There are two incredibly famous scenes in Deliverance. For the sake of spoilers I won't go into the details, suffice to say that thanks to countless homages and lampoons the majority of the English speaking world is in some way familiar with this film. One would be forgiven for assuming that the initial impact of such scenes has been lost over time. Having watched the film for the first time in about 6 or 7 years, I can categorically say that the scenes in question, and indeed the entire movie, are just as shocking, thought provoking and scary now as it was, I am told, on it's release in 1972.
The story begins with 4 friends; Lewis, Ed, Bobby and Drew (Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox respectively) traveling into the American backwoods to take a canoe trip and get back in touch with nature. It's obvious from the get-go that this aint gonna be a relaxing weekend in the country for the naive city boys. Director John Boorman masterfully amps up the tension in the the first half hour or so. Everything seems to be going fine for a while, but there is pervading sense of dread running subtly through the narrative, which just doesn't allow the viewer to relax. Encounters with the unwelcoming locals at a run down gas station, and the unease of Ned Beatty's Bobby with life in the wilderness serves as a wonderful precursor for the horrors that await our intrepid party. And when those horrors reveal themselves, by god you won't forget it in a hurry.
Bears, wolves, snakes and any number of nasty poisonous insects are usually the order of the day when attempting to terrify inexperienced campers, but when watching Deliverance one should not expect the ordinary. Taking a short break from paddling duties in the banks of the Cahulawassee River, Bobby and Ed happen across two country bumpkins hunting in the woods. For reasons best known to themselves the woodsmen take great offense to the presence of the city men and proceed to deal with the trespassers in the most vile way imaginable. Lewis deals with the transgression in kind, and so begins a slippery slope for our protagonists, taking them down paths they never thought themselves capable of. Each must deal with the occurrences in their own way, and accordingly must bury whatever reason they may have possessed deep in the woods with their crimes.
What sets this film above other thrillers of its kind is its refusal to take the easy way out. There are no heart-stopping chases through the woods, there is no final showdown with the villain. The real battle lies in the psychology of our very ordinary and indeed very likeable heroes. The real world awaits them at the end of their journey and they must face it. That said, Deliverance keeps you on the edge of your seat for its entire running time. The now infamous scene where the hillbillies are encountered, the crux of the movie, is at once both compulsive and repulsive, and never overly explicit as to take away the impact. The performances are all solid throughout. A little bit of melodrama from Burt Reynolds is forgivable, and in some respects actually in keeping with his character.
The film is magnificently shot on location on the Chattooga River in Georgia. All the stunts are beautifully executed and performed by the leads themselves, adding a sense of realism not always present in major films.
In short, Deliverance is a masterclass in psychological thrillers, and fully deserves it's status as a classic.
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