Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14816 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.

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.

Unnerving Apocalyptic Hell
From the onset Deliverance sets itself as different and special movie, distancing itself from the usual adventure canoe movies (such as Curtis Hanson's River Wild (1994)). The much-heralded "Duel Banjo" scene is a spectacular and unnerving start to the film- Ronny Cox's character, whilst waiting in a desolate "gas" station strums up his guitar with a strange-looking inbred child playing on his banjo. The scene that follows is as brilliant as it is disturbing and the music becomes a soundtrack for the rest of the film.
The four canoeists (Reynolds, Voight, Beatty, Cox) trip down the River (soon to be flooded by a huge lake- a very neat twist from writer Dickey) doesn't become a trip to survive nature as one assumes it will be, but a fight for survival from fellow men. And what men!!! The nemesis of the canoists turns out to be a duo of inbred hillbillies (rotting teeth et al). Making the hillbillies the villans is a terrifying touch- their faces contorted in ugliness, with seemingly no sense of morals and humanity. The most uncomfortable scene of the film is the male-rape scene ("Squeel like a piggy!")- but don't let it put you off seeing the movie.
It's not flawless, however. The film makes very uncomfortable viewing (and essentially unsatisfying) and you never feel a real attachment with the protaganists but if you like your movies with a bit of originality and horror this is the one for you...
Reynolds puts in one of his better perfomances and Jon Voight (father of Angelina Jolie) acts in what probably is his best performance to date. Boormans direction is sound, and this is undoubtably one of his best movies.
The film turns into an apocalyptic struggle for the canoeists, and Boorman creates a nightmarish hell that will play upon your mind for days to come- and put you off canoeing for life...