Deliverance
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Deliverance is a 1972 Warner Bros. motion picture drama directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox, Jon Voight, and Ned Beatty. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey.
Motion picture
Widely acclaimed as a landmark film, Deliverance is the story of four suburban professional men from Atlanta, Georgia on a weekend canoe and camping trip. The film is also noted for the memorable music scene near the beginning that sets the tone for what lies ahead: a trip into unknown and potentially dangerous territory. In the scene at the rural gas station, character Drew Ballinger plays the instrumental "Dueling Banjos" on his guitar with a mentally challenged mountain boy named Lonny (implied as being an inbred albino in the novel, portrayed by Billy Redden in the film), who eventually outplays Drew with his banjo. The song won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.Deliverance was shot in the Tallulah Gorge in Tallulah Falls, Georgia and on the Chattooga River, dividing the states of Georgia and South Carolina. In the years following the film's release, more than thirty people have drowned attempting to recreate the canoe trip along the section of the river where the film was shot[[Citing sources citation needed]]. The rapids within both book and film become a major symbol and plot device to reflect the natural dangers of the untamed wilderness in the face of inexperienced urban outsiders.
In 2001, the book was named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library. The film was selected by the New York Times as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made", whilst the viewers of Channel 4 in the United Kingdom voted it 45 in a list of "The 100 Greatest Films."
Plot
Four Atlanta businessmen — Lewis, Ed, Bobby, and Drew — (played by Reynolds, Voight, Beatty and Cox, respecitvely) decide to canoe down the fictional Cahulawassee River in the remote Georgia wilderness, expecting to have fun and see the glory of nature before the river valley is flooded over by the upcoming construction of a dam and lake. The trip turns into a terrifying ordeal revealing the primal nature of man, his animal instincts of predation and survival, and even his potential for violence.Travelling in pairs, the foursome's two canoes are briefly separated. The occupants of one canoe (Bobby and Ed) encounter a pair of grizzled mountain men emerging from woods, one wielding a loaded shotgun. In what remains one of the most disturbing scenes in film history, Bobby is forced at gunpoint to strip naked, his ear twisted to bring him to his hands and knees, and then ordered to "squeal like a hog/pig" before being brutally raped by the shotgun-wielding man while Ed is bound to a tree and held at knife point by the other man.
Hearing the commotion, Lewis — who is wary of danger in the woods — secretly sneaks up, and kills the rapist with an arrow from his recurve bow; meanwhile the other mountain man quickly escapes into the woods. After a brief but hotheaded debate between Lewis and Drew about whether to inform the authorities, the men vote to side with Lewis' recommendation to bury the dead mountain man's body and continue on as if nothing had happened — since Lewis said that they wouldn't receive a fair trial, as the local jury would be composed of the dead man's friends and relatives; likewise, Bobby doesn't want what had happened to him to be known. The four make a run for it downriver, cutting their trip short, but soon disaster strikes as the canoes reach a dangerous stretch of rapids. As Drew and Ed reach the rapids in the lead canoe, Drew clutches his head and falls forward into the river. The reason for Drew's fall is left unclear: Drew was either shot and killed by the surviving mountain man, or he had suffered a fatal stroke or heart attack. The latter fate is more plausible because during the argument, Drew was deeply fearful, quite emotionally agitated and strenuously but inadequately arguing in favour of informing the authorities as to what they had done. He claims self-defense, suggesting that none of them would be able to live with what they had done or return to their friends and families with the knowledge that they would be concealing a homicide from everyone they knew and trusted.
After Drew's fall into the river, the survivors enter dangerous rapids and both canoes collide on the rocks, spilling Lewis, Bobby and Ed into the river. Lewis breaks his femur and the others are washed ashore alongside him. Encouraged by the badly-injured Lewis, who believes they are being stalked by the other mountain man, Ed climbs a nearby rock face in order to dispatch the other mountain man using his bow while Bobby stays behind to look after Lewis. Ed reaches the top and hides out until the next morning, when the other mountain man appears on the top of the cliff with a rifle, looking down into the gorge where Lewis and Bobby are located. Ed clumsily shoots and kills him, accidentally stabbing himself with one of his own spare arrows. Ed and Bobby weigh down and bury Drew's body in the river to ensure it will never be found, then take the injured Lewis to the hospital. They carefully concoct a cover story for the authorities about Drew's death and disappearance being an accident, lying about their ordeal to Sheriff Bullard (played by author James Dickey) in order to escape a possible double murder charge. The sheriff clearly doesn't believe them, but after thinking it over, he seems to realize what had happened and simply tells the men never to come back. They readily agree. The trio vow to keep their story of death and survival a secret for the rest of their lives, a vow far more psychologically burdensome than any of them could have imagined.
Trivia
- There are two versions of the "squeal like a hog/pig" scene between Beatty and McKinney. The original movie version includes the rape scene. Another version, usually shown on broadcast televison, does not have the Beatty character being raped--only ridiculed.
- In the film Wrong Turn, four campers stumble upon a cabin that is, unbeknownst to them, home to an inbred cannibal family of mountain men. When approaching the cabin, one character voices his concern by saying "And I just want to remind you of a little movie called Deliverance".
- Although the film closely follows the novel, some parts are different. Examples include the character description of Ed (in the novel, Ed was bald and in his late 40s), the missing introduction (explaining why they decided to go on a canoe trip instead of playing golf), and an epilogue after the tragedy.
