Deliverance

Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it’s turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they’ll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.

• Director:John Boorman
• Genre:Adventure / Drama / Thriller
• Runtime:105 minutes

Cast

Jon Voight : Ed
Burt Reynolds : Lewis
Ned Beatty : Bobby
Ronny Cox : Drew
Ed Ramey : Old Man

Four Atlanta businessmen – Lewis (Reynolds), Ed (Voight), Bobby (Beatty), and Drew (Cox) – 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 by the upcoming construction of a dam and lake. Lewis, an experienced outdoors-man, is the de facto leader. Ed is also a veteran of several trips but lacks Lewis’ machismo. Bobby and Drew are novices.

From the start, it is clear the four are far from what they know as civilization. The locals are crude and unimpressed with the presence of outsiders, and the film implies that some of them are inbred. Drew briefly connects with a local banjo-playing boy by joining him in an impromptu bluegrass jam. But when the song ends, the boy turns away without saying anything, refusing the impressed Drew’s handshake. The four “city boys”, as they are called by one of the locals, exhibit a slightly condescending attitude toward the locals; Bobby, in particular, is patronizing.

The men spend the day canoeing down the river in pairs before camping by the riverside at night. Shortly before they retire for bed, Lewis tells the others to be quiet before disappearing into the dark woods to investigate a sound he heard. He returns shortly after and says that he didn’t find anything. When asked whether he heard “something or someone,” he tells them he doesn’t know. While traveling the next day, the foursome’s two canoes are briefly separated. Pausing briefly to get their bearings, Bobby Buttrill and Ed encounter a pair of unkempt hillbillies (Bill McKinney and Herbert ‘Cowboy’ Coward) emerging from the woods, one wielding a shotgun. After a stray comment about moonshine offends the hillbillies, Bobby Buttrill is forced at gunpoint to strip naked. McKinney’s character chases after and physically harasses Bobby as he tries to escape. His ear is twisted to bring him to his hands and knees, and he is then ordered to “squeal like a pig” as McKinney’s character rapes him. Ed is bound to a tree with his own belt, helpless as McKinney’s character violently sodomizes Bobby. Read more