Nominated for three Academy
Awards, 1972’s Deliverance is an
influential thriller set along the Chattooga
River in Georgia. For men from Atlanta set
off into the wilderness to take a canoe trip down a portion of river which is
soon to be hundreds of feet below a newly dammed lake. Their trip takes a
decidedly and unexpectedly dangerous turn when some of the locals take a
disliking to the party. Famous for a distressing scene of rape, the movie is
much harder than I expected and must have rattled censors forty years ago. As
well as the distress caused by these and other scenes, there is also great
beauty to be found in the landscape and it’s captured wonderfully by Director
John Boorman.
The movie features what we’d
consider today to be an all-star cast with Hollywood
heavyweights Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds leading the cast. Ned Beatty makes
his screen debut alongside Ronny Cox, also a first time screen actor here. The
acting is great throughout and the characters are well defined from the start.
From the very first scene the audience is made aware of exactly who is who and
what their main traits are. This helps to get the film off to a good start as
well as easing the audience in.
