Review of Deliverance (1972) by Tony P — 17 Jul 2018

A thriller from 1972 that had escaped my viewing attention until last night but proved thought provoking and at times quite shocking.

It follows in the vein of other thrillers of the era such as Straw Dogs (1971) and Last House On The Left (1972).

Basically it follows four city guys who go on a 'country' trip to a fictional U.S. river, the River Chattooga that will shortly be no more because of the construction of a huge man-made dam.

The four plan to canoe down the river past several rapids in glorious scenery of the river, the river banks and the woods that accompany them.

The four are quite varied. Ed (Jon Voight) is quite quiet and more sensitive, the survivalist is Lewis (Burt Reynolds) the other two are Bobby (Ned Beatty (who I remember as Lex Luthors partner in crime in the Christopher Reeve Superman films)) and Drew (Ronny Cox).

The film actually starts pretty slow for the first twenty minutes or so and struggled to keep my attention. What follows is a shocking scene of the assault of Bobby by a couple of locals and the murder in self defence of the attackers by Lewis by arrow.

What follows is an hour or so of Survival Of The Fittest scenes as the group contemplate their next moves in disposing of the body, covering their tracks and getting back down river to the 'safety' of their cars and home!

Of course it isn't as simple as that what with some questionnable locals who are set to lose their land and towns because of the dam project.

Thr film features a musical score reminiscent of Ennio Morrocone's themes from the Dollars Trilogy, an unforgettable "feudin' banjos" scene as Drew duets with a local blind boy with a banjo.

The sexual assault of Bobby is of course shocking but the resultant story is edge of your seat stuff.

"Squeal like a pig.".