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Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Bill McKinney ... see more see more... , James Dickey , Belinda Beatty , Charley Boorman , Herbert Coward , Lewis Crone , Randall Deal , John Fowler , Seamon Glass , Ken Keener , Macon McCalman , Ed O'Neill , Johnny Popwell Sr. , Ed Ramey , Billy Redden

Adapted from James Dickey's popular novel, John Boorman's 1972 movie recounts the grueling psychological and physical journey taken by four city slickers down a river in the backwoods of Georgia. At t... read more read more...he behest of Iron John-esque Lewis (Burt Reynolds), the less adventuresome Ed (Jon Voight), Bobby (Ned Beatty), and Drew (Ronny Cox) agree to canoe down an uncharted section of the river before a dam project ruins the region. After warnings from the grimy, impoverished locals, and Drew's tuneful yet ominous "Dueling Banjos" encounter with a mute inbred boy, the four men embark on their trip, exulting in the beauty of nature and the initial thrill of the rapids. The next day, however, things begin to take a turn for the worse when Bobby and Ed decide to rest on shore after becoming separated from Lewis and Drew. Two rifle-wielding mountain men (Bill McKinney and Herbert "Cowboy" Coward) emerge from the woods, tying up Ed while one of them rapes Bobby and makes him "squeal like a pig." Lewis and Drew rescue them, but the attack irrevocably changes the tenor of the journey. As the river gets rougher and rougher, the men come to nightmarish grips with what it means to survive outside the safety net of "civilization." ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

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79% liked it

45,587 ratings

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94% liked it

50 critics

R, 1 hr. 49 min.

Directed by: John Boorman

Release Date: July 21, 1972

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DVD Release Date: June 1, 2004

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Flixster Reviews (3,210)

  • CloudStrife84
    May 9, 2012
    CloudStrife84
    There's much that stays in memory after seeing this extraordinary film. You have the bizarrely entertaining "Dueling Banjos" scene at the beginning of the story. Then there's the infamous male rape scene, which its perhaps most known for. What strikes me the most, however, are th... read moree engrossingly absorbing performances by actors Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, John Voight and Ronny Cox. Bill McKinney and Herbert Coward are incredibly convincing as well, as the two depraved mountain men, who turns the four friends' river-rafting trip into a harrowing and tightly wound nightmare. The depth and intricacy invested into these characters, in combination with James Dickey's fantastic script, is what puts the meat on the structural bones of this film, while simultaneously making it a tremendously compelling watch. The complete and sudden turn-around from a lighthearted adventure to an intense and graphic drama-thriller, is brilliantly done, leaving you shocked and paralyzed at what unfolds before your eyes. There's this great line spoken by Burt Reynolds, where he says that "Sometimes you have to lose yourself, before you can find anything". Well, I was happy to lose myself into this outstanding piece of classic cinema. For within I found an unique dramatic journey, wealthy in character and elaborate in its making. A reflection of human nature at its darkest and most disturbing, but also two hours of great suspense and pulse-pounding intrigues. Whatever your reasons for seeing it, however, there's one thing that holds true to all viewers: it's a movie beyond convention that is impossible to forget or be unaffected by. A one-of-a-kind, supremely directed thriller, that now goes straight to my Top 10 list for Best Movies of the 1970's. Highly recommended, to anyone who has the stomach to manage it discomforts.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    September 24, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Deliverance is an intense film with an impressive cast. The film is famous for the "dueling banjos scene" and many others. The films focuses on a group of men who travel deep in the woods, and have to face odds in order to survive a terrible ordeal. Deliverance is an accomplished... read more Thriller with great performances. The story is both horrifying and thrilling. The film isn't a straight forward horror film, even though it's been acclaimed in horror circles. The film of course has a horrifying scenario. If this film would be close to a horror film, it would be a psychological horror drama. Deliverance is a hard film to watch, it's disturbing, vicious and its realism makes it disturbing. The cast do a great job in their respective parts, and this film proves at one point that Burt Reynolds could actually act. This is a hard film to watch, but one that every film fan should see due to the significance of the overall work. Deliverance is a solid film that is bold, brutal, engrossing and thrilling. You'll never see quite a film like this one. The cast elevate the film and the story, though simple is very effective to make the viewer feel uneasy. A terrific film that you won't soon forget, Deliverance is definitely a classic of drama. With elements of horror thrown into the film, Deliverance may as well also appeal to horror fans, even though it's not a straight forward horror film. The acts are horrifying, but there is nothing excessively scary about this film. The film is more shocking that scary due to the horrifying acts behind bestowed upon the city slickers in the film.
  • blkbomb
    July 6, 2011
    blkbomb
    Ed: Look, what is it that you require of us?
    Mountain Man: What we, uh, "re-quire" is that you get your god-damn asses up in them woods.

