Deliverance

Deliverance (1972) sends four city men down a Georgia river that is about to be flooded by a dam. They do not know the area, contact with the local people goes badly, and something happens on the river that cannot be undone. The source is James Dickey's 1970 novel. Dickey wrote the screenplay and appears in the film as Sheriff Bullard. His presence on set caused trouble. During the canoe filming he argued drunkenly with John Boorman about changes to the script and it became physical; Boorman came away with a broken nose and four shattered teeth. The actors performed without insurance and without doubles. Jon Voight climbed the cliff himself. Burt Reynolds insisted on doing the waterfall rather than using a dummy; he described his shoulder and head hitting rocks and waking with the director at his bedside. Ned Beatty nearly drowned and Reynolds cracked his tailbone. The Dueling Banjos sequence is the moment everyone knows. Ronny Cox's character plays guitar opposite a local boy on banjo, played by Billy Redden. The tune won a Grammy in 1974. The film's effect on the region was lasting. Tourism to Rabun County surged, and by 2012 the rafting industry was generating around 20 million dollars a year there. Voight's stunt double founded Southeastern Expeditions on the Chattooga River and Beatty's founded the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. It runs 109 minutes. Good for: survival tension, seventies American cinema, and location photography. Less good for: the sexual assault in it is extremely heavy and is counted among the most disturbing scenes in cinema. The depiction of Appalachian people runs on stereotype and created an image that damaged the region for years.