Deliverance    

By Tom Keogh

One of the key films of the 1970s, John Boorman's Deliverance is a nightmarish adaptation of poet-novelist James Dickey's book about various kinds of survival in modern America. The story concerns four Atlanta businessmen of various male stripe: Jon Voight's character is a reflective, civilized fellow, Burt Reynolds plays a strapping hunter-gatherer in urban clothes, Ned Beatty is a sweaty, weak-willed boy-man, and Ronny Cox essays a spirited, neighborly type. Together they decide to answer the ancient call of men testing themselves against the elements and set out on a treacherous ride on the rapids of an Appalachian river. What they don't understand until it is too late is that they have ventured into Dickey's variation on the American underbelly, a wild, lawless, dangerous (and dangerously inbred) place isolated from the gloss of the late 20th century. In short order, the four men dig deep into their own suppressed primitiveness, defending themselves against armed cretins, facing the shock of real death on their carefully planned, death-defying adventure, and then squarely facing the suspicions of authority over their concealed actions. Boorman, a master teller of stories about individuals on peculiarly mythical journeys, does a terrifying and beautiful job of revealing the complexity of private and collective character--the way one can never be the same after glimpsing the sharp-clawed survivor in one's soul.

Academy Awards

Deliverance received Academy Awards nominations for Best Picture (John Boorman - Producer), Directing (John Boorman), and Film Editing (Tom Priestly).

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"Deliverance has shaped our stereotypes about the south since 1972. Hardly a day goes by where I don't encounter something relating to one of the actors, the plot, or the storyline. Tell just about anyone to "squeal like a pig" and they're likely to cringe, laugh, or actually squeal. This movie contains the seven scariest words ever uttered in a motion picture: "Now let's you just drop them pants!" Men nervously laugh about it, women openly cringe, and some people from the south consider this movie a tragic love story. But get beyond the most infamous scene in US movie history, and you'll find a great story about struggle." --JoeMorse

"Just watched this last night for the first time in 30+ years. The Mafia and its influence are the only reasons I can suspect why the Godfather was nodded for best pic over this one. One of those movies which stays with you. Great film and timeless." --Anonymous