10/12/10 - Deliverance

Deliverance (1972, 110 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/

This is one of those really classic movies that's perhaps a classic for the wrong reasons. When Deliverance is referenced it's usually referenced for either the banjo scene or the mountain man rape scene. For some reason in my mind, I associated Deliverance with The Deer Hunter which I had given a 10/10 so I was anxious to see how good Deliverance actually was.

The film simply follows four friends as they raft down the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into a lake. The group is: Ed (Jon Voight), Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Bobby (Ned Beatty), and Drew (Ronny Cox). There's some other people that appear for a scene or two, but the film is really about the relationships of the guys in this group.

The first thing that struck me about Deliverance was the opening. Well, there's not really one. There's an unsettling (a word I'll be using a lot) opening where the group stops and Drew plays his banjo while another kid plays along. Basically the group is asking for help to get to the river here so this scene is just overall really awkward. And yet, it's uplifting. There seems to be something wrong with the banjo kid and yet everyone present is having such a great time here. From what I'd read I knew this film wasn't going to keep this happy feeling for very much longer, but I liked how it threw a 1972 viewer for a real spin as it opened so friendly and within an hour it was getting really creepy and weird and twisted. I guess this first scene really serves to lure a unknowing viewer into a false sense of security or something which is a cool little technique.

The next thing that struck me about Deliverance was how the characters were built up. This "opening" scene was important as it established somewhat the roles each of the four guys had in the group dynamic, but where this was more firmly put down was once the group got on the river. A while back I watched a question and answer panel with the cast and some of the main writers of Community. They said that one thing they strove for in the show was to have a different dynamic between any given pair of characters. Ever since then I've been looking for stuff like this since I find it fascinating. Anyway, my long-winded point is that Deliverance does this and sets it up with the first boat trip. Actually, I'd say even before that as we see Ed and Lewis interact in the car while they're split up on different boats at first. The thing here is that just by who sits where in the boat and who says what while they're rafting (and in Drew's case his desire to go over plans and procedure even before they get rafting) we learn a lot about the characters. It's not important to really go into all the different character types the group fits, but through this simple setup the film puts each character into a role that works with them for the rest of the movie. It's a great way to introduce the viewer to everyone but it also serves a more important purpose.

Next, the scene that stands out for me about Deliverance is not actually the two previously referenced ones, but actually the long conversation that takes place directly after Lewis murders one of the mountain men. It's a heated conversation where all the tension that had been shown as being present (again through simple but excellent use of dialogue on the boats along with a few short scenes of the group at camp) begins to boil over. They're faced with a difficult and challenging task but one in which everyone must naturally be in agreement. It's again great use of dialogue as each man argues his stance and tries to convince the others that he's right. Compounding on the tension being high is the fact that the question the group is debating is literally one revolving around life and death - something very raw and visceral. Everything just comes together here: all four guys can act so there's no weak link there, the dialogue as I've already mentioned is great, and the simple setting of being alone in these woods works great.

There's a few smaller points I'd want to mention about Deliverance now. First, when Ed is up on the cliff, the old film technique used to mess with the color to make the shots work out just looks terrible now. Obviously I can't fault the film for this since that's how things were done back then, but I hope if this film gets a rerelease that they tidy this bit up a bit. Next, one thing I really liked was how the group had got these guys to park their cars and all that at the bottom of the river. Now, with the murder occurring during the trip and one of the creepy guys getting away (at least for a while), there was an uneasy feeling for me at least that the group might find trouble at the bottom of the river or a lack of their cars or both. So, even while getting to the bottom of the river was the natural priority, I liked how there was never a real sense of safety in it either. Finally, the ending I thought was pretty boring. Once the group got back safely and Lewis was hospitalized for his leg, I felt the movie hit a big lull. I don't think these scenes were nearly as important as the character relations that were on display on the river. I guess you have to wrap up how the group escapes and all that with two people getting murdered while they're on their trip, but like I said, I never really took this to be the forefront of what the movie's focus was. I don't actually know how the ending could have been handled better though.

Overall, I gave this film an 8/10. Deliverance has excellent characters and excellent character relationships. What stands out for me is the simple and yet complex way in which they are examined. I was really impressed with the movie but not really for any of the reasons that I might have been expecting.