Deliverance

1972 Directed by John Boorman

What did happen on the Cahulawassee River?

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.

Jon Voight Burt Reynolds Ned Beatty Ronny Cox Ed Ramey Billy Redden Seamon Glass Randall Deal Bill McKinney Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward Lewis Crone Ken Keener Johnny Popwell John Fowler Kathy Rickman Louise Coldren Pete Ware James Dickey Macon McCalman Hoyt Pollard Belinda Beatty Charley Boorman

Alternative Titles

Un tranquillo week-end di paura, Amargo Pesadelo, 서바이벌 게임, Den sista färden, Uwolnienie

thriller drama adventure

109 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Colin the dude ★★★★★ 15

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

That part where Jon Voight second guesses who he just shot thinking he sees real teeth in the mouth. He feels the face, plays with the dentures that come out and he quietly sighs with relief. Finally something went right. Just an incredible little ice breaking moment of clarity. The way the characters grapple with the enormity of their situation, it becomes such a heavy burden, one almost big enough to slip out of their control. When Ronny Cox draws the line with the first murder. Where was his Oscar that year? Such a heavy scene, you're just sweating with them along every decision. Staggering film.
Review by Jizzmonkey ★★★★★ 1

Even after watching this movie I'm still not convinced I want to go on the banjo lessons and canoe trip team-building exercise our boss has put on for us.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 8

"Deliverance," John Boorman's stomach-churning and now-iconic observation of the savagery of nature, man, and conscience is a film built upon and defined by its conflicts. The conflict of man versus nature gives way to the conflict of man versus man and, in turn, man versus self and, finally, nature versus man. It is a poetic progression of the how these conflicts and the destruction imparted by human beings leads only to human destruction. Boorman couches this progression in a heavy-toned, chilling adventure-drama, but the thematic poetry of its conflicts is writ large throughout.
Revolving around four friends who take a canoe trip down a remote river before it is damned, the four soon find themselves damned. Traveling into an off-kilter…
Review by Sam Meltzer🏳️‍🌈 ★★★ 11

I think Deliverance is a movie that needs to be talked about and watched more because it truly is great and under appreciated. The direction and writing of this movie are fantastic, setting a great tone and establishing nice characters. The dialogue is pretty great, fitting these actors well and creating the environment, while also sounding smooth and realistic. The visual style of this movie is nice, combing mostly stable and some shaky camera work. It usually works well. And even though it doesn’t do much as a whole and it may not be too memorable, it’s certainly a good-ass movie that needs more attention.
Review by WraithApe ★★★★½ 13

Well, it's no Zardoz. Pretty amazing the same director made this film; a taut adventure thriller that combines gritty realism, stunning photography, nerve-wracking action sequences and existential subtext to dynamite effect. When four city slickers take to canoes and attempt to navigate the fierce Chattooga River (re-imagined as the Cahulawassee, a soon-to-be-dammed and vanished natural wonder Lewis and his buddies are determined to experience before it's too late), it turns out their biggest challenge comes not from the elements but their fellow man.
First off, the film looks fantastic, exploiting to the fullest the natural beauty of the Chattooga, powering through the Appalachians. Brilliantly edited, and DP Vilmos Zsigmond mixes static wide shots with water-level close-ups and rapid tracking that…
Review by Steven Sheehan ★★★★ 16

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

A journey into the deep south, up in those tree laden mountain regions is like a trip to a country within a country. That's old America right there, where men are men and brothers marry their sister. A protective community full of their own traditions who don't like visitors as much as visitors don't like to venture inside.
Four men are delivered by the Cahulawassee river into a redefined test of manhood far removed from what was supposed to be an overnight trip through the rapids. It initially feels as if the danger sits at the start and ending of their journey, entrusting locals who are suspicious of each others motives. We expect that trouble will await them when they…
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★ 2

Judiciously observed as a straightforward adventure film, John Boorman’s Deliverance has a somewhat biting edge due to being invested with some environmentally friendly commentary.
It gained some early notoriety for allowing its actors to perform their own stunts without the protection of insurance. The screenplay by James Dickey, from his own novel, follows outdoor enthusiast Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds) enticing his friends: Ed Gentry (Jon Voight), Bobby Trippe (Ned Beatty) and Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox), on a canoeing expedition to see the Cahulawassee River in the northwestern Georgia wilderness before a hydroelectric dam is completed and transforms the backwoods into an enormous lake.
As the friends take their excursion through a territory that has already been murdered by civilisation, there's…
Review by Evan Eaton ★★★★½

