Deliverance

"What did happen on the Cahulawassee River?"

1972 1h 49m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 1,895

DramaAdventureThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“What did happen on the Cahulawassee River?”

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Cast

Jon Voight
Ed Gentry
Burt Reynolds
Lewis Medlock
Ned Beatty
Bobby Trippe
Ronny Cox
Drew Ballinger
Ed Ramey
Old Man at the Gas-Station
Billy Redden
Lonnie - The Banjo Boy
Seamon Glass
First Griner
Randall Deal
Second Griner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Boorman
Writers: James Dickey
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $46M — a 23.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Boorman, shot by Vilmos Zsigmond. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tom Priestley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "What did happen on the Cahulawassee River?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0068473 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Boorman directs. Vilmos Zsigmond behind the camera. Tom Priestley cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $46M — a 23.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
354 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by John Boorman, shot by Vilmos Zsigmond. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Tom Priestley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "What did happen on the Cahulawassee River?".
8IMDB entry: tt0068473 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 13 themes, including "rape", "based on novel or book", "river", "banjo".

The technical file

Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing: Tom Priestley
Makeup / hair: Donoene McKay
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $46,122,355
Return: 2306% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Deliverance (1972)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

John Boorman

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

talisencrw2016-07-19
★ 10/10
This was remarkable and scared the crap out of me. I read the book eons ago, probably 1988, for a first-year university class back when I was earning my first degree. Not a Burt Reynolds fan, and having only seen two other works by Boorman (the great 'Point Blank' and the not-so-great 'Exorcist II: The Heretic'), I wasn't in a huge hurry to rush out and see the film. BIG mistake on my part, to be frank. Probably the gifted 83-year-old, Surrey native and five-time Oscar nominee's best work--and easily the finest work ever done by Reynolds, shortly before he simply rested on his laurels and became nothing but a caricature. THIS at the very least was proof that he at one time actually had chops and could act. The scariest aspect of all is that this goes on all the time and we just don't know about it. Hundreds of people go 'missing' every day. And, as a Canadian, it's people like the culprits in this film that are responsible for America now having the worst Presidential candidate of all time actually having a chance of being the head of the most powerful country in the world. Now THAT's scary.
John Chard2016-08-11
★ 10/10
Brutal, Beautiful and Brilliant. Four Atlanta friends - Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (John Voight), Bobby (Ned Beatty), and Drew (Ronny Cox) – decide to canoe down the Cahulawassee River out in the Georgia wilderness. They see it as a test of manliness whilst also wanting to experience this part of nature before the whole valley is flooded over to make way for the upcoming construction of a dam and lake. But the perils of nature are not the only dangerous things in their midst, unfriendly wood folk are about to bring another dimension in terror. Deliverance is one of those films that sometimes suffers by way of reputation. Much like Straw Dogs and 70s films of that type, the hype and promise of unremitting hell often isn't delivered to an expectant modern audience. Which is a shame since Deliverance is one of the finest, glummest, brutalistic and beautiful films of the 1970s. Adapting from James Dickey's novel (screenplay duties here also), British director John Boorman crafts a tough and powerful film of men out of their environment, thus out of their league. As each man sets off initially, it's a test of manhood, but each guy is forced to deconstruct their worth, and it soon becomes more about survival as this deadly adventure proceeds. Boorman, aided by cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, has painted a raw and treacherous landscape, unconquered by city slickers but dwelt in by inbreds who don't take kindly to the city folk showing up with their machismo attitudes. From the first point of contact with the strange locals, where Drew goes "duelling banjos" with an odd looking child, the film doesn't let up, much like the locals themselves, the film also is remorseless. Some critics over the years have proclaimed that Deliverance is too pretty, mistaking lush physicality as something detracting from the dark thematics at work. Not so, the Chattooga River sequences are electrifying, the rapids scenes (brilliantly filmed with Voight and Reynolds doing real work, and getting real injuries) are merely setting up the unmanning of our "macho" guys just around the corner. It's a fabulous and potent piece of "beauty". With the four cast leaders absolutely brilliant in their respective roles. In fact there are few better casting decisions ever than that of Reynolds as Lewis, one can only lament that he didn't have more hard edged serious roles in his career. Minor itches exist, metaphors are heavy (Vietnam a 70s staple it seems) while ecological concerns are hinted at without being as prominent as they are in the novel. Surveying the landscape during the opening of the piece, Lewis reflects that man is going to rape this land, rape it, it's stuff like that that is not totally formed, given way to abject horror and survival, Lewis again noting that survival is the name of the game. A game of life and death, where man's primal being means violence may indeed beget violence. Boorman clearly agreed. 10/10
Bazzjazz2018-07-16
★ 9/10
The Banjo scene still haunts me today! Never mind the New Beaty scene. Great movie.