John Boorman's disturbing hit movie plenty of thrills , chills and wonderful outdoors

ma-cortes

Good film about a canoe voyage down a dangerous river which starts as a holiday but soon becomes a weekend of sheer terror . Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds) takes his friends (John Voight , Ned Beatty , Ronny Cox) on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the risked American back-country filled with rare and violent hillbillies .

This interesting picture contains intrigue , action , violence , marvelous landscapes and a strong ecological denounce. This trilling film was based on an exciting novel by James Dickey . At the time this motion picture was rated ¨R¨ for its excessive violence , sex and profanity ; nowadays this dangerous standard is underrated . To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured - and the actors did their own stunts , for instance, Jon Voight actually climbed the cliff and to save costs and add to the realism, local residents were cast in the roles of the hill people. Very good cast as John Boorman discovered both Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty working in theater , neither had substantial film experience previously. The notorious rape scene was filmed in one take, largely at the insistence of Ned Beatty who didn't want to film the scene repeatedly . Billy Redden plays the role of The Banjo Boy , he was hand-picked from his local elementary school, largely due to his "look" , his large head, skinny body, odd-shaped eyes and moronic grin , he was discovered by director Tim Burton in 2003 working as a dishwasher . Top-notch acting from John Voight and Burt Reynolds . Author James Dickey gave Burt Reynolds a few days of bow and arrow lessons and by the end, Reynolds was quite accurate and proficient with the weapon . Both Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda turned down the role of "Lewis" before it was offered to Burt Reynolds, who took it ; also Donald Sutherland turned down a role in this film because he objected to the violence in the script , he later admitted to regretting that decision . This movie is considered to be the "breakthrough" film of Burt Reynolds , it marked his transition from acting and starring , this film reflects the start of the period of Reynolds enormous star power and box-office pulling power, his machismo persona being mixed with a critical recognized serious dramatic performance . Gorgeous cinematography by an excellent cameraman , as John Boorman wanted Vilmos Zsigmond as his director of photography as he had famously filmed the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary ; Boorman reckoned that anyone who had filmed under the threat of Russian tanks and guns would be ideally suited to such an intensive and grueling shoot as Deliverance promised to be.

The motion picture was very good shot by John Boorman , though originally, Sam Peckinpah wanted to direct the movie ; when Boorman secured the rights, Peckinpah directed Straw Dogs instead . John is a real professional filmmaking from the 6os , though sparsely scattered and giving various classics . John started as an assistant direction and his friendship with Lee Marvin allowed him to work in Hollywood as ¨Point Blank¨ (1967) and ¨Hell in the Pacific¨ (1968) from where he returned to the UK and directed ¨Leo¨ (1970) , a rare Sci-Fi titled ¨Zardoz¨ (1974) or the ¨failure Exorcist II¨ (1977). His films are without exception among the most exciting visually in the modern cinema . He became famous for Excalibur (1981), the best of them , ¨Emerald forest¨ (1985) with a ecologist denounce included and his autobiographic story ¨Hope and Glory¨ (1987) and which brought him another Academy Award Nomination after ¨Deliverance¨ . Rating : Better than average . Wholesome watching .

score 7/10

ma-cortes 8 April 2013

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2779256/