    I wouldn't call Deliverance a horror film, but it does have real-life horror in it. If I had went into this movie knowing nothing about it; ... read moreit would have been a complete shock when we meet the infamous "mountain men." The set-up for it is great and they truly sell the fact that the movie is a buddy canoeing trip film. At the beginning, there is a great "Dueling Banjos" scene that fuels the music for the rest of the movie. We watch the friends bond for awhile and canoe successfully for a day. But the whole tone of the film changes in the blink of an eye. The rape scene is disturbing and scary like must true horror movies can't be. This is shit that can actually happen. It's not Jason running around, slicing people up, dying, coming back to life, and killing again. The performances by the 4 friends are great. Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox all played their roles to perfection. It's one of those movies that will stick with you long after you've watched it.
  • ythelastman89
    May 25, 2011
    ythelastman89
    Deliverance is one of those movies that is sadly only remembered by most for one line of dialogue and not for its mastery of suspense and manipulation of viewer expectations. Much like its fellow 70s evil hillbilly movies, this sets out to essentially let you know that trusting a... read morenyone is a bad idea. This goes a lot deeper than say Last House on the Left and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre though because it's not a straight-forward horror movie. You're not expecting to find psychotic rapists/killers in a story about four friends going canoeing. John Boorman uses a lot of his vague wideshots here and it's extremely unsettling and perfect for the style trying to be achieved. The power of John Voight and a gung-ho Burt Reynolds only add to the already unforgettable nature of this movie. It is completely unmatched in terms of manipulating expectations, creating an established group of characters and then completely changing the pace. A lot of people will somehow miss the excellence of this because it's difficult to get on a casual glance. It's not a fun type of movie, but a work of art among Man Movies.
  • shawnewing92
    March 14, 2011
    shawnewing92
    This film is excellent in it's suspense and turn in plot. The environment seems peaceful and enjoyable in the beginning of the film with the up beat music and good times, but the fun takes a turn for the worse when the 4 friends run into some trouble. The downfall is the last qua... read morerter of the film because it seems drag on and the movie ends without any sort of climax, it just fizzes out.
  • harrycaul
    February 21, 2011
    harrycaul
    I just watched this again for the first time in God knows how many years, maybe fifteen or twenty. This is actually probably the first time I've ever seen the movie uncut, without it having been edited for television. It's funny but Deliverance often gets forgotten when pe... read moreople are talking about the censor-baiting cinema of the early Seventies which pushed back the boundaries of acceptable screen violence, even though it has retained its power to shock better than many of those more notorious movies, the thematically similar Straw Dogs among them. Boorman's film and Peckinpah's naturally bear fascinating comparison, not least because the theme of the stranger in a strange land is extended in both to the foreign national at the helm: Boorman, the Englishman, shooting in the backwoods of Georgia and South Carolina; Peckinpah, the American, on location in southwest England. Boorman's is the better picture though because it resonates on a deeper level. In Straw Dogs we sympathise with Dustin Hoffman's mathematician because he hasn't personally done a great deal to provoke the villagers' hostility; the same might also be said of the four canoeists in Deliverance, as individuals, but it's also true to say that as 'city boys' they represent the encroaching 'civilisation' which is set to destroy the local way of life with the imminent flooding of the river valley.
  • mumby1988
    January 24, 2011
    mumby1988
    Every so often a film's image in popular culture is defined by a moment completely out of character with the film as a whole. One could argue that this is true for the ending of The Wicker Man, or the lengthy fight sequence in They Live. But there can be no better example of this... read more than Deliverance, whose five minutes of light-hearted duelling banjos masks a gruelling, harrowing and edgy thriller that will haunt you for days on end.

    In another director's hands, James Dickey's novel about four wannabe "city boy" adventurers could have ended up as a very simple, nuts-and-bolts exploitation film: a clash of civilised and savages, townies versus hicks, and the last man standing wins. But in what remains his best film, John Boorman manages to take this limited narrative and turn it into both a frightening voyage of discovery and one of the best environmental films ever made.

