Deliverance (1972)
Director: John Boorman
Synopsis[]
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds) takes his friends (Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox) on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
Male Deaths[]
- Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward [Toothless Man]
- Ronny Cox [Drew Ballinger]
- Bill McKinney [Mountain Man]
Female Deaths[]
- None
Gallery[]
Posters[]
Trivia[]
- To save costs and add to the realism, local residents were cast in the roles of the hill people.
- While filming the white water canoeing scene, Ned Beatty was thrown overboard and was sucked under by a whirlpool. A production assistant dove in to save him, but he didn't surface for thirty seconds. John Boorman asked Beatty, "How did you feel?", and Beatty responded, "I thought I was going to drown, and the first thought was, how will John finish the film without me? And my second thought was, I bet the bastard will find a way!"
- Burt Reynolds broke his coccyx (tailbone) while going down the rapids when the canoe capsized. Originally, a cloth dummy was used, but it looked too fake, like a dummy going over a waterfall. While Reynolds recovered, he asked, "How did it look?" Director John Boorman replied, "Like a dummy going over a waterfall."
- To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured, and the actors did their own stunts. Jon Voight climbed the cliff.
- According to director John Boorman, the gas station attendant's jig during "Dueling Banjos" was unscripted and spontaneous.
- "Dueling Banjos" was the first scene shot. The rest of the movie was almost entirely shot in sequence.
- Much of the film had to have its color desaturated because the river looked too pretty.
- Following the film, tourism increased to Rabun County by the tens of thousands. By 2012, tourism was the largest source of revenue in the county. Jon Voight's stunt double for this film, Claude Terry, later purchased equipment used in the movie from Warner Brothers. He founded what is now the oldest whitewater rafting adventure company on the Chattooga River, Southeastern Expeditions. By 2012, rafting had developed as a $20 million industry in the region.
- Burt Reynolds' breakthrough role, transforming him from a TV / B-movie actor to a film superstar.
- Much of the dialogue was taken almost verbatim from the source novel.