Why Deliverance Is the Most Manly Film Ever Made
And Why It Could Never Be Made Today
Actor and Reynolds’ friend Herb Coward ad-libbed, “Gee. You got a purdy mouth.” in one take. The line was so absolutely sinister it had to make the cut.
And Why It Could Never Be Made Today
(Dixie Drudge) - Few movies have earned the reputation of Deliverance as one of the most intense survival films in American cinema. Released in 1972, the film follows four ordinary men forced to rely on thier own courage, endurance, and self-reliance after a week-end canoe trip turns into a nightmare. Deliverance delivers as one of the most manly films ever made because it shows real men responding under extreme pressure. Deliverance delivers catharsis without superheroes or special effects.
Deliverance began as a best-selling novel by Georgia poet James Dickey. Steven King has been quoted several times as saying the book was the scariest thing he ever read because it’s events were both plausible and possible, unlike his own work. As in the novel, the film gives character to timeless qualities such as personal responsibility, determination, physical toughness, loyalty, and an ordinary man’s willingness to overcome taboos against violence to survive. The rugged Chattooga River wilderness forbade modern plot contrivances, forcing the cast of everyman characters to confront danger using only their instincts and resourcefulness. There are no cell phones and no 911 in the 1970’s Georgia backwoods. The situation and theme continue to resonate with audiences today, especially male audiences who appreciate realistic adventure.
Deliverance would be difficult to produce in today’s mass-market woke Hollywood. Post-modern filmmakers still create gritty survival stories, mainly under independent banners, but distribution is the choke-point. You can sell super-heroes that the public is sick of. You can sell filth. You can sell wholesale violence. You can sell perversion. But, you will never sell four straight white males fighting for survival against perverts. As a result, a film with the same uncompromising, risk-taking, and uncomfortable storytelling would never receive studio backing in ‘woke’ Hollywood. (Unless the pervs were the heroes)
Deliverance was no picnic to make even by 1970’s standards. It was filmed mostly in an untamed gorge on a ‘wild’ river. The danger was real. The crew was on scene and stunts were largely performed by the actors. In later interviews, the actors told of what a traumatic experience the filming was. If they looked scared on screen it’s because they were. Ned Beatty especially suffered. Not beacause he wasn’t physically tough, he was more than up to the physical challenge. However, Burt Reynolds confided that his friend suffered later PTSD from the experience. Bill McKinney and Herb Coward, the actors who played the heavies in the film were unknown to Beatty. They stayed in character on and off set. They followed, badgered, threatened and intimidated Ned through the whole production. By the time Ned’s infamous '“Squeal like a Pig” scene came (some of which was ad libbed) Ned’s reaction wasn’t all acting. His terror became real. It was nightmare fuel.
Today, logistics, environmental impacts, and insurance risks would doom Deliverance long before the project got off the ground. And that is the real shame. Even with CGI, nothing like it is being produced. Nothing like it can clear the hurdles of managment and slalom course of lawyers to get the green light. Deliverance’s combination of psychological tension, outdoor adventure, real danger and realistc violence secure’s its place among the greatest films of the 1970’s.
It is the pinnacle of movies for guys who like movies.
From deep in Occupied Arkansas,
Deo Vindice. Resugam!
