Watching Deliverance.

[elleng]

I'm exhausted!!!

[tblue]

1. It's tough.

Haven't seen it in years. It's not really one to watch more than once. Scary & freaky.

[cemaphonic]

2. I saw that for the first time a couple years ago.

Since all that is ever referenced from it is Dueling Banjos and the "squeal like a pig" bit, I was a bit surprised at how many themes were running around in it - the modernizing South bringing benefits, but also displacing whole towns, the gulf between city and country life and the power of music to bridge the gap (temporarily anyway), and the question toward the end about self-defense vs. revenge.

I could have done with a little less river rafting, though it was very impressively shot. Surprisingly deep little adventure movie, but yeah, very bleak.

[Tom Ripley]

4. There is lots going on; Dickey was a masterful writer (and he's great as the sheriff)

[cemaphonic]

6. Yeah, Dickey is a good writer

(though, come to think of it, I've never read Deliverance either)

I wish the Coen Brothers had been able to do their planned adaptation of "To the White Sea," even if a movie with almost no dialogue isn't really playing to their strengths.

[Tom Ripley]

7. I have also thought about the dialogue problem

[Paladin]

3. Who would have ever guessed......

....that so much of our society would end up siding with the ignorant, rapacious hillbillies portrayed in that great movie? Entire networks (CMT, National Geographic, Fox) going off the deep end, trying to take what remains of our culture with them. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.....

[elleng]

5. You got it, Paladin.

[dawg]

8. Being from Georgia, I have rafted down that river.

They sell t-shirts that say, "Paddle faster, I hear banjos!".

[elleng]

9. I HOPE I hear banjos, more like!

[Martin Eden]

10. Chatooga River, and Tallulah Gorge

It's my understanding the movie was filmed in those two locations. I'm from Chicago but have visited the mountains, waterfalls, and scenic rivers of north Georgia a couple times. Very beautiful part of the country!

A few years ago I was heading to Florida by myself to play in the Senior Softball Tournament of Champions and decided to make a week of it, hiking to waterfalls in northwest Georgia and South Carolina. A couple of the waterfalls were on creeks that feed into the Chatooga near where Deliverance was filmed. I asked my good friend and fellow DUer scubaduderon to rip an MP3 disc of tunes for my trip, and sure enough I found Dueling Banjos among the selections!

My dad took me to see the film when it came out, when I was 14. He didn't take me to the movies very often, the other memorable film being Little Big Man two years earlier. Both are great films, but Little Big Man had more of an effect on me. Thereafter I always rooted for the Indians in western movies.