Among my many other cultural deficiencies, I have never seen Deliverance. I started to watch it on TV once but there was a problem with either the TV or the TV station, I can’t remember which, and we could only get snowy, ghostly black and white images. I’ve never had another opportunity to see it. The Deliverance jokes and references that I’m always seeing are confusing or meaningless to me.
But I fondly remember Dueling Banjos. They played it on the radio until everyone was sick of it (which, for most people didn’t take very long) I still liked it long after everyone else started complaining that they never wanted to hear it again. So I have to thank LeeAnn for digging it up at YouTube and posting it along with one of her entertaining little retail adventures. I had never seen that scene from the movie before.
November 11th, 2010 - 3:07 pm
They also have the infamous “squeal like a pig” scene, you can find it on YouTube using just those words. Most of the modern stereotyping of rural Southerners is due to this movie and this scene in particular. What Tobacco Road and God’s Little Acre did for the 1950′s, Deliverance did for the 1970′s.
November 11th, 2010 - 3:09 pm
Whoops. Make that the 1930′s for the Erskine Caldwell novels.
November 13th, 2010 - 8:34 pm
My personal recommendation is to just watch the “squeal like a pig” scene on YouTube so you can get the reference, and skip the rest of the movie. It’s ploddingly-paced, with weak dialogue, and after watching the whole two hours, you’ll probably feel nothing but numb depression. There’s nothing at all uplifting about the movie, and none of the characters were particularly likable.
I only watched it so that I could get the reference (this was pre-YouTube) and my only thought was “I want those two hours of my life back”.
November 15th, 2010 - 9:01 am
When I read bad reviews it just makes me want to see the movie to see if I agree.
November 25th, 2010 - 3:23 am
Skip the movie – it’s pretty grim. Read the book – Dickey is (was?) a poet.