Deliverance (1972)

Director:

John Boorman

Writers:

James Dickey (screenplay)
James Dickey (novel)
(more)

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:

Trip | River | Nightmare | Canoeing | Redneck

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 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
Peter 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)

Directed by
John Boorman

Writing credits
James Dickey		(screenplay)
James Dickey		(novel)
John Boorman		additional dialogue (uncredited)

Produced by
John Boorman	....	producer
Charles Orme	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Vilmos Zsigmond		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Tom Priestley

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Art Direction by
Fred Harpman

Set Decoration by
Morris Hoffman		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Michael Hancock	....	makeup artist
Donoene McKay	....	hair stylist

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

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)
Jerry Kobold	....	prop assistant (uncredited)
Don Pringle	....	greensman (uncredited)
H. John Ramos	....	props (uncredited)
James Van de Vort	....	painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jim Atkinson	....	sound editor
Walter Goss	....	sound mixer
Doug E. Turner	....	dubbing mixer (as Doug Turner)
Jerry Smith	....	boom man (uncredited)
Gary Stahl	....	cable man (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Marcel Vercoutere	....	special effects
Joe Day	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)

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
George Boulette	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Paul Caven	....	electrician (uncredited)
James Coe	....	still photographer (uncredited)
John J. Connor	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Bob Farnsworth	....	grip best boy (uncredited)
Alan Heather	....	electrician (uncredited)
Daniel R. Jordan	....	grip (uncredited)
Alexander Klein	....	camera mechanic (uncredited)
George Kohut	....	camera operator: second unit (uncredited)
Robert Moore	....	grip (uncredited)
Aaron Pazanti	....	electrical best boy (uncredited)
Donald Schmitz	....	grip (uncredited)
James O. Schori	....	generator operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bucky Rous	....	wardrobe master
Pat Kelly	....	wardrobe assistant (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Ian Rakoff	....	assistant editor
William Neel	....	assistant film editor (uncredited)

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

Transportation Department
James Cross	....	driver (uncredited)
Pat Desmond	....	driver: studio van (uncredited)
Ed Dutton	....	transportation gaffer (uncredited)
Pat Miller	....	transportation captain (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)
Frank J. Ayre	....	craft service (uncredited)
Hershey Cohen	....	timekeeper (uncredited)
John Fowler	....	company doctor (uncredited)
George C. King	....	location doctor (uncredited)
Janey Lampros	....	first aid (uncredited)
Barbara Pallenberg	....	secretary to director (uncredited)
Ken Ryan	....	location auditor (uncredited)
Vernon White	....	publicist (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)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1972) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• DiscoVision (1980) (USA) (VHS) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (1990) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Sandrews (2000) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (2000) (Argentina) (all media) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD) (supplementary material included)
• Varus Video (????) (Russia) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (Canada) (DVD) (deluxe edition)

Other Companies

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

Also Known As:

"Amarga pesadilla" - Mexico, Peru (imdb display title)
"Beim Sterben ist jeder der Erste" - Austria, West Germany
"Délivrance" - Canada (French title), France
"La violencia está en nosotros" - Argentina, Uruguay (alternative title)
"нЯБНАНФДЕМХЕ" - Soviet Union (Russian title)
"Amargo Pesadelo" - Brazil
"Deliverance - Defensa" - Spain (imdb display title)
"Den djupa floden" - Finland (Swedish title)
"Den sista färden" - Sweden
"Fim-de-Semana Alucinante" - Portugal
"Flußfahrt" - West Germany (TV title)
"Gvarim B'Malkodet" - Israel (Hebrew title)
"Gyilkos túra" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Kurtulus" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"Oslobaðanje" - Croatia
"Oslobadjanje" - Serbia (imdb display title)
"Otan xespase i via" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Picnic med døden" - Norway
"Syvä joki" - Finland
"Udflugt med døden" - Denmark
"Un tranquillo week-end di paura" - Italy
"Uwolnienie" - Poland

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:14 | Italy:VM18 | Peru:18 | Australia:MA (cable TV rating) | 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:

To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured - and the actors did their own stunts. (For instance, Jon Voight actually climbed the cliff.)

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lewis spears the fish with an arrow, the barb originally goes through fish's head; when he pulls it out, the arrow is through midsection.

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 "Little Britain: Episode #3.4" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Duelling Banjos

Brilliantly Harrowing Film

After having seen Deliverance, movies like Pulp Fiction don't seem so extreme. Maybe by today's blood and bullets standards it doesn't seem so edgy, but if you think that this was 1972 and that the movie has a truly sinister core then it makes you think differently.

When I started watching this movie nothing really seemed unusual until I got to the "Dueling Banjos" scene. In that scene the brutality and edge of this film is truly visible. As I watched Drew(Ronny Cox,Robocop)go head to head with a seemingly retarted young boy it really shows how edgy this movies can get. When you think that the kid has a small banjo, which he could of probably made by hand, compared to Drew's nice expensive guitar, you really figure out just how out of their territory the four men are.

As the plot goes it's very believable and never stretches past its limits. But what really distinguishes this film, about four business men who get more than they bargained for on a canoe trip, is that director John Boorman(Excalibur) breaks all the characters away from plain caricatures or stereotypes. So as the movie goes into full horror and suspense I really cared about all four men and what would happen to them.

The acting is universally excellent. With Jon Voight(Midnight Cowboy, Enemy of the State) and Burt Reynolds(Boogie Nights, Striptease) leading the great cast. Jon Voight does probably the hardest thing of all in this film and that is making his transformation from family man to warrior very believable. Unlike Reynolds whose character is a warrior from the start, Voight's character transforms over the course of the movie. Ned Beatty(Life) is also good in an extremely hard role, come on getting raped by a hillbilly, while Ronny Cox turns in a believable performance.

One thing that really made this movies powerful for me is that the villains were as terrifying as any I had ever seen. Bill Mckinney and Herbert "Cowboy" Coward were excellent and extremely frightening as the hillbilly's.

Overall Deliverance was excellent and I suggest it to anyone, except for people with weak stomachs and kids. 10/10. See this movie.