John Boorman directs Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty in this adventure thriller where a group of weekend kayakers find themselves fighting for their lives.

On the year of its release Deliverance was the fifth highest grossing film at the American box office. Wow! I’ll just let that sink in. Last year, the movie to reach that milestone was Jurassic World Dominion. Two moments from the seminal film reached into the western world’s shared psyche and became permanent parts of the cultural lexicon: the phrase “squeal like a pig” and the duel of the banjos. This year it’s “Hi Barbie” and… err… A nightmarish, adult movie that preys on male fears. One that has deeper things to say about the fragility of the environment and just how thin the line is between civilisation and insect politics which we all walk. The set pieces are gruelling, the location work is almost timeless. And there are no heroes. OK… so I’ve hidden the fact that Oppenheimer will occupy the same ranking in this year’s box office charts to make a point. But Oppenheimer for all its strengths is a movie driven by a well defined protagonist. Deliverance is motored by failure, fuck up and mistrust. Nobody achieves anything, everybody leaves shattered.

8

Perfect Double Bill: First Blood (1982)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/