1342 Deliverance

[Finch]

The ultimate odyssey into the untamed wilderness of the supposedly civilized heart, John Boorman’s shock to the pop-culture consciousness follows four friends from Atlanta—played by Burt Reynolds (in his breakthrough role), Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox—on a weekend canoeing trip in rural Georgia. What they encounter there—startling, brutal, and unforgettable—has unsettled viewers for more than fifty years. Shooting on location in Appalachia to achieve scenes of almost mythic resonance (including the iconic dueling-banjos sequence), Boorman constructs one of the most harrowing survival thrillers ever made and a potent, daringly ambiguous deconstruction of masculinity on the edge.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director John Boorman, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Alternate 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Audio commentary featuring Boorman
New interview with critic Mark Harris
Audio reading of “Mountain Men: An Oral History of Deliverance,” a 2011 article by Charles Bethea
James Dickey reading from his novel Deliverance
The Dangerous World of “Deliverance,” a 1972 documentary about the making of the film
Interview with Dickey from a 1977 episode of The Dick Cavett Show
The Making of “Deliverance” (2007), a four-part documentary by Laurent Bouzereau
The Cast Looks Back, a roundtable discussion from 2012
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by author Francine Prose

[flyonthewall2983]

I watched this once, on WGN Chicago in 1995. Eager to revisit it.

[Drucker]

Watched it on a plane a few years ago, and then caught it in 35 a few years ago at Film Forum. It's an incredible film. Up there with the top of the late 60s fare.

[ryannichols7]

good film and I was impressed by its boldness, given how popular it is even beyond cinephiles. I am a little surprised Criterion didn't commission many new extras for this after they rather astoundingly did so for Point Blank, but nonetheless still a pretty loaded release

[DimitriL]

good film and I was impressed by its boldness, given how popular it is even beyond cinephiles. I am a little surprised Criterion didn't commission many new extras for this after they rather astoundingly did so for Point Blank, but nonetheless still a pretty loaded release

They've talked from time to time about avoiding new extras when they feel that anything they'd add would be redundant. Considering the breadth of these, it's probably the best illustration of their approach. Point Blank didn't get nearly the analysis (and cultural attention) of Deliverance, and they clearly had much more to add. Either way, I'm delighted with how much there is to explore on both these Boorman sets.