Deliverance (1972)

Tragedy Changes Men. To Blu Ray or Not to Blu Ray

The American Heritage Dictionary online defines deliverance as the act of being delivered and to rescue from danger or bondage. The film Deliverance nominated for three Oscars (director, picture, and film editing) shows how a tragedy can change man. Made as V ietnam was ending and men returning home from war, themselves changed, the film seems an appropriate metaphor rather than mere exploitation.
Four friends from the city embark on a weekend canoe trip downriver that is surrounded by poverty stricken tough hillbilly types. Lewis (Burt Reynolds) is the dominant leader of the group. Ed (Jon Voight) is a family man who would seem to have grown up with Lewis and idolizes him. Ed is respected, passive, and is the type that would rather fit in then stand out. Bobby (Ned Beatty) is the heavyset insurance salesman who is the butt of the joke at times and would rather talk or joke his way out of confrontation. Bobby is not the laid back type; he is bothered when Lewis gives him a hard time but is submissive and would rather vent to Ed rather then confront Lewis. Drew is another leader he is independent and has a quite confidence and unlike, Bobby, he voices his opinion and stands his ground.
Something horrible happens to Bobby in the woods and Ed is forced to watch helpless, they are both saved by Lewis and Drew but neither will ever be the same again. Although Lewis rescues them from danger with his bow it is the horrific act and the acts to follow that free them from their bondage of fear. The scene in the hospital at the end when Ed angrily accuses Bobby about what he thinks he said to the police, at first brushes it off with a smile followed very quickly wish a push, Ed counters this by slamming Bobby against the wall and soon the men have their hands around each others throats and are starring eye to eye. Bobby, hands around Ed's throat, calmly and steady handed tells him he didn't say anything and Ed believes him. These are not the same men that entered those woods like the many that enter the jungle and the desert, they have changed.

THE BLU RAY - Picture and sound weren't the best I have seen on blu ray but were good. If you have a blu ray player and own Deliverance I would stick with what you have. If your buying this for the first time I'd spent the extra dollar it is here on Amazon and get the blu ray.
June 1, 2008

You'll squeal with glee!

35 years later, and those squeals are just as loud now as they were then. l wonder if Burt Reynolds was just as good with the bow and arrow when he was married to Judy Carne as he was fending off those mountain men. May 15, 2008

Can you squeal like a pig?

Deliverance DVD

This movie stars Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight in [[ASIN:B00136Z7US James Dickey about a canoe trip which turns into a violent nightmare. Of little note is the redneck, banjo-playing little boy grew up to be the World-famous Democratic strategist, James Carville. Highly recommended for fans of Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight,James Dickey's and the World-famous Democratic strategist, James Carville.

Gunner April, 2008
April 15, 2008

Boorman delivers Voight and Reynolds

If you haven't seen this film in HD or Blu-ray, do get this one. It's a classic action film that one rarely makes these days (bless the 70's) and the entire cast (Reynolds, Voight, Cox, Beatty) are excellent. Recommended for action buffs only. April 14, 2008

It's a Good Movie but The Book is Even Better!

I read James Dickey's novel Deliverance a few months ago, loved it and looked forward to seeing the movie. The movie is quite well done and has the key plot skeleton of the novel ie four men set to experience something future generations will never get to as the river is being damned. On their second day however they will encounter true evil. Their stamina, friendship and every other trait will be tested to its extreme if they are going to make it back to civilisation alive.

However the man verse nature aspect is for more prominent in the novel than the movie. The movie concentrates more on the man verse fellow man (who is pure evil) aspect which was really just the icing on the cake of the bigger middle aged city guys out of their depth (except for Lewis whose idea it was) struggling to stay alive through the rapids, questioning why they came along in the first place. The river was the main fifth character in the novel and on film although scenic wise just as spectacular is not as daunting a figure as in the book. There are a lot more struggling to survive in the rapids scenes in the book both before and after running into the two hillbillies. The whole reason in the book they rested on the bank in the first place was due to a monumental encounter with the river in the book where just trying to survive they had no idea how far back the other two were. Being that the book was written in narration style through Ed's eyes his terror in the hillbilly scenes is a lot better in the book, there was no glimpsing the canoe go past in the book so knowing help is on the way if he hangs on, plus there was a lot more that happened before the "squeal like a pig" incident in the novel with Ed debating in his mind as he's thinking they are just there to rob or hassle them whether to tell them about Lewis and Drew so they would go away and leave them alone or not to as they had a shotgun and he's not sure if they are the type who would use it on his friends as they float by.

I also would have liked to have seen the owl piercing the tent scene on their first night from the book in the movie. The one thing the movie obviously beats the novel is the guitar banjo duel scene, I have loved that music track long before seeing the movie or reading the book, long ago I bought and still recommend the "Dueling Banjos" The Original Soundtrack: Deliverance to anyone. If you haven't read the book you've got no idea what I'm talking about but watch the movie it's very good, but if you're into reading get the book too, in fact read it first as it's even better!

Deliverance is the ultimate what would you the viewer an every day guy (or woman) do, would you survive if you were in their place. As pointed out by another reviewer another good simple low budget movie from the same era as this that also follows this theme is Duel based on Richard Matheson's classic short story of the same name. I'd also recommend Matheson's novel Hunted Past Reason for novel with many similar key plot elements to Deliverance (some say too many) following an everyday city guy trying to survive in the wilderness against his fellow man. Unlike with the movie Duel, I made the mistake of getting the much cheaper Deliverance DVD that doesn't come with any features as I thought the movie may be a completely different storyline to the book as the cover of the DVD has an image of a shotgun emerging from the water that is not in the movie. After reading other reviews on these pages, I'd pay the extra for the version that includes the bonus features if I were you!
April 14, 2008

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