Review of Sadgati (1981) by Ron B — 08 May 2012

There's much that stays in memory after seeing this extraordinary film. You have the bizarrely entertaining "Dueling Banjos" scene at the beginning of the story. Then there's the infamous male rape scene, which its perhaps most known for.

What strikes me the most, however, are the engrossingly absorbing performances by actors Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, John Voight and Ronny Cox. Bill McKinney and Herbert Coward are incredibly convincing as well, as the two depraved mountain men, who turns the four friends' river-rafting trip into a harrowing and tightly wound nightmare.

The depth and intricacy invested into these characters, in combination with James Dickey's fantastic script, is what puts the meat on the structural bones of this film, while simultaneously making it a tremendously compelling watch.

The complete and sudden turn-around from a lighthearted adventure to an intense and graphic drama-thriller, is brilliantly done, leaving you shocked and paralyzed at what unfolds before your eyes. There's this great line spoken by Burt Reynolds, where he says that "Sometimes you have to lose yourself, before you can find anything".

Well, I was happy to lose myself into this outstanding piece of classic cinema. For within I found an unique dramatic journey, wealthy in character and elaborate in its making. A reflection of human nature at its darkest and most disturbing, but also two hours of great suspense and pulse-pounding intrigues.

Whatever your reasons for seeing it, however, there's one thing that holds true to all viewers: it's a movie beyond convention that is impossible to forget or be unaffected by. A one-of-a-kind, supremely directed thriller, that now goes straight to my Top 10 list for Best Movies of the 1970's.

Highly recommended, to anyone who has the stomach to manage it discomforts.