    Deliverance draws on a recurring theme in Boorman's work of man versus nature, or more precisely the unquantifiable power of the natural world compared to the humans who attempt to dominate it. In his later career, Boorman would make these kinds of points a lot more heavy-handedly: the sheer quantity of tree-hugging in The Emerald Forest makes Terrence Malick look like a gun-toting industrialist. Here, however, there is a very good balance between the film's political message and the drama of the characters through which such a message is communicated.

    As the film begins, we are introduced to our four modern men - modern in the sense that they live over and above the landscape and are imposing their authority on it even by the act of going on the river. The local hicks warn the men that what they are doing is stupid, but they dismiss such comments as superstitious crazy talk and stick rigidly to their plans. The car journey to the river is intercut with scenes of bulldozers ferrying rock from a quarry and huge cliff walls being dynamited, as if every action of Man against his habitat is one of exploitation or destruction. They even invoke the great explorers of old having just safely barrelled through the rapids.

    But although these men come from the same stock, we are slowly but surely introduced to little fissures in the group. Burt Reynolds' character seems to be more 'at one with nature' than the others, and feels genuinely sorry that the river will be flooded while the others are just there for the fun. Dru, played by Ronny Cox, is the most naïve and childlike of the four, bringing his guitar everywhere and spending the opening act riding through rapids with no life jacket and a beaming grin. Ned Beatty is overly cautious, being the most out of shape and reluctant to be ordered around, and Jon Voight has some pretentions towards being like Reynolds but is ultimately out of his depth; he carries a bow, but gets the shakes whenever he tries to use it.

    Aside from a direct warning against exploiting one's surroundings, there is a more subtle thread in Deliverance about the character of modern Man and how He is more or less incapable of returning to 'the old way of life'. All four men, even Reynolds, are at heart white-collar workers, who feel at home in their busy offices with paper and coffee, or in their large homes with loving wives. Their affection for nature is entirely playful, since none of them would choose to give up what they have to live like a hunter-gatherer. They enjoy pretending to be wild when in fact they are nothing of the sort, and as long as their journey is filled with beauty and adrenaline, their experience of 'nature' fits in with their worldview.

    But, as the darker, less merciful side of nature begins to rear its ugly head, these men quickly become overwhelmed by their surroundings, and we understand just how little they really know. If Reynolds et al are an expression of Man's desire for dominance of nature, mitigated by a faux fondness of its beauty, then the hicks or in-breds are a manifestation of nature itself: uncompromising, ruthless, set in its ways and not so much of a pushover. The crucial mistake of the gang is not being among nature of itself: their mistake is assuming that they are in control.

    The famous rape scene, in which Ned Beatty is made to "squeal like a pig", is an ironic role reversal based upon one of the film's opening lines. Over some long aerial shots of the river, Reynolds remarks that in building the dam, people are "raping" the river and the surrounding countryside - and here we have nature raping man, not in self-defence or out of vindictiveness, but because that's the way it has always been. Boorman shoots these sequences very sensitively; his camera does not revel in Beatty's humiliation, with a clever combination of wide shots and close-ups on his face doing more than enough to terrify us.

    Had Boorman not set up the themes of the story, and brought them out of the woodwork so accessibly (no pun intended), scenes like this would appear gratuitous or exploitative. But just like the ending of The Wicker Man, the brutality of Deliverance is justified because it vividly conveys the themes and ideas of the film. Scenes like this demonstrate that, under the right circumstances, visceral, gut-wrenching horror can say as much about a subject as a dozen boring conversations. As with The Wicker Man or Alien after it, the violence in Deliverance instinctively shocks but remains with you until its symbolic significance becomes clear.

    Those who are unconvinced by this need only look at a scene just before the rape sequence, in which Jon Voight is crouched behind a tree trying to shoot a deer. There is nothing tense or threatening about his situation, save for the small matter of finding breakfast. But even so, he hesitates, his hand shudders and the arrow flies off into the trees causing the deer to flee. The set-up is the same as before: Man assumes he is in control, attempts to enact that control, and finds that he can't.

    Deliverance is also a very well-directed piece of work and a lesson in great low-budget filmmaking. Although the film looks rough and ready in places, it also has a great drained-out beauty to it. This is achieved through Vilmos Zsigmund's trademark use of 'pre-fogging', in which the celluloid is partially exposed before shooting to create a muted colour palette. Because the budget was so low (around $2m), all the stunts are real, right down to Ronny Cox tumbling head-first into the rapids. Boorman's camerawork is inventive and precise, following the men above and below the water as they struggle to the surface and fight for breath.

