs. Biddiford
Pete Ware	...	Taxi Driver
James Dickey	...	Sheriff Bullard
Macon McCalman	...	Deputy Queen
Hoyt Pollard	...	Boy at Gas Station
Belinda Beatty	...	Martha Gentry (as Belinha Beatty)
Charley Boorman	...	Ed's Boy (as Charlie Boorman)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ed O'Neill	...	Deputy in hospital (uncredited)

Directed by
John Boorman

Writing credits
James Dickey		(screenplay)
James Dickey		(novel)

Produced by
John Boorman	....	producer

Cinematography by
Vilmos Zsigmond

Film Editing by
Tom Priestley		(as Tom Priestly)

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Art Direction by
Fred Harpman

Makeup Department
Michael Hancock	....	makeup artist (as Michael Handcock)
Donoene McKay	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Wallace Worsley Jr.	....	production supervisor (as Wallace Worsely)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Jennings	....	assistant director
Miles Middough	....	assistant director
Skip Cosper	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Charles Ziarko	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Sidney H. Greenwood	....	property master (as Syd Greenwood)
H. John Ramos	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jim Atkinson	....	sound editor
Walter Goss	....	sound mixer
Doug E. Turner	....	dubbing mixer (as Doug Turner)

Special Effects by
Marcel Vercoutere	....	special effects

Stunts
Bill Couch	....	stunts (uncredited)
Ralph Garrett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gene Witham	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
James O. Blair	....	electrical supervisor (as Jim Blair)
Arthur Brooker	....	key grip (as Art Brooker)
Bill Butler	....	photography: second unit
Earl L. Clark	....	assistant camera (as Earl Clark)
Sven Walnum	....	camera operator
Alexander Klein	....	camera mechanic (uncredited)
George Kohut	....	camera operator: second unit (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bucky Rous	....	wardrobe master

Editorial Department
Ian Rakoff	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Michael Addiss	....	banjo playing: Billy Redden (uncredited)

Other crew
Sue Dwiggins	....	production secretary
E. Lewis King	....	technical advisor
Rospo Pallenberg	....	creative associate
Ray Quiroz	....	script supervisor
Charles Wiggin	....	technical advisor
Tony Adams	....	tutor (uncredited)
John Fowler	....	company doctor (uncredited)
Harry Williams	....	production accountant (uncredited)

Thanks
Earl 'Preach' Parsons	....	thanks
Frank Rickman	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures
• Elmer Enterprises (in association with)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1972) (France) (theatrical)
• DiscoVision (1980) (USA) (VHS) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Vídeo (1990) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Warner Bros. (2000) (Argentina) (all media) (re-release)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1972) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Sandrews (2000) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Varus Video (????) (Russia) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Combine Music Corporation  copyright owner: "Feudin' Banjos"
• Rabun County, Georgia  thanks
• U.S. Forest Service  thanks
• Georgia Power Company  thanks

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) (uncut) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | Finland:K-16 (1987) | Finland:K-18 (1972) | Singapore:M18 | West Germany:16 (f) | New Zealand:R16 | Brazil:16 | Italy:VM18 | Australia:R | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 (video rating) | Norway:18 (1973) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Beaufort, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Director John Boorman's son Charley Boorman appears near the end of the movie as Ed's little boy.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ed climbs to the top of the cliff to hunt the shooter, you can clearly hear the rapids below. However, when Ed is awakened the next morning, the rapids are silent.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lewis: You w- you wanna... you wanna talk about the vanishing wilderness?
Bobby: Lewis, listen - what are you so anxious about this?
Lewis: Because they're buildin' a dam across the Cahulawassee River; they're gonna flood a whole valley, Bobby, that's why. Dammit, they're drownin' a river; they're drownin' a river, man.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Steve Martin/Jason Mraz (#34.14)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Duelling Banjos

The thin line between "civilization" and barbarism

As Peckinpah did with STRAW DOGS, and Kubrick with A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, director John Boorman delivers an effective film about Man's violent side in DELIVERANCE, arguably a definitive horror film of the 1970s. Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox portray four Atlanta businessmen who decide to take a canoe trip down the wild Cahulawassee River in northern Georgia before it is dammed up into what Reynolds calls "one big, dead lake."

But the local mountain folk take a painfully obvious dim view of these "city boys" carousing through their woods. And the following day, continuing on down the river, Beatty and Voight are accosted and sexually assaulted (the film's infamous "SQUEAL!" sequence) by two vicious mountain men (Bill McKinney, Herbert "Cowboy" Coward). Thus, what started out as nothing more than a lark through the Appalachians has now turned into a nightmare in which our four protagonists come to see the thin line that exists between what we think of as civilization and what we think of as barbarism.

James Dickey adapted the screenplay from his own best-selling book, and the result is an often gripping and disturbing shocker. Often known for its "SQUEAL!" and "Dueling Banjos" sequences, DELIVERANCE is also quite a pulse-pounding ordeal, with the four leading men superb in their roles, and McKinney and Coward making for two of the most frightening villains of all times. A must-see film for those willing to take a chance.