tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post6359334033183338777..comments2024-03-27T21:42:56.131-05:00Comments on 1001plus: Squee! Squee!SJHoneywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-54833522196801500922020-12-31T13:47:45.253-06:002020-12-31T13:47:45.253-06:00There's a documentary about American horror mo...There's a documentary about American horror movies (<i>Nightmares in Red, White and Blue</i>--I recommend it highly) that mentions many an action movie shows the heroes killing bad guy after bad guy with no remorse and with genuine pleasure. It's in horror movies that we frequently see someone driven to kill and being haunted by that reality. That might be kind of the point here.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-77151557036899519792020-12-23T09:51:58.572-06:002020-12-23T09:51:58.572-06:00This is high praise from you, Steve. I wish I coul...This is high praise from you, Steve. I wish I could share it, but I am only partway there. This is a tough ride for all four, or three survivors and there is a lot there for them to feel terrible about, yet they all, Lewis perhaps excepted, feel mostly bad for the one right thing they did out there. They were in a kill or be killed moment with two types whom it was very difficult to feel sorry for. I am not for killing anybody, but according to Hollywood morale they did right protecting themselves from the hillbillies, yet the theme of the movie is how terrible that was. In a way this is the opposite end of the spectrum from Dirty Harry and I think the balance must be somewhere in between. I know I would feel pretty shit about underestimating the river and the locals and taking Drew into something that cost him his life. I would feel much less shit about those two assholes.<br /> TSorensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12208153011927807857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-46615498272124523082012-11-28T18:17:07.664-06:002012-11-28T18:17:07.664-06:00Yeah, I absolutely see the connection to Straw Dog...Yeah, I absolutely see the connection to <i>Straw Dogs</i>. As you say, the answer isn't pretty, but I'm not sure the answer to that question is <i>ever</i> pretty. That, I think, is what makes these films so interesting. Seeing someone trained to survive and kill (<i>The Bourne Identity</i>, for instance) can be fun, but it's not nearly as visceral.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-88394927387847248782012-11-28T17:03:02.278-06:002012-11-28T17:03:02.278-06:00Nice write up. And yeah, it's very unfortunat...Nice write up. And yeah, it's very unfortunate that this is remembered for one scene that hardly encapsulates the tone of the film.<br /><br />I love the banjo scene. I love music scenes in film, and as bleak as the rest of the film is, I'm endlessly fascinated by that early sequence.<br /><br />I group Deliverance with Straw Dogs. They're both about regular, everyday people who find themselves in situations where they are pushed to the extreme. And they both explore the question "If your very survival came into question, just how far would you go to protect yourself?" The answer isn't pretty in either film. In fact, it's pretty damn scary in both. <br /><br />My mother saw Deliverance in its original theatrical release, and she still talks about how it scared the crap out of her.siochembiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487373396181856763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-72038415485411981012012-11-28T16:25:01.724-06:002012-11-28T16:25:01.724-06:00It's ugly, but I think it's necessary to u...It's ugly, but I think it's necessary to understanding the rest of the film. Without that, there's no reason for Burt Reynolds to shoot the guy through with an arrow and no motivation for the rest of the film.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-56183708620689210122012-11-28T14:14:55.721-06:002012-11-28T14:14:55.721-06:00True Story: Right after I got out of college in t...True Story: Right after I got out of college in the 80s I had little money to live on so I stayed home and watched a lot of movies on a cable station out of Boston. It was the start of my movie watching "career". One of the films I saw was Deliverance. I liked it quite a bit. I went in to work the next day and was talking it up to an older co-worker. She was looking skeptical and asked me, "what about the rape scene?" My response was, "what rape scene?"<br /><br />Apparently the Boston cable station had cut that scene from their broadcast of the movie. It wasn't like they were ABC or CBS, but neither were they HBO. They ran ads on their channel, so apparently they removed this scene from the film, worried it would offend. I had no idea that such a scene was in the movie. To this day I have still never seen that scene and I really have no desire to do so.Chip Laryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00787403805554027107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-64655331564580531312012-11-28T07:56:36.664-06:002012-11-28T07:56:36.664-06:00Completely understandable. It's the same reaso...Completely understandable. It's the same reason I've never read "The Hitchhiker's Guide" books (yes, I know. Pull your jaw up). There's no way they can live up to the hype.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-71529461444906705252012-11-28T04:04:06.791-06:002012-11-28T04:04:06.791-06:00This is a movie where it's popularity ruined i...This is a movie where it's popularity ruined it for me. It's a terrific film, but having heard about it over and over for years when I finally sat down to watch it I already knew all that was going to happen which took a lot of the surprise and suspense out of it.Alex Jowskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11737798466816750685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-91993280426939331102012-11-27T22:53:43.481-06:002012-11-27T22:53:43.481-06:00Evidently, he trained himself to hold his breath a...Evidently, he trained himself to hold his breath and not blink for as long as two minutes just so he could do that scene.<br /><br />Additionally, Ronny Cox was able to contort his body in significant ways, allowing him to be involved in particular scenes so that a dummy didn't need to be used for him.<br /><br />The director, John Boorman, also did <i>Excalibur</i> and the vastly underrated <i>Point Blank</i>. Of course, he also did <i>Zardoz</i>, so your mileage may vary on Boorman fandom.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-53263791734758596572012-11-27T22:37:56.351-06:002012-11-27T22:37:56.351-06:00I had no idea what I was in for when I first saw t...I had no idea what I was in for when I first saw this movie, and thus no idea how incredible it was going to be. I agree completely with your review. If I could add anything, it would be (1) "Deliverance" employs the same unnerving psychological tactic that "Aliens" does by taking out the most competent-seeming guy first (in "Aliens," Sergeant Apone is one of the very first to be cocooned). You hit the nail on the head when you talked about Lewis's downfall. And (2): hats off to the actor in the foreground of the image at the head of your blog post-- the dead rapist! The camera was on that actor for at least a full minute, and he never once blinked or twitched. Now <i>that's</i> acting!Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.com