Deliverance
released 1972
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“Deliverance” is an American, action, survivalist, thriller produced and directed by John Boorman with the screenplay written by James Dickey. The screenplay is based on the novel of the same name written by James Dickey. It stars  very talented cast from that time who include Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Ed Ramey, Billy Redden, Samon Glass, Randall Deal, Bill McKinney, Herbert `Cowboy´Coward, Lewis Crone, Ken Keener, Johnny Popwell, John Fowler, Kathy Rickman, Louise Coldren, Peter Ware, James Dickey, Macon McCalman, Hoyt Pollard, Belinda Beatty and Charley Boorman.

Deliverance IMDb webpage

“Deliverance” is the story of four men from Georgia who want to see the Cahulawassee River before it´s turned into a huge lake by an impending dam project.  One of the men is named Lewis Medlock, played by Burt Reynolds, is an outdoor enthusiast with qualities of leadership. He takes his three friends on a dangerous rafting trip where they end up in the back country, the deep south, in the middle of nowhere and away from everything, so to speak. What happens as the story unfolds is both harrowing and completely unpredictable for the viewer.

The story deals with the familiar themes of friends going on a camping trip and the different personality types that clash when they are together. Most of us have done this and have wild stories to tell back in civilisation. Some hikers come back with (mostly unproven) stories of being bitten by rattlesnakes or being carried off by a river´s currents but what happens to this party of unluckies is just horrible. I´m not going to spoil it so I won´t go into further details. This story is about making the right decisions in very bad situations and the importance of taking charge when things go to crap.

I did not like the character of Lewis in the beginning but appreciated his life experience and wisdom for his friends as the movie developed. That same boorish type became the leader of the group when things got really bad. His excellent leadership qualities shined when him and his friends needed it most.

I see this as a tale of how any one of us can shine in the right situation, and that does not necessarily mean a bad one either. Someone you might not like might be the best person to handle a particular situation. I feel that as long as they are not sociopaths they should be allowed to shine. I always find it funny how the misfits and underdogs of society are usually the ones who achieve the greatest things and are often the trailblazers.

This blog post is partly a homage to the late Burt Reynolds who did such a good job in the role of Lewis Medlock. I saw this movie years ago with friends and thought it was fantastic. We watched it right before going on a camping trip in the deep wilderness and were disturbed by the story. I don´t know much about Burt Reynolds and have only seen a few of his movies but he seems to be somebody who lived a pretty good life and was a fairly good person. So R.I.P. Burt.

Check this film out because it really is timeless.

John 

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