    Deliverance is also notable for its limited use of music. Aside from its duelling banjos at the start, there isn't really any soundtrack to speak of. The film is comparable with Get Carter, which introduces its jazzy theme in the opening minutes and then fleetingly revisits it at key moments to add tension or terror. The little banjo touches as the survivors float around the river are few and far between, and every time they pop up our eyes dart frantically to the trees, searching for further enemies who might spring out at any moment. Like any great Western, Deliverance knows how to use the stillness of the landscape to create tension, and its use of background noise like water rushing or birdsong will shred your nerves to breaking point.

    Deliverance is a great film with exceptional performances from its cast: Voight is every bit as good as he was in Midnight Cowboy, and Reynolds has never better, carrying himself in several scenes like a young Marlon Brando. It also remains Boorman's best film, being more substantial than Point Blank or Hell in the Pacific but also much less indulgent than his later works. Like Get Carter it isn't quite flawless, as things take a while to get going and still feels rough around the edges. But that's a small price to pay for a top-notch thriller which is intensely terrifying and terrifyingly intense.
  • ajv2688
    December 29, 2010
    ajv2688
    Although I didn't care for this movie, it may have been the inspiration for all the teen slasher movies that take place in the woods, so you have to give it credit. It's pretty good.
  • LoughnerWasLucid
    December 19, 2010
    LoughnerWasLucid
    i kinda thought this was the balls and really felt like a man when i was watching it which is cool cause i was watching it with my dad so we got to have a sweet bonding moment and remember briefly how much fun scouts was back in 3rd grade and i turned to him and watched him shove... read more a tear back into his eye before it fell onto his cheek and i almost said "i love you, dad". until about half an hour in, and we got to see Ned Beatty get raped by a guy who looks like John Denver's ghost and then i let out a sigh of relief because i knew i didnt have to say it.
  • stormyweather980
    November 17, 2010
    stormyweather980
    Wow, 94% of critics liked this movie? Not often you see a movie here that more of a percentage of critics liked than Flixster Users. I liked this movie too. I'd went white water rafting for the first time ever a few months ago, and heard 3 different people mention this movie, so ... read moreI decided to watch it, and wasn't disappointed at all. It keeps you interested in the whole time and has a few memorable sequences you're not likely to forget anytime soon, such as the "squeal like a pig" scene, and the banjo duel. Definitely recommended.

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Critic Reviews

August 24, 2008
TIME Magazine

Each of the four lead performances is exceptional, none more so than Burt Reynolds' beefy, supercilious Lewis. Full Review

Don Druker
September 18, 2007
Don Druker, Chicago Reader

John Boorman's 1972 film of the James Dickey novel has a beautiful visual style that balances the film's machismo message. Full Review

Variety Staff
September 18, 2007
Variety Staff, Variety

It's the stuff of which slapdash oaters and crime programmers are made but the obvious ambitions of Deliverance are supposed to be on a higher plane. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A fantasy about violence, not a realistic consideration of it. Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 20, 2003
Vincent Canby, New York Times

So many of Dickey's lumpy narrative ideas remain in his screenplay that John Boorman's screen version becomes a lot less interesting than it has any right to be. Full Review

August 24, 2008
Film4

A sad, brilliant reminder that sometimes people are the most threatening monsters of all. Full Review

Keith H. Brown
December 7, 2007
Keith H. Brown, Eye for Film

This is the most shocking and disturbing mainstream American horror film of the 1970s. Full Review

Walter Chaw
November 30, 2007
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

As coffin nails for the sixties go, this negation of all ideological idealism is a pretty final one. Full Review

Kevin Carr
September 24, 2007
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

No movie in the history of American cinema has struck fear in the hearts of men as Deliverance. Full Review

September 18, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Morose, shockingly violent yet strangely beautiful. Full Review

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    • Drew Ballinger: Goddamn, you play a mean banjo!
    • Mountain Man: Squeal like a pig!
    • Bobby Trippe: [squeals like a pig]
    • Mountain Man: I bet you can squeal like a pig.
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Deliverance Trivia

  • In which film was he gonna make him "squeal like a pig"?  Answer »
  • James Dickey who wrote the short story from which the movie Deliverance was based on, also played a part in the movie. Was it...  Answer »
  • Which outdoor activity does Job Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox enjoy before getting into trouble in Deliverance?  Answer »
  • The banjo player in "Big Fish" was the same banjo player from "Deliverance."  Answer »
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