A whirlpool of crystal clear cultural reflections, Deliverance is a brooding, boundary breaking journey down the river to hell. Despite his British ethnicity, in 1972 John Boorman proved his ability to capture the unrelenting horrors of the cantankerous South better than many American filmmakers could. He drew constant allegories on a world that we change as much as it changes us, embedded in the story of four businessmen from Atlanta, slowly regretting how they left their suburban, concrete jungle for a real one.
Poet James Dickey deserves copious credit for his source material and Southern insight, if it hadn't been for his novel and screenplay Boorman would've directed a different picture. Dickey's dialogue provides a realistic perspective on an industrialised,…
Review by Brad Boi 🎟 ★★★½

That inbred banjo boy is pure nightmare fuel
Review by Andreas Bardét ★★★★ 3

Tja, von dem wollte ich mir eigentlich nur den Anfang anschauen, weil ich in "Private Ryan" drinhänge - aber der hier hat so gute Bilder mit einem fixen Pacing, da bleibe ich natürlich doch dran hängen. Interessante Anmerkung, jetzt gerade mittendrin im Film: Ich hatte den immer als etwas lahm in Erinnerung, bis es dann zum Höhepunkt kommt. Ist aber gar nicht der Fall, ganz im Gegenteil, bisher war jede Szene interessant, gut bis top gespielt (inkl. der Impro-Arbeit) und schön anzuschauen ist der allemal. Die Framings sind teilweise sooo sehr wunderbar "newhollywoodish", dass meine glücklich-glotzenden Augen tränen. Vilmos Zsigmond rockt. Vieles schaut besser aus als zB. 3Billboards, der visuell auf ähnlich grafischem Terrain operiert.
So, drei in die Kasse und ab ins Bett.
Review by Joshua Arispe ★★★★

Okay, I don’t wanna live in Georgia anymore.
Review by kayla ★★★★ 3

Another movie where everything could’ve been fine if they just called 911 in the first place

Recent reviews

Review by Christopher Higgins ★★★★½

The cast deliver one of their best & most realistic roles in this shocking, iconic, realistic & thrilling survival film. (94%)
Review by hickjose ★★★½

there was one part that was a bit much
Review by Maya Bowman ★★★

Once it hit halfway though I was so confused. Felt like I was missing something... Anyway, Bobby, Drew, and Ed deserved better. Fuck Lewis.
Review by Cory Mack ★★★½

banjo!
Review by CC ★★★★½

Oh hell no. America needs to fall through the earth straight into the core!
Review by Jeteugi ★★★★

this shit is insane
Review by Robin Vidal ★★★★½

MOTHER NATURE'S SON
Soms ga je eens op uitstap. Meestal is dat een leuke dag maar gebeurt daar weinig spectaculair, maar niet in Deliverance.
Wat het meest opvalt is de stijl: alles is heel mooi in beeld gebracht waardoor de natuur heel mooi tot zijn recht komt en bijna een personage vormt. Het afwisselen van minimalistische muziek met de kalme geluiden van het kabbelende rivierwater maken het af. Daarnaast spelen Burt Reynolds en Jon Voight ijzersterk hun hoofdrol.
Ook de plot zit best wel goed. Aan een rustig maat vlot tempo gaat die voorbij, er worden hierbij enkele morele dilemmas toegevoegd die het geheel een extra laag geven en zo van dit boottochtje meer maken als een uitstapje.
Deliverance is echt wel een aanrader. De film is goed verouderd en toont een spannend maar rustig verhaal over de mens en zijn drang naar de natuur.
Review by Albert Slabbaert ★★★★★

Jon Voight, BURT RYNOLDS , Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox
Four comrades embark on an innocent one with terrible consequences. Story beautifully portrayed partly due to the hellish journey across the river
An impressive Rynolds steals the show here
Review by phyllisStein ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I think it’s really unfair that this 2 hour movie is only ever remembered for two scenes: a banjo jam session and an infamous rape sequence. What’s worse is that these scenes are treated as superficially memorable pieces of pop culture, completely isolated from their original context.
The banjo scene, for instance, is a wonderful little microcosm of Deliverance as a whole – Drew and the hillbilly child are, in fact, “duelling” as they trade notes back and forth. Even though nothing literally dangerous is happening, this scene feels incredibly tense due to John Boorman’s excellent direction. Drew is also not aware of this tension as he gleefully plays – it starts as a game for him, where he condescendingly…
Review by isnack20 ★★★★

I can't imagine what it would be like watching this when it came out. Even today it's sickening. Great acting from all
Review by seancroft ★★★½

Da da ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding.
Review by Christian

Light fluff