Deliverance

Deliverance was made by John Boorman in 1972 and is an adaptation of James Dickey's first novel. It involves four middle class Americans, each with very difference lifestyles and attitudes, who decide to canoe down the length of a great American river. As well as the river, which proves to be an almost overpowering challenge, the men have the vituperative redneck community from a local village to deal with; some of the most memorable antagonists in any film I've seen. The dusty village is totally isolated and populated with a variety of ugly hicks.

A precursor to the struggle between middle class city boys and the rednecks is the famous feuding banjo scene, where Drew, played by Ronny Cox, duels with a young withered backwoods child from the village. This is a horrible rather than a horror film, with some exquisite moments of sheer terror. It is violent but the violence does nothing but create problems for the four lead characters. A pleasant change from a lot of films that use violence as a solution to problems. As the four businessmen discover in themselves levels of violence they'd never imagined, Boorman reveals to us a hauntingly nightmarish vision.

Review by Andrew Begg
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95