twominds79 What can you say about john Boorman 's 1972 classic that hasn't already been said ? A masterful effort by the director , cinematography and a cast that was perfect on all levels . You will squeal along with the 4 city dwelling men as they take on the wild rapids and the rabid inbred hicks that the river produces . Burt Reynolds is the alpha male in his most iconic role , Jon voight as the Everyman who uses a horrible situation to show what he's made of , Ned Beatty who I'm sure will never want to film on a canoe again and also Ronny cox as the kind banjo playing one of the group . The river is really the unheralded character of this great picture. A film from a time when films didn't rely on Cgi , explosions or car chases . A true classic of cinema .

gab-14712 Let me open this review with a little history lesson. (I know, sooooo boring right?) My hometown of Lebanon used to be a bigger town. But in the 1970's, part of my town was leveled in order to create a reservoir. So people living in the area where the reservoir was being built had to leave their homes. So a part of our civilization vanquished for a manmade body of water. There is a similar theme in this film, Deliverance. The film takes place in the mountains of Georgia and a river which is very dear to our main characters is about to disappear because of a dam building which would flood the area. Like in my area, people have to leave their homes to escape the flooding. It is a very sad situation all around, but that theme makes this movie all the more better.I enjoyed Deliverance very much. It has been regarded of one of the best films of 1972 and I think I can agree with that. This is just a simple adventure of four men traveling the rapids in pursuit of some adventure, but of course problems will arise. The movie works very well as a adventure film and it was interesting to see how each character develops with some of the action that goes on. This film delivers on its promise of characterization. Each of the four men bring their personality to the trip. One dude is a macho man named Lewis (Burt Reynolds). He is the tough guy of the group and this expedition was his idea. The other main character is Ed (Jon Voight) who also exhibits some toughness skills (just watch that cliff climbing scene). Then we have Bobby (Ned Beatty) who is an overweight man that is afraid of many things it seems. Finally, we have Drew (Ronny Cox) who took part in my favorite scene in the movie- "The Dueling Banjos" Scene where he squared off against a mentally-challenged boy in a contest between a banjo and a guitar before the group began their journey.The scene that everyone talks about and that gave awareness to the movie is the scene where mountain men raped poor Bobby. It was a very well-made scene with such powerful lines of dialogue such as "I'll make you squeal like a pig." Regardless, it is a very brutal scene and it's incredibly hard to watch. The sequence was a pretty long one, but it showed an example of how men can survive in a harsh, primitive environment. Kudos to Jon Voight's character, Ed exacting revenge against the two men who raped Bobby. The film may seem like a quiet adventure film, but it becomes instantly loud the moment this scene appears. Director John Boorman does a wonderful job in creating tension and thrills setting up the scene before it actually happens.The acting is very good and I could expect no less for a film that features wonderful character development. Burt Reynolds plays a man with a machismo personality (no surprise there), but he does it very well. Jon Voight impressed me in this film. He was so great in 1969's Midnight Cowboy and was the best thing about 1970's mediocre Catch-22, so he really comes into his own here. The way he scaled the cliffs in order to kill those men showed what a brave man he was. This film was not insured and to save costs, each of the actors did their own stunts. If you saw that cliff, you would be very surprised. Ned Beatty gives a wonderful performance and a pained one. That scene where he got raped (and you see all of it on screen) is a powerful, intense scene and he gave such raw emotion. Ronny Cox arguably had the smaller role, but his scene where he is playing the banjo sticks out to me. His character seemed to be the most moral guy of the group.The film makes good use of its cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond. He was the man who filmed the gorgeous 1971 movie, McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Now he delivers great camera-work in this movie. It was a tough shoot because of the location of the movie set against rapids, but Vilmos really made it work and the picture is gorgeous set amongst the American wilderness.John Boorman delivered an exquisite adventure film in the form of Deliverance. It is a movie about survival and how men from the city can survive in the wild using their primitive instincts. The movie gained some controversy because of the squealing pig scene, but it remains a very powerful scene that is hard to watch. The other scene to keep an eye on is the banjo scene. That is essentially all of the music the film has, but it is quite worth it. The film has a gorgeous, naturalistic look and it is very well-acted. If you are looking for an adventure story, look no further than Deliverance.My Grade: A-

Dominique Someone must be kidding??? For two hours I was watching four unsympathetic, hysterical nutcases (actually three because at least Burt Reynolds shows some signs of masculinity), who set out for a suicidal voyage on a river where only a complete idiot would go. That the biggest nut of them dies and I don't have to listen to his annoying yelling is a very weak relief. Eventually, the remaining trio buries a rifle (to prevent the possibility that they could defend themselves) and another of them shoots himself with his own arrow (which gets the entire film somewhere to the proximity of the Naked Gun series). A pretty repulsive spectacle.

frankwiener At the risk of triggering the possible removal of my own reviews, which are far from perfect, I wish the editors of IMDb would be more selective about the "user reviews" that they pass for publication here. More selectivity would upgrade the website immensely, especially the elimination of the nonsense that sometimes accompanies films that have achieved commercial success. While most of the user reviews here are seriously written and therefore worthwhile, even when I don't agree with them, a minority of writers, many of whom can't even properly put two full, English sentences together, ruin it for everyone, as has become all too common on the Internet in general. There. I finally got that off my chest.The much discussed confrontation between the local mountain men and the characters of Ed (John Voight) and Bobby (Ned Beatty) was not merely placed in the original book for gratuitous or sensationalist purposes. Although it is a very graphic and disturbing scene, it exists to illustrate one of the book's most important themes. While the group of adventurers seeks "deliverance" from what might be overly restrictive and even oppressive rules and conventions of modern civilization, they are totally unprepared for the absence of such restrictions in a world that they obviously do not know. Instead of being liberated from the confining norms of urban existence, they suddenly find themselves as endangered victims of a world where such social rules and regulations no longer exist. To me, there are some similarities of the "horror" the men find here to the theme of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", which was adapted to the screen as "Apocalypse Now".Similarly, the writer does not exploit physical deformities for purely sensationalist purposes. These are conditions that are plainly visible in the rural world of the remote mountains rather than being kept hidden as they are in the "civilized", middle class world to which the urban adventurers are accustomed. The disfigured locals therefore serve as a forewarning to the visitors that the world they are about to enter is one that is very different from the one that they know. Accordingly, they need to apply, with much humility, the caution that they never exercise before it is too late for them. This film beautifully captures not only the natural sights of the river but the sounds as well. In general, I thought that the direction by John Boorman and the performances were excellent, including those of the lesser known actors who play the two menacing mountain men, Bill McKinney and Herbert "Cowboy" Coward. I am very impressed by the fact that the four leads risked doing their own stunts, including the swift water sequences. Accolades especially go to John Voight for scaling the gorge and to Burt Reynolds for quickly learning how to use a bow and arrow on short notice.My only problem was with the often hokey and hackneyed dialogue, especially at the beginning, but that seems minor in comparison to the highly suspenseful and thought provoking action that follows.