Customer Reviews
Utterly Unforgettable - By: John Wilfers, 10 May 2008 
Wow. Where do you start with a movie as good as this? The cast are perfect (they've alll been in so many movies since, it's hard to believe most of them were unknowns at the time). Burt Reynolds was never better than he is in this movie. If you only know him for his good-ole-boy comedies, you'll be surprised at how good he is here in a serious dramatic role (without his trademark moustache!). He wouldn't get anything approaching the quality of this role until "Boogie Nights."
This film is not just full of memorable moments, they burn themselves into your brain & stay there forever. The deformed, in-bred hillbillies at the start, the "Duelling Banjos" scene with that withered kid, the awful, protracted male rape & the bloody revenge taken for it, Drew's arm being impossibly bent back behind his head, the nerve-shredding interrogations by intimidating Southern sheriffs & the ghostly hand from the water at the end. Even the smalller moments are unusual too, e.g. the snake slithering up the river in a handheld shot.
The film has been beautifully remastered so you can see the shimmering river in alll its glory as the director intended (I've seen some very old, scratchy & muddy prints of this picture over the years & its about time "Deliverance" got the remastering treatment). The sound has been cleaned up too & you can hear the voices of the men alll around you now & the pleasant sounds of the river gushing past in glorious Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (I wish I could see this movie in a cinema, I never have before).
The four documentaries are terrific on this DVD. They are almost worth the purchase price alone. They detail the long, difficult road the film took from the novel to the arduous shoot (with behind-the-scenes feuds between the director & screenwriter James Dickey) to the finished film & its reception.
The 1970s were easily the best decade for movies in history. This is yet another unbeatable 70s classic for your collection. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, find out what alll the fuss has been about & get it. You won't be disappointed.
Squeal, piggy, squeal !! - By: Brendan O. Clarke, 21 Feb 2008 It would be a shame to think of this movie in terms of its horrific male rape scene. It is probably the best thriller ever made. This is truely exception film making that doesnt let up from when the city slickers arrive in the backwoods to the moment their canoe journey ends. The tension is racked up through some superb set pieces.
Director John Boorman never helmed anything as good as this; it would do him justice to ignore Zardoz & Exorcist 2. However, I strongly recommend his more recent movie 'The General' with Brendan Gleason.
This Deliverance 35th Anniversary Remastered Deluxe Edition is packed with extras & is worth the purchase price & then some.
Nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Movie...The Godfather won that year for the last category), Deliverance (1972), based on a novel by James Dickey, who also adapted it for the screen, & produced/directed by John Boorman (Exorcist II: The Heretic, Excalibur), stars Jon `Joe Buck' Voight (Midnight Cowboy, Anaconda) & Burt Reynolds (The Longest Yard, Smokey & the Bandit). Also appearing is Ned Beatty (Nashville, Network), in his first film, Ronny Cox (Beverly Hills Cop), Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward (Ghost Town), & Bill McKinney (The Outlaw Josey Wales), both Coward & McKinney honored by Maxim magazine as the number one screen villains of alll time for their roles in this film (if you've seen the movie you'll have a keen idea why they were chosen).
As the film begins we see quartet of men traveling into some deep, Southern backwoods the intent being to take a weekend canoe trip down an isolated body of water known as the Cahulawasse River which we learn is the `last, untamed, unpolluted' river in the area, but that's about to change as a new dam is in the works, one that will change the river, for better or worse. Anyway, of the four men there's Lewis (Reynolds) who's somewhat of an enthusiastic, naturalist type that also initiated the trip, his friend Ed (Voight), & Ed's friends Drew (Cox) & Bobby (Beatty). Upon arriving at a gas station the boys get a bit of local flavor including an unspeaking, banjo-picking mutant obviously from the shalllow end of the gene pool. It's a little after this point when one of my favorite lines of the film comes about, as the boys are trying to hire someone to drive their cars down the river apiece so they'll be waiting for them at the end of their trip. Upon relating their plans, one local asks the question, with a pronounced, Southern accent, "What the hell you wanna go **** (rhymes with duck) around that river fer?" Amen brother...once their vehicles are squared away the boys hit the river in two canoes, eventuallly stopping & setting up camp before night sets in...the next day they begin down the river again. After awhile they get separated & Ed & Bobby stop along the bank for a breather...and thus it begins...about forty minutes into the film a pair of greasy, filmy, dirty, mountain men, played by McKinney & Coward, emerge from the woods brandishing a shotgun & bad intentions. After some smalll talk they strap Ed to a tree & the toothier of the two proceeds to put it to Bobby in a very uncomfortable place, alll the while making him `squeal like a pig'...seriously...as the one finishes with Bobby the other decides Ed's got a `real purty mouth' but things don't get too far as Lewis, sporting a wicked compound bow, shows up & makes his point. From here the boys must now make their way down a river fraught with dangers, & possibly face the consequences of their actions if they can't agree upon what to tell, or not to tell, the authorities at the end of the line.
A Horror Film Really - By: D Skilton, 26 Nov 2007 Though this movie is often termed as an action & adventure film, its a horror film reallly along the lines of "The Hills Have Eyes" & "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Like those films you got a bunch of ordinary people caught up in a horrifying situation involving some very peculiar individuals. The only difference being Deliverance was shot on a much higher budget with known actors. Some of the violence is tame by today's standards though the rape scene is as disturbing to watch as ever. This is still a chilling film that is well acted & full of memorable scenes.
Still disturbing. - By: U Dick, 28 Sep 2007 This film is an intense cinematic experience. It follows four city boys trip into the wild backwoods of rural America for a canoe trip on a river that is shortly to be dammed. What they find there is a lawless place populated by smalll minded locals & an unforgiving journey down stream. The story, the direction & the acting alll come together to produce a film that will unsettle you. The scenes in the backwoods have a geniune sense of isolation & the rapid change of the characters from city business men into ruthless savages is very well done. The famous abduction scene was groundbreaking at the time & obviously was a big influence on "Pulp Fiction".
This special edition also includes a four part retrospective documentary, with interviews with the director & the four lead actors & is a fascinating look at the making of the film & the impact on film culture & the actors subsequent careers. There is a contemporary making of documentary as well & a director`s commentary. An excellent package.
