I’ve never seen this movie but i hear people talk about it all the time. They constantly bring up a “squeal like a pig” scene but no one will tell me about what it is that i am missing. So to prevent me from renting an old movie that i doubt i will enjoy*, can someone just tell me what i’m missing please?
*other “awesome movies” that i’ve seen that didn’t like were Death Race 2000, Grand Theft Auto, Duel, and Taps.
What are you “missing?” Not much, frankly. A group of men goes on a boating trip that ends up with them in a tift with the local redneck psychopaths. One of them forces Ned Beaty’s character to submit to anal sex and “squeal like a pig” for him. So there’s a male rape scene, which is rarely seen.
I’ve never seen Death Race 2000 or GTA.
Duel is a great little low-budget made-for-TV movie from the early 1970s. I haven’t seen it in a while, but I’ve enjoyed it every time I have seen it.
Taps. I saw this one in Sweden, I think. I liked this one as well, but I think its ‘message’ is a bit heavy-handed. Still, I found it interesting to see the clash between virtually brainwashed kids standing up for an Ideal, and the cost of blindly following The Leader. Not that the Ideal is bad; just that it exists in isolation and is not compatible with the Real World. Have the cadets been brainwashed? Or are they acting in the best interest of Honour and Loyalty? Who’s right, and who’s wrong? Or are both sides, both? I haven’t seen this one in a while either, so I don’t know how it stands the test of time. (Remember, this was released at the start of the Reagan Era.)
Deliverance is way, way better than the other movies mentioned. The others aren’t even close.
Haj
Not a great movie IMO, I definitely could have lived a full life without exposure to the rape scene. The sequence with banjo boy on the porch, however, may be worth the price of a rental. If you are into wierdness, it hits about a 7 on the creep-o-meter.
Took a somewhat off-the-wall film class in college, the Films of John Boorman, who directed Deliverance. Even with the teacher explaining things, going on about the movie’s virtues, and despite the fact that other Boorman movies are truly excellent (especially Excalibur, Point Blank, and Hell in the Pacific), this one was only slightly better than Zardoz.
Not much happens. They go into the woods for a river rafting trip, confident and complacent city slickers who run into one trouble after another, including boat troubles, anal rape, accidentally killing a man, and one of the group dying (funny how the anal rape is the only one mentioned most of the time). Most of them make it out, Burt Reynolds in really bad shape, and they kinda just walk away with a post-traumatic stress sort of attitude, and that’s it.
It’s probably the type of movie worth watching to say you watched it, but not one to add to the owned movie pile.
As one who does love to canoe me some whitewater I loved the movie for that particular element. As one who has a dark sense of humor, lines like, “He’s got a real perty mouth” are priceless for creeping out friends.
Should you see it? Probably, but more to round out your knowledge base than to see Ned Beaty in his skivvies. It’s one of the few Burt Reynolds movies I can stand.
A few weeks ago, a film buddy of mine sent me this link . Imagine my surprise. Deliverance is a pretty damn good action flick.
As someone who has spent half his life in the South, I can assure you, the film’s a documentary. Ned Beatty was on Larry King and someone called in and asked him to squeal like a pig! 
Ned’s response? “Nah, ya gotta be in the right mood to do that.” 
I thought Deliverance was an excellant movie. The characters were true to life and I don’t see how someone could watch that movie and not get caught up in the various tensions.
I’d recommend it to anybody over the age of 13.
Great movie. Never mind that the plot is fairly simple; it’s not about what happens, but how and why. I think James Dickey, like many of us, has a love-hate relationship with the South. The characters want a taste of something wild before it’s tamed, and they get it from without and within. There are strong themes worth talking about in this movie.
And Ned Beatty in them tighty-whities is damn sweet! Soueee!
In my estimation, it’s a very good movie. Not great, but very good. The “squeal like a pig” part is shocking, but it’s hardly the whole of the movie.
It’s a mini-society, like Lord of the Flies. It’s soul-searching view into how people are when things go horribly wrong. It’s a story about two very different cultures clashing. It’s a story of morality and family and fear.
It’s a deep movie in ways. Nothing like Death Race 2000.
[QUOTE=Bill H.]
It’s a mini-society, like Lord of the Flies. It’s soul-searching view into how people are when things go horribly wrong. It’s a story about two very different cultures clashing. It’s a story of morality and family and fear.
[QUOTE]
So it’s sort of like the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre or House of a 1000 corpses?
Burt Reynolds tells a great story about the casting of the hillbilly rapist. He said the director still hadn’t found anybody convincing for the role and Reynolds remembered an unknown bit player and stuntman named Bill McKinney that Reynolds had worked with on something else (I forget what) but that he was a good actor who had the authenticity they were looking for.
Reynolds called him and asked hm if he wanted to be in the movie but didn’t tell him exactly what his character would have to do in the film. McKinney was interested but warned Reynolds that he didn’t know how to read. Reynolds told him not worry about it, that they would find a way to deal with it.
He arranged a reading for the director, John Boorman and showed up for the meeting with Reynolds and Boorman in full hillbilly garb. Boorman asked Reynolds if he had told McKinney to come in character and Reynolds said no, that’s just him.
They sat down at a table with the script and Reynolds said that he would feed McKinney his lines and McKinney could just play them back in character.
Reynolds read a single line: [paraphrasing] Take those pants off, right now!
McKinney: “Take off them panties, just take 'em right on off.”
Boorman: "You’ve got the part.
Then they had to tell him what his role would entail. Reynolds cautiously told him that his character would have to “rape another man.”
McKinney considered this for a moment and then said, “What the hell, I’ve done worse than that.”
Just who are you hanging out with?
As an addition to the previous responses, I’d remark that it’s a finely crafted film – good direction, filmography, memorable scenes and images composed by the director, etc., etc., all that other stuff.
I would put it in the ‘Great’ movie category. Seriously. This movie is only superficially a thriller. It is really a very deep character study. Look at what the Join Voight character goes through, and how he changes through the movie. Ned Beatty, Burt Reynolds, Ronnie Cox… Every character changes dramatically. They face inner demons. They learn about the folly of hubris.
The closest literary analogue I can think of is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Top story, Dio. Must check out the film one day.
This was directed by Steven Spielberg, BTW (Duel, not Deliverance).
I am dying here - lol I love Bill McKinney! He’s also one of Clint Eastwood’s “stock” company. Try watching “Bronco Billy” - McKinney plays one of the rag-tag group of circus performers and he’s actually a nice guy. I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact it’s the same guy from “Deliverance”.
VCNJ~
I was going to mention that Duel was made back when Spielburg was a good filmmaker. 