The post about Burt Reynolds and Deliverance got me to thinking.

Most people know of this movie, even if they haven't seen it, for the frightening and disturbing "squeal like a pig" scene. It's even been humorized to lessen the actual horror of what the scene portrays and it's impact on the plot.

But the movie is SO much more than that scene. And I think it doesn't get the respect it deserves. The message of the film and the sheer cinematography of it is overlooked.

The theme of the movie is man versus nature, man versus man, and the "nature of man" in a civilized versus savage environment.

I pulled up the script and thought I'd throw out some of the best lines from the movie, hoping to show the masterpiece for what it is, which is much more than a joke about rapey hillbillies.

quote:
I deliver perfection...

and don't brag about it! :D

You wanna talk about

the vanishing wilderness?

Why are you so anxious about this?

Because they're building a dam

across the Cahulawasse River.

They're gonna flood a whole valley, Bobby.

They're drowning the river, man.

- We're talkin' to you.

- All right.

Just about the last wild, untamed,

unpolluted, unfricked-up river in the South.

- Don't you understand?

- We understand.

There ain't gonna be no more river.

Just gonna be a big, dead lake.

quote:
Can that Chubby boy handle himself?

Who? Bobby?

He's rather well thought of

in his field, Lewis.

Insurance?

I've never been insured in my life.

I don't believe in insurance.

quote:
You know what I was just thinking?

The first explorers saw this country...

...saw it just like us.

In a canoe.

I can imagine how they felt.

Yeah, we beat it, didn't we?

Didn't we beat that?

You don't beat it.

You don't beat this river.

Machines are gonna fail.

And the system's gonna fail.

Then...

And then what?

Then survival.

Who has the ability to survive.

That's the game:
Survive.

quote:
You got a nice job.

Got a nice house...

...nice wife...

...nice kid.

You make that sound...

...rather shitty, Lewis.

Why do you go on these trips with me, Ed?

I like my life, Lewis.

Yeah, but why do you go

on these trips with me?

You know, sometimes I wonder about that.

Here's to you, Lewis.

Hot damn, he got one!

Terrific, Lewis.

I hate him.

I'm glad we came here.

Lewis?

Lewis does not drink.

It's true, Lewis, what you said.

There's somethin' in the woods

and the water that we have lost in the city.

We didn't lose it, just sold it.

quote:
You killed somebody!

There he is!

I see him, Drew.

That's right, I killed somebody.

But you're wrong if you don't see this

as a game.

Now you listen, Ed!

Damn it, we can get out of this thing!

Without any questions asked!

We get connected up with that body

and the law...

...this thing's gonna be hangin' over us

the rest of our lives.

We gotta get rid of that guy.

Just how are you gonna do that, Lewis?

Where?

Anywhere.

Everywhere.

Nowhere.

How do you know that other guy

hasn't already gone for the police?

What in the hell is

he gonna tell 'em, Drew?

What he did to Bobby?

Why couldn't he go get

some other mountain men?

Now why isn't he gonna do that?

You look around you, Lewis!

He could be out there anywhere,

watchin' us right now.

We ain't gonna be so goddamned

hard to follow, draggin' a corpse.

You let me worry about that, Drew.

You let me take care of that.

You know what's gonna be here?

Right here. A lake.

As far as you can see.

Hundreds of feet deep.

Hundreds of feet deep.

Did you ever look over a lake...

...and think about somethin' buried

underneath it?

Buried underneath it!

Man, that's about as buried as you can get!

A Masterpiece