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:

River | Trip | Nightmare | Canoeing | Canoe

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)
Claude Terry	....	stunt double: Jon Voight (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
• Elmer Enterprises (in association with)

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Film (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) (Canada) (DVD) (deluxe edition)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD) (deluxe edition)
• Warner-Columbia Films (1972) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Fazer Musiikki Oy/Fazer Video (1980s) (Finland) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1989) (1995) (2005) (2006) (Finland) (TV)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2000) (Finland) (DVD)
• Scanvideo (1980s) (Finland) (VHS)
• Varus Video (????) (Russia) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1980s) (Finland) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1999) (2000) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Combine Music Corporation  copyright owner: "Feudin' Banjos"
• Rabun County, Georgia  thanks
• U.S. Forest Service  thanks
• Georgia Power Company  thanks
• Warner Bros. Entertainment  dvd package design & supplementary compilations

Also Known As:

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:

Australia:R | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 (video rating) | Norway:18 (1973) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | 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) | Finland:K-12 (2012) (Blu-ray)

Filming Locations:

Beaufort, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

Burt Reynolds broke his coccyx while going down the rapids when the canoe capsizes. Originally, a cloth dummy was used, but it looked too much "like a dummy going over a waterfall". After Reynolds was injured and recuperating, he asked, "How did it look?" The director replied, "Like a dummy going over a waterfall."

Goofs:

Continuity: During the drive to the river near the start of the film, the reflections of the trees etc. can be seen in the windscreen - but this should have been blocked by the canoes on the roof (and indeed they are in the long shots of the same journey)

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 "American Dad!: For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls (#6.8)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Moonshiner

The New Man confronts the Old in a place of raw beauty and stark terror

'Deliverance' is a brilliant condensed epic of a group of thoroughly modern men who embark on a canoe trip to briefly commune with nature, and instead have to fight for their sanity, their lives, and perhaps even their souls. The film has aged well. Despite being made in the early Seventies, it certainly doesn't look particularly dated. It still possesses a visceral punch and iconic status as a dramatic post-'Death of the Sixties' philosophical-and-cultural shock vehicle. There are very few films with similar conceits that can compare favourably to it, although the legendary Sam Peckinpah's stuff would have to be up there. Yes, there has been considerable debate and discussion about the film's most confronting scene (which I won't expand upon here) - and undoubtedly one of the most confronting scenes in the entire history of the cinematic medium - but what surprises about this film is how achingly beautiful it is at times. This seems to be generally overlooked (yet in retrospect quite understandably so). The cinematography that captures the essence of the vanishing, fragile river wilderness is often absolutely stunning, and it counterbalances the film as, in a moment of brief madness, we the viewers - along with the characters themselves - are plunged into unrelenting nightmare. 'Deliverance's narrative is fittingly lean and sinewy, and it is surprising how quickly events unfold from point of establishment, through to crisis, and aftermath. It all takes place very quickly, which lends a sense of very real urgency to the film. The setting is established effectively through the opening credits. The characters are all well-drawn despite limited time spent on back story. We know just enough about them to know them for the kind of man they are, like them and ultimately fear for them when all goes to hell. The conflict and violence within the movie seems to erupt out of nowhere, with a frightening lack of logic. This is author James Dickey's theme - that any prevailing romanticism about the nature of Man's perceived inherent 'goodness' can only wilt and die when his barely suppressed animal instincts come to the fore. There are no demons or bogeymen here. The predatory hillbillies - as the film's central villains - are merely crude, terrifyingly amoral cousins of our protagonists. They shock because their evil is petty and tangible. The film has no peripheral characters. All reflect something about the weaknesses and uncertainties of urbanised Homo Sapiens in the latter 20th century, and all are very real and recognisable. Burt Reynolds is wonderful in this movie as the gung-ho and almost fatally over-confident Survivalist, Lewis, and it is a shame to think that he really couldn't recapture his brief moment of dramatic glory throughout the rest of his still sputtering up-and-down career ('Boogie Nights' excluded, perhaps). Trust me, if your are not a Reynolds fan, you WILL be impressed with his performance here. John Voight is his usual effortlessly accomplished self, and Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox both make significant contributions. This is simply a great quartet of actors. To conclude, I must speculate as to if and when 'Deliverance' author James Dickey's 'To the White Sea' will be made. For those that enjoyed (?) this film, TTWS is a similarly harrowing tale of an American Air Force pilot's struggle for survival after being shot down over the Japanese mainland during WW2. It's more of the typically bleak existentialism and primordial savagery that is Dickey's trademark, but it has all the makings of a truly spectacular, poetic cinematic experience. There was the suggestion a few years ago that the Coen brothers might be producing it, but that eventually came to nothing. Being an avid Coen-o-phile it disappoints me to think what might have been had they gotten the green light on TTWS, rather than their last couple of relatively undistinguished efforts. Returning to 'Deliverance', it's impossible to imagine a movie of such honest, unnerving brutality being made in these times, and that is pretty shameful. We, the cinema-going public, are all the poorer for this.