deliverance

THE FLICK: Even three decades after its release, Deliverance is still more of a punchline than a film, at least by popular culture standards; freeze-framing the movie at the 45-minute mark, forever enshrining poor Ned Beatty as he’s violated by a overall-wearing mountain man who prompts him to “squeal like a pig!” That’s really the only way for the male psyche to effectively deal with the trauma of director John Boorman’s infamous scene: to laugh it off. But the film, based on the novel by James Dickey, is far more than a convenient stand-up comedy routine. In fact, Boorman’s adaptation is one of the best examples of pure cinema of its era, mixing narrative, documentary and experimental techniques to achieve a unique tone all its own. Witness the “Dueling Banjos” sequence (arguably the film’s other pop-culture touchstone), a brilliantly edited, scored and shot series of images that capture a moment in time the way no other medium could. Boorman runs you through a range of emotions; it’s magical, inspiring and ominous all in a short time. And it’s the first sign that our film’s characters are in way over their heads...and so is the audience that’s floating down river with them. Boorman made a rep for himself as the director who pushed his actors outside their physical limits. One look at Ned Beatty’s face during the canoeing shots makes it clear he wasn’t pretending to be scared out there! This was the perfect match for young Burt Reynolds, just making a name for himself as the macho star of his generation. The film juxtaposes that smug “know-it-all” man-of-nature image with Jon Voight’s understated Atlanta suburbanite, just tagging along for the ride but never expecting to face any real danger. Deliverance takes on several themes on multiple levels. Is it a condemnation of Reynold’s testosterone ideology or a celebration of the same? Is it a comment on the figurative “raping of the land” with a literal victim made in offering? Or is it just a harrowing story of survival? The brilliance of Boorman’s film is that it can support all these theories and still not feel in the least bit dated in doing so. THE FEATURES: And on Blu-ray it doesn’t look the least bit dated either! This isn’t a smooth, glassy transfer – that’s not how Boorman shoots. But Vilmos Zsigmond’s photography has never looked better, from the handheld images of backwater America to the purple mountain’s majesty. The only caveat is several day-for-night scenes that really stand out with the enhanced clarity. Warner has put together a great collection of special features which include a four-part retrospective and a feature-length commentary by Boorman. Jumping from the casting to the boating to stories about the scene, the featurettes combine to cover a lot of ground, talking with all the principals about their take on the film. Boorman’s commentary is a bit rendundant, repeating many of the same stories, but he does touch on much of the implied symbolism in the film. The Dangerous World of Deliverance is a 10-minute piece of retro press kit material used to push the film at the time of its release. And finally the classic trailer – you know, the one with the hand rising out of the water. None of the features are Bu-ray exclusive, simply ported over from the standard-def disc. But they’re still can’t miss extras on a must-buy disc.