It is one of the most captivating scenes ever created. A joyous moment that shifts almost to horror when song has finished and the boy shuts off completely. Itās like anything those city boys had in common with that river they are about to face just ended instantly. I love this movie.
Yeah, aināt āredneckā stereotypes just the best!
That movie is pure American middle-class white-male classism. Itās bullshit on parade, built to make money from citified white suburban fear (of the rural white Other, and of the supposed pussification of oneās own masculinity).
On another note ā so is the actor who plays these āinbredā characters actually inbred?
Thank you for your interest in my post. I disagree with your view of the movie. I believe it is the classic man against nature story. The āinbredā characters are not the primary force that is faced - it is the river. And the danger comes from the over confidence in oneās own masculinity as displayed by Burt Reynolds and the others who idolize him.
As far as sarcasm goes, Iām too old now to care. No time to swat Gadflies.
Good point, though I donāt think its relative insignificance in the story negates my reading. Overconfident masculinity is just one form of masculnity; Hemingway-esque āgrace under pressureā becomes another form that the movie promotes, instead of Burtās excessive macho confidence. Itās still about masculinity, and fear of its loss, all of which got properly addressed and rejected, appropriately enough, back around when Hemingway died.
That the āinbredā characters are not the primary force that the city guys face doesnāt mean that the movieās classist stereotypes are okay. Those characters, and thus actual rural white Americans, get reduced to the subhuman level of another natural, āuncivilizedā force that the anxious city guys struggle against.
Anyway, youāre clearly going to stick to your guns on this one and dismiss me as a Gadfly, so have fun, I guess.
I donāt know of any evidence that the actor is actually āinbred.ā His facial features (at least as a child) are similar to those found in victims of fetal alcohol syndrome.
when song has finished and the boy shuts off completely.
He āshut offā when the stranger blasphemed.
Redden gave āDeliverance Toursā along the Georgia river where the film was shot.
āAnd if you look to your left, youāll see sodomