Deliverance

:For the album by the Swedish band Opeth, see Deliverance (album).

Motion picture

Widely acclaimed as a landmark film, Deliverance is the story of four Southern suburbanites on a weekend getaway. 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-handicapped mountain boy named Lonny (implied as being an inbred albino in the novel. Portrayed by Billy Redden.), who eventually outplays Drew with his banjo. The song won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Related Topics:
Southern - Suburb - Gas station - Inbred - Albino - Billy Redden - 1974 - Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance

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Deliverance was shot on the Chattooga River, dividing the states of South Carolina and Georgia. In the years following the film's release, more than 30 people have drowned attempting to recreate the canoe trip along the section of the river where the film was shot. The rapids within both book and film become a major symbol and plot device to reflect the natural dangers of the untamed wilderness towards urban outsiders.

Related Topics:
Chattooga River - South Carolina - Georgia

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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."

Related Topics:
2001 - American Modern Library - New York Times

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Running time: 109 minutes

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Plot

Four Atlanta businessmen -- Lewis, Ed, Bobby, and Drew -- 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 with the upcoming construction of a dam. The trip turns into a terrifying ordeal revealing the primal nature of man, his animal instincts of survival, and even his potential for violence.

Related Topics:
Atlanta - Canoe - Georgia - Dam

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Travelling in twos, the foursome's canoes are briefly separated and the occupants of one canoe (Bobby and Ed) encounter a pair of gritty mountain men emerging from woods. In what remains one of the most disturbing scenes in film history, Bobby (played by Beatty) is forced at gunpoint to strip naked, his ear twisted to bring him to his knees, and then ordered to "squeal like a pig" before being sodomized while Ed is bound to a tree by his belt tightened around his neck.

Related Topics:
Mountain men - Pig - Sodomized

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One mountain man is killed by Lewis' archery skills, but the other mountain man escapes into the woods. After a debate between Lewis and Drew whether to go to the authorities, the men decide to bury the dead body and continue as if nothing had happened. The four make a run for it downriver, but soon disaster strikes as the canoes reach a 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 by the surviving mountain man, or he killed himself. After Drew's fall into the river, the canoes crash together on the rocks and spill the remaining men into the river. Lewis breaks his femur when his boat crashes in the rocky rapids, and the others wreck alongside him. For their survival, Ed must climb the cliffs and overcome his very fears in order to dispatch the other mountain man with his bow and arrow. However, it is unknown if the man killed was even the same mountain man who attacked them back in the forest or merely some innocent hunter. The three leave the river valley forever, lying about their ordeal to police investigators (the sheriff was played by author James Dickey) in order to escape their double murder charge, and vowing to keep their story of death and survival a secret for the rest of their lives.

Related Topics:
Femur - Rapids

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