Deliverance review

 Number 515 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1972 thriller film 'Deliverance.'

Lewis (Burt Reynolds) Ed (Jon Voight) Bobby (Ned Beatty) and Drew (Ronny Cox) are four business men who want to canoe down the Cahulawassee river in Georgia before it's dammed up. Lewis and Ed are experienced outdoorsmen while Bobby and Drew are not. Although it first seems this will be a boy's day out, it soon turns into a nightmare journey of survival.

This is a film that started slowly; we see these four townies try and fail to ingratiate themselves with the locals. There is a banjo duel. Nothing too interesting. I was beginning to question my life choices, but then this film proved why it features on this coveted list.

Shit hits the fan when Ed and Bobby are held hostage and tortured by two sadistic mountain men. The rest of the film becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse. Lewis - Burt Reynolds in a star-making role, with his tough-man, survivalist persona is the hero of the first half of the film. However, after he becomes incapacitated Ed emerges as the unlikely hero. Jon Voight proved why he went onto win an Oscar only six years later.

The pace slows down again as our heroes return to civilisation despite director John Boorman's insistence that these scenes were vital to the film. Our heroes swear to keep the traumatic events of the last few days secret. And the film ends on one final image that has bee paid homage to in many countless films.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Deliverance. Yes, the beginning and the ending are slow-paced, but the bit-inbetween was terrific.