The episode of The Simpsons with Ernest Borgnine also made reference to the whole Dueling Banjos bit, as well.
Did you notice that the banjo-playing backwoods fellow on the porch turned up last year in Big Fish? He even played a bit of “Dueling Banjos.” I love an homage.
Cool! I’d forgotten all about that sketch. It was even a running gag between one of my friends and me; whenever either of us described ourself as a “film buff,” the other would say, “Butt Freak!”
As for Deliverance: Meh. As a source of pop-culture references, it’s a masterpiece. As an actual movie, not so much. Sure, you can pick out themes – man’s hubris, civilization vs. nature, friendship through adversity – but they’re all handled in a very vague and shallow way. It’s as if saying nothing of significance passes for “deep.”
The other thing that bugs me about it: Jon Voight at that age looks an awful lot like Angelina Jolie with a mustache. I’m watching the movie and I have to think, “I hate to say it, but he kinda does have a real purty mouth.”
AAAAAAA-hahahahahahahahhahahah!!!
Thanks for the laugh - this is the worst movie I ever saw! Makes Van Helzing look brilliant!
And I can never forgive Ned Beatty for that scene. That ugliness is burned into my brain. Damn me for blaming the victim, but he’s the one I reluctantly remember. (Although I loved him in the Superman movie)
I feel incredibly stupid for asking this, but I have never quite been able to understand what the title of the movie has to do with the movie?
Actually, I liked Zardoz. Yeah, the costumes were bad and the ‘hoooooo-ing’ at the lunch table is really hippy-new-age-silly; but I liked Arthur Freyn/Zardoz and Friend. I still think of their exchange at the end of the film:
‘We’ve been used!’
‘And *re[/]-used!’
‘And abused!’
‘And amused.’
I thought the whole ‘Kill me!’ scene was hilarious.
I went rafting on the Chattooga last year. Great fun. If you go, the river guides will cheerfully direct your attention to the spot where Ned Beatty got…educated.
I don’t think that’s an incredibly stupid question at all.
Think about what deliverance means: it’s a lot like forgiveness and it’s a lot like repentance. Deliverance is being saved. All of the main characters are delivered from their own private, personal demons. Deliverance is the denoument (look it up, non-literary Dopers!). Each of the characters begins in the movie with a certain set attitude about themselves. Burt Reynolds’ opening dialogue (over shots of some of the most beautiful SC/GA mountain country ever) gives you a lot of insight about what this movie is about and who’s being delivered from what.
The opening narration talks about how beautiful, pristine and natural the land you’re looking at is. There’s a culture that’s been living there for generations. But the urbanites in nearby megapolises (like Atlanta, only a couple hours away) cause the local power company to destroy a dam, which will then flood the entire valley and possibly wipe out the mountain people who live there – if not only their resources for income. Go there now and that culture really has been destroyed – many mountain people had to move to towns just to eke out a subsistence.
Back to our main characters… the same thing happens to them as what happens to the land, throughout the plot of this movie. One dies: he is a sensitive, musical and poetic soul and what does his death tell you about the effect of great manmade change on nature? One is horribly injured which removes his bluster and arrogance significantly, forcing him to depend on much “weaker” members of his party for his own safety. He has to completely change the way he thinks in order to survive. Thus, he is delivered from his former asshole self. Ned Beatty’s character is raped, much like the land. His arrogance in the beginning of the movie is a little different from Burt Reynolds’ character’s arrogance. He is uncomfortable with being out in the woods from the get-go and turns out to be scarred for life by the end of his little whitewater adventure. More parallels between developement vs. mother nature. Finally, (I can never remember character’s names) the one character who has to climb the cliff, shoot the redneck and become the leader to get everyone back to civilization: he is delivered from his own fear.
A drama student once told me that whichever character actually says the title of the movie usually turns out to be the most important character. I can’t remember if any one character uses the word Deliverance in this movie, but it would be worth watching for on the next viewing. My point of this whole long and laborious post (sorry) is that “deliverance” is the title for a number of reasons. If you think about what the word means as you watch the movie, you will quickly see that it’s the only appropriate title.
Finally, one thing that makes this movie unique is there is so much film without any dialogue at all. This often, IMHO, is what makes people think this movie sucks. If you’ve never known life without MTV, you’re going to have a difficult time sustaining interest in something that doesn’t have a lot of snappy music, quick shots that fast pacing that speaks to those with a really short attention span.
I believe this is a real thinker’s movie and not just some stupid Burt Reynolds action flick. If you want that, go rent Smokey and the Bandit.
Isn’t it that the power company wants to build a dam? It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen the film (although it’s on my DVD shelf), but IIRC the whole point of canoeing on the river is to experience it before it is turned into a lake.
There is also the birthing sense of deliverance. All of the characters get symbolically “baptized” (i.e. dunked) in the river, and the ones who survive get “born again.” Think of the river as a metaphorical birth canal.
That’s correct. And the nearby town is to be submersed. In one of the final scenes, we see a small church being hauled away to avoid this fate.
I’m not sure, but I thought that Beatty’s character uttered a frightened, fervent phrase containing the words, “Lord, deliver us…” during the rape scene.
I remember thinking that that was what the title referred to.
The rape scene is shocking, especially if you’ve only seen the edited-for-TV version, but I think it gets too much attention as a defining feature of this film. It is a pivotal scene as far as the plot goes, of course, but it’s really how each of the men acts afterwards that’s important.
I think it’s a rare film – an ostensible action movie with poetic and mythic overtones that says something striking about the primal instincts of man. Although the Ned Beatty character endures the worst abuse, it is the Jon Voight character (as Sam Stone said) that undergoes the most significant transformation as the protagonist of the film. Even during the rape scene, you will notice that a lot of attention is paid to Voight’s reactions.
Dickey said in an interview I heard that the book was about people encountering the kind of evil that he felt was newly in the world: People willing to kill for no reason at all.
Yes, THAT old worn-out plot trick. Used in “Guy” sitcoms like “Married with Children.” Usually used in conjuction with the “Squeal like a pig” or “You got a purty mouth” lines. It’s practically a standard gag for low-end comedy.
I agree with the first part, but except on an allegorical level, the outsiders on the canoe trip aren’t terribly important to me.
My take: Deliverance is a morality play. Modern civilization butts up against a hopelessly backward quasi-society. In my mind, it’s not too much of a stretch to think of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the displaced people of Norris Basin, for example.
Regarding the rape scene, “pivotal” is a great observation. From the first time I saw this movie, I was struck by the awesome symbolism of the porcine Beatty being befouled by the Aintry folk.
In Deliverance, one-fourth of all city-slickers are depicted as fat, lazy and emasculated – chubby half-men in panties. Even Voight’s character, Ed, is soft and impotent, a weak man with a pretty mouth.
City people live in luxury, suckling at the warm teat of electricity, and in so doing force down-home country people to be thoughtlessly displaced. In all, our four “heroes” have scant concern for the personal impact of the damming; these men are there to use the Cahulawassee River before it’s gone.
Beyond that, what about Deliverance’s Big Secondary Message? “Keep screwing with Nature and it will ultimately find a way to screw with you.”
This is a great movie, and an excellent period piece depicting four popular actors in their unassuming primes. It’s a dark, unsettling flick, but in the same breath, it’s a worthwhile, thought-provoking story. Highly recommended.
I always liked Robin Williams’ variation: “Squeal like a fax machine!”
Oh. My. God.
I just now happened to flip on Dinner for Five, and there was Burt telling this very story. smoke and IMDb are right.
I was struck by the concept of the city guy waiting for dawn to ambush the hillbilly who was trying to ambush them.
A good book, too BTW.