Deliverance - who would have thought it possible - a brilliant movie with Burt Reynolds in it - surely a contradiction in terms?
Deliverance is something quite unusual in the horror / thriller format - its believable, which is the main strength of the movie. James Dickey's adaptation of his own novel (that itself took ten years to write) moves along with a masterful atmosphere and pacing. The choice of casting is absolute perfection from the stars Reynolds, John Voight and Ned Beatty through to the supporting cast of entirely believable Rednecks.
Once the action begins the unremitting terrorising of the group is absolutely gripping. Some of the scenes are now universally known (like the duelling Banjo's) as are many of the films most memorable lines ( "He's got a real pretty mouth on him, don't he" is a particularly disturbingly one).
Despite Deliverance putting us off adventure holidays in the backwaters of America for ever it is still a great movie.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7801 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-15
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Italian
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Romanian, Bulgarian
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the key films of the 1970s, John Boorman's Deliverance is a nightmarish adaptation of poet-novelist James Dickey's book about various kinds of survival in modern America. The story concerns four Atlanta businessmen of various male stripe: Jon Voight's character is a reflective, civilized fellow; Burt Reynolds plays a strapping hunter-gatherer in urban clothes; Ned Beatty is a sweaty, weak-willed boy-man, and Ronny Cox essays a spirited, neighbourly type. Together they decide to answer the ancient call of men testing themselves against the elements and set out on a treacherous ride on the rapids of an Appalachian river. What they don't understand until it is too late is that they have ventured into Dickey's variation on the American underbelly, a wild, lawless, dangerous (and dangerously inbred) place isolated from the gloss of the late 20th century. In short order, the four men dig deep into their own suppressed primitiveness, defending themselves against armed cretins, facing the shock of real death on their carefully planned, death-defying adventure and then squarely facing the suspicions of authority over their concealed actions. Boorman, a master teller of stories about individuals on peculiarly mythical journeys, does a terrifying and beautiful job of revealing the complexity of private and collective character--the way one can never be the same after glimpsing the sharp-clawed survivor in one's soul. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
DVD 5
French\Italian
English\Italian
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Mono French Italian
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital Mono
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Arabic\Bulgarian\Dutch\English\French\German\Italian\Portuguese\Romanian\Spanish

Synopsis
Director John Boorman's adaptation of James Dickey's best-selling novel stars Burt Reynolds as the hypermasculine Lewis Medlock. Obsessed with Hemingway-vintage notions about achieving true masculinity by challenging nature, Lewis cajoles three of his friends, Bobby Trippe (Ned Beatty), Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox), and Ed Gentry (Jon Voight), into joining him on a white-water canoe trip down an uncharted river in the Appalachians, although only Ed has had any similar experience. The locals that Lewis hires to drive their cars downstream warn him about the difficulty of the journey, but this only makes him more eager to start. The first day goes smoothly as the men learn how to shoot the rapids, and all are exhilarated. On the second day, Ed and Bobby become separated from the other two and reach the landing point ahead of them. Two hillbillies suddenly appear from the forest and decide to hold the two men at gunpoint as the trip begins its tragic downward spiral. Reynolds has one of the best roles of his career in this compelling meditation on the costs of masculine ritual; the film boasts a superb cast as well as the subtle camerawork of the great Vilmos Zsigmond.

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Customer Reviews

Boorman's classic still delivers
Few films manage to look fresh and original over 30 years after their original release however John Boorman's classic survival odyssey Deliverance (arguably his greatest work) still packs a powerful punch to contemporary audiences.

Deliverance is a film that can be viewed on many levels. First and foremost it is a tale of four men attempting to escape from their dreary city existence and discover themselves in the untamed wild. But also it is a demonstration of what can happen when two opposing worlds collide. John Voight and Burt Reynolds are perfectly cast as the protagonists alongside Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox in this adaptation of a novel by James Dickey. Filmed on the Chattooga river in Georgia the film opens with a view of the river and forest that will soon be buried beneath a lake. Over the top of this panning shot are the voices of the lead characters, as Lewis (Burt Reynolds) attempts to persuade the others to go on a canoe trip with him along the doomed river. There is looming sense of dread as the story builds up and John Boorman handles the direction of the film with subtle perfection. Many other directors may have been tempted to make Deliverance as macho thrill ride whereas Boorman creates a delicate portrayal of four men's fight for survival in alien surroundings. He also manages to generate a tense atmosphere of paranoia where the enemy is invisible and events are unclear. In particular the death of one of the lead characters is ambiguous and cleverly crafted as we are unsure whether he has been shot or not. Also this is shown when Jon Voight is forced to take out the hillbilly that has supposedly hunted them, and we along with him are uncertain whether the man he has shot with an arrow is the same one involved in the disturbing rape scene. The men are not only fighting the aggressive hill men however, there is a more deadly enemy, the river. This is emphasised by the first shot we see of the river which is a long and ponderous and we are immediately given the impression that the river is a living breathing entity that must be respected.

One of the most memorable scenes is the famous duelling banjos scene at the start of the film where Ronny Cox's character Drew faces off against one of the inbred locals. The conflict between the hillbillies and protagonists is prominent throughout the film. The two cultures collide at the beginning as they seem unable to communicate with one another. It is not until they have passed the trials and tribulations of the river that the locals seem able to accept them and by this point both the audience and the surviving characters have passed an ordeal that is sure to leave a memorable indentation.

The Groundbreaker of the 1970s
Deliverance was one of the first groundbreaking movies of the 1970s, pushing the boundaries further than any other movie had dared to and, 24 years later it still has as much impact as it originally did. That tells you something about a movie.
The Cahulawassa River is being expanded into a lake, prompting four very different business men into taking a canoe trip as a final adventure. However the trip turns sour when Ed, a bit of a whimp, and 'Chubby' Bobby, someone who is 'respected in the field of insurance' are captured by two hillbillies throwing all four men into a moral and physically painful battle for survival. Interestingly as the film progresses, there is a shift in attitude of all four men and those who we thought were dull and boring become the heroes and the most respected.
The movie does have one legendary scene of film history: the Dueling banjos scene.
Unfortunately the DVD has no special feaures but with a film this good, you don't really need it. Definately recommended.

A timeless classic
Four friends in two flimsy canoes navigate a river that they have just seen as a mark on a map.Lewis(Burt Reynolds)appears to be the leader of the group at the outset,but all that soon changes.Not only do they have to deal with the raging current of the river but things take a more sinister turn when they encounter some extremely unfriendly hillbillies with obligatory missing teeth and dungarees.Bobby(Ned Beatty)bears the brunt of their inbred tendencies and is literally made to 'squeal like a hog boy'in what has to be the most disturbing scene in the film.Just as the billies are lining up Ed(Jon Voigt)for similar treatment up pops Lewis and kills one of them with his bow & arrow.The other redneck makes off and the boys bury his friend's body in the woods.They decide to call it a day and get back on to the river.They encounter the worst raging torrent yet,and one of the canoes gets smashed and Drew(Ronnie Cox) gets smashed up by the rocks and is later found dead.Lewis is disabled by a compound fracture of the leg.They soon realise that the billy who ran off with the shotgun is now tracking them,so Ed(who previously was too scared to kill a deer)climbs the highest rockface you've ever seen and finally encounters the stalker and kills him.The film is masterful in it's portrayal of each man's change of character under stress and the scenery and river shots are both fascinating and breathtaking.The best and most light hearted part of the film for me was the famous 'Duelling Banjo's'scene.The bit where the old petrol pump attendant does his own version of a hoe-down to it is both memorable and hilarious.The music is fantastic.They don't make them like this any more.Brilliant