Deliverance 8 Ways It Still Holds Up Today

Deliverance: 8 Ways It Still Holds Up Today

John Boorman’s intense survival thriller Deliverance is certainly a hard-hitting watch, but nearly half a century later, it still holds up.

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John Boorman’s intense survival thriller Deliverance is remembered as one of the most disturbing movies in Hollywood history. Four businessmen’s ill-fated canoe trip through the remote Georgia wilderness is set up as a man-versus-nature story before their harrowing encounter with two mountain men turns it into a man-versus-man story.

Nearly half a century after its initial release, Deliverance is still just as shocking, engaging, and powerful. From the cast’s incredible performances to the uncompromising scenes of violence, there are many things in Deliverance that hold up today.

8 The “Dueling Banjos” Scene Is An Iconic Movie Moment

The bluegrass song “Dueling Banjos” was actually composed in the 1950s and even appeared in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, but its use in Deliverance is so iconic that the song will always be associated with the movie.

The lightheartedness of Drew’s musical standoff with Lonnie acts as a “calm before the storm” ahead of the guys’ fateful canoe trip. The banjo-versus-guitar musical number is one of the all-time most memorable movie moments.

7 Jon Voight Showed Off Impressive Range

After his turn as Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy made him a celebrated actor, Jon Voight wasn’t given the chance to show off his versatility in subsequent films like Catch-22 and The Revolutionary. Playing Ed in Deliverance paved the way for Voight to show off the full extent of his dramatic range.

When there’s a rifle pointed in his face, he genuinely fears for his life. When he’s aiming a bow and arrow and gets jittery about taking a life, his anxious shaking feels authentic. The role of Ed allowed Voight to play camaraderie, terror, unbridled rage, primitive survival instincts – a bunch of challenging emotions – and he nailed them all.

6 The Script Is Fast-Paced

James Dickey’s screenplay for Deliverance, adapted from his own novel, jumps right into the thrills. The characters’ journey is set up in the opening voiceover and Dickey promptly gets them out on the river. After their disturbing encounter with the mountain men, Deliverance becomes an all-out survival thriller as they traverse the rapids while being stalked by a rifleman.

The pacing in Deliverance never slows down. When Ed goes rock-climbing, Boorman doesn’t spend too long showing it. A series of quick dissolves shows the passage of time without wasting any.

5 The Environmentalist Subtext Is Even More Relevant Now

In Deliverance’s opening voiceover, the guys explain why they’re going on a journey down the Cahulawassee River: it’s about to be dammed, drowning the river and ruining yet another piece of nature. They complain about “the vanishing wilderness” and call the Cahulawassee “just about the last wild, untamed, unpolluted, un-f*cked-up river in the South.”

This subtext is even more relevant today, as corporate interests continue to chip away at the Earth’s wealth of natural resources. The “vanishing wilderness” is a much bigger problem today than it was in 1972.

4 The “Squeal Like A Pig” Scene Is Still Just As Disturbing

When Ed and Bobby stop their canoe in some nearby woods to take a break, they’re accosted by a pair of gun-toting mountain men. The city folks try to duck out of the confrontation and get on their way, but the mountain men won’t let them leave. They tie Ed to a tree by his neck to force him to watch as they sexually assault Bobby. Ned Beatty and Bill McKinney fully commit to the horrifying reality of the scene.

Boorman’s graphic, excruciatingly dragged-out depiction of the act was understandably controversial, but the intention of this notorious scene is to disturb and, five decades later, it’s still just as devastating.

3 The Conflicts Keep Escalating

Often, when a movie has an infamously shocking scene in the middle like Deliverance, that scene overshadows the rest of the film. But in Deliverance, after Ed and Bobby encounter the mountain men, the conflicts keep escalating.

The river keeps getting choppier, the surviving mountain man stalks them with a rifle, one of them dies, and even after they’ve successfully killed both of the men targeting them, they become concerned that their case won’t hold up in court. It’s impossible to get bored watching Deliverance, because the characters’ problems keep getting worse.

2 Burt Reynolds’ Star-Making Turn Is Still One Of His Best Performances

Burt Reynolds had been acting in movies for over a decade before Boorman cast him in Deliverance as Lewis, the only experienced outdoorsman of the group. But this was the movie that finally put Reynolds on the map and gave him the star power he deserved.

Reynolds continued to regularly act in movies until he passed away in 2018, but his early-career turn in Deliverance always held up as one of his best. He gives a likable performance throughout the opening scenes, then explores real depth and pathos when the character breaks his femur and considers giving up hope.

1 The Final Scene Symbolizes Ed’s Trauma

When they finally make it to Aintry, Ed, Bobby, and Lewis come up with a cover story to avoid possible double homicide charges. They decide to take their harrowing experiences on the river to their graves and go home to carry on with their lives. But the final scene makes it clear that moving on won’t be so easy.

Since movies are required to provide closure before the end credits, these kinds of survival stories often ignore the trauma that the characters would take home with them. Deliverance faces that trauma head-on in its final moments, as Ed is woken by a nightmare in which a dead hand breaches the surface of the water.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/deliverance-aged-well/

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