- Ned Beatty claims to have come up with the infamous "squeal like a pig" line while he and actor Bill McKinney were improvising the scene.[link]
- Parodies of the dueling banjo scene have appeared in a number of comedy series including The Simpsons, live-action Irish series Father Ted (using guitars), the animated American series Family Guy (involving flatulence), "Dueling Xylophones" by the comedian Bill Bailey, "Dueling Tubas" by Martin Mull, "Dueling Brandos" performed by John Belushi and Peter Boyle on Saturday Night Live, and the computer game The Curse of Monkey Island.
- The PC game Redneck Rampage is a tribute to Deliverance, complete with a banjo-playing alien.
- The first-person shooter game HeXen has a cheat code called "DELIVERANCE", which temporarily transforms the player into a pig.
- In the TV series The Simpsons, two groups of rafters get separated, one group hears the "Dueling Banjos" and a giggling noise while the viewer is able to see a shadowy figure hiding in the woods.
- In the TV series Futurama the character Bender 'sings' the tune to the "Dueling Banjos" when entering the city of Atlanta.
- Billy Redden, the Banjo Boy, could not really play the banjo and all his music was dubbed.
- The TV series Kids In The Hall contains a sketch where a husband (played by David Foley) is repeatedly watching the "squeal like a pig" scene and commenting on what a great piece of cinema it is (possibly making fun of the critics who consider it a landmark film). At the same time his wife (played by Mark McKinney) argues that he seems more interested in the sodomy than the "cinematography."
- In the movie [[Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation]] the "Dueling Banjos" scene is parodied when Buster and an unamed possum duel off while Babs attempts to outrun the rest of his kin who want to cook them for supper. In addition, some other parts of the movie could also be seen as a parody of the film.
- Swedish metal band Opeth released an album in 2002 entitled Deliverance, and during live performances of the title track, lead singer and guitarist Mikael Akerfeldt sometimes tells the crowd to "squeal like a pig".
- In the animated TV series Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko gets on a virtual canoeing machine that automatically selects a difficulty setting called "Deliverance." As Rocko goes through the river, he passes under a bridge with a person playing a banjo saying, "I'm gonna make you squeal like a pig," referencing the sodomy scene, then pulling out a pig and tickling it with a feather, making it squeal. After that he gets thrown off after going through some rapids.
- In the 2005 film The Descent the "Dueling Banjos" tune is being played in a car when the main characters are on their way to take part in a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains, the same mountains in which Deliverance is set.
- In one episode of Robot Chicken, there is a short segment where three rednecks are standing behind a tied up alien. One of the rednecks states that in the name of science, they are going to do an "experiment up inside uranus", followed by him saying, "Now squeeeal like a pig!"
- In the video game Manhunt, the final part of the game is entitled "Deliverance", where a psychopath dressed as a pig is the enemy.
- In Grand Theft Auto III, a pedestrian will yell, "Squeal like a pig!" if attacked.
- In the 1991 EP "Fiend for Blood" by Autopsy, the third track is titled, "Squeal like a Pig."
- In the episode of the television series Home Improvement titled "Shopping Around", Tim spots his old shop teacher kissing another woman. His wife, Jill is reluctant to believe him and suggested maybe they're siblings. When he tells her that they kissed, she replies that many families have siblings who kiss. Tim responds "Yeah, families from Deliverance"
- In one Saturn VUE television commercial, four friends are about to car camp in the woods at night. Suddenly, the song Dueling Banjos is heard by the quartet and they quickly pack up and left in fear. [link]
- The band Primus use a line from the movie in their 1993 hit "My Name Is Mud" where it goes "Where ya goin' city boy!". They have also done Dueling Banjo teases at live shows.
- In one MADtv comedy sketch (episode "Ozark Singled Out"?) between Debra Wilson and Jordan Peele, the two portray characters camping in the woods at night. When the two are confronted with triple threats from a wolf, a bear, and two mountain men, Jordon Peele's character tells his companion advice on the last threat; "They're Deliverance Men! Don't taunt them. Don't acknowledge them. And try not to look like Jon Voight."
- In a Halloween episode of the show Martin titled "The Night He Came Home", while listening to a scary story told by Martin's girlfriend Gina, Cole mistakes a Banshee for an old banjo. Martin then asks, "Cole, who in the hell would be scared of an old banjo, man?" Cole responds, "Remember that movie, Deliverance?"
Crew
- Director: John Boorman
- Producer: John Boorman
- Original story: James Dickey from his novel
- Screenplay adaption: James Dickey
- Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
- Music: Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell - "Dueling Banjos" (1955 composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith)
Cast
- Jon Voight - Ed Gentry
- Burt Reynolds - Lewis Medlock
- Ned Beatty - Bobby Trippe
- Ronny Cox - Drew Ballinger
- James Dickey - Sheriff Bullard
- Billy Redden - Lonny
- Seamon Glass - First Griner
- Randall Deal - Second Griner
- Bill McKinney - Don Job (Mountain Man)
- Herbert "Cowboy" Coward - Toothless Man
Award nominations
- Academy Award for Best Picture
- Academy Award for Directing - John Boorman
- Academy Award for Film Editing - Tom Priestley
- New York Film Critics Circle for Best Film and Best Director
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama
- Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture - John Boorman
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - Jon Voight
- [[List of Golden Globe Awards: Original Song|Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song]] - Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
- [[List of Golden Globe Awards: Screenplay|Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay]] - James Dickey
External link
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