Deliverance

Movie Details:

Cast & Characters:

• Jon Voight as Ed Gentry
• Burt Reynolds as Lewis Medlock
• Ned Beatty as Bobby Trippe
• Ronny Cox as Drew Ballinger
• Bill McKinney as Mountain Man
• Herbert “Cowboy” Coward as Toothless Man
• James Dickey as Sheriff Bullard
• Billy Redden as Lonnie, the banjo boy
• Macon McCalman as Deputy Queen, whose brother-in-law is missing

Storyline:

The Cahulawassee River valley in Northern Georgia is one of the last natural pristine areas of the state, which will soon change with the imminent building of a dam on the river, which in turn will flood much of the surrounding land. As such, four Atlanta city dwellers, alpha male Lewis Medlock, Ed Gentry, Bobby Trippe, and Drew Ballinger, decide to take a multi-day canoe trip on the river, with only Lewis and Ed having experience in outdoor life. They know going in that the area is isolated. Their relatively peaceful trip takes a turn for the worse halfway through with river rapids and unwelcoming locals. The four need to battle their way out of the valley and are asked to do things they never thought possible within themselves.

About Movie:

Deliverance is an American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman, based on the 1970 novel by James Dickey, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, marking the feature film debuts of Beatty and Cox.

The movie includes scenes shot at the Mount Carmel Baptist Church cemetery, now submerged under Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. The Jocassee Dam, featured under construction in the film, is near Salem, South Carolina.

Released on July 30, 1972, Deliverance was a critical and commercial success, earning $46.1 million on a $2 million budget. It received three Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe nominations.

The film became a cultural landmark, particularly for its iconic “Dueling Banjos” scene and its notorious, disturbing depiction of Beatty’s character’s assault. In 2008, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

Budget & Box Office Collection: