DELIVERANCE is one of the most chilling stories of the '70s from a novel by James Hickey about four business men who decide to take a camping trip through woods and across a lake before going back to their own civilized turf. What they don't realize is that halfway through their trip they're going to be traumatized by an unfortunate incident involving some hillbilly types who don't cater to strangers that don't belong in the wilderness.
The feeling of unease is only gradually developed, although you can tell that something is about to happen that will change the lives of these men and their relationships to one another.
JON VOIGT, BURT REYNOLDS, NED BEATTY and RONNIE COX are the four men, ranging from the more machismo to the timid bookkeeper type--at least two of whom you wouldn't want to row across Central Park Lake in a canoe. What happens is an awakening for all of them and a sad fate awaiting one of them.
Under John Boorman's direction, it's sometimes hard to watch their ordeal become worse in time and it comes as a relief when the trip from hell is over. Not for the squeamish, nor do I think it's one of the great films of the '70s as a few have said here. It's a dark, disturbing look at men facing their survival in a strange land not far from their own backyards.
The feeling of unease is only gradually developed, although you can tell that something is about to happen that will change the lives of these men and their relationships to one another.
JON VOIGT, BURT REYNOLDS, NED BEATTY and RONNIE COX are the four men, ranging from the more machismo to the timid bookkeeper type--at least two of whom you wouldn't want to row across Central Park Lake in a canoe. What happens is an awakening for all of them and a sad fate awaiting one of them.
Under John Boorman's direction, it's sometimes hard to watch their ordeal become worse in time and it comes as a relief when the trip from hell is over. Not for the squeamish, nor do I think it's one of the great films of the '70s as a few have said here. It's a dark, disturbing look at men facing their survival in a strange land not far from their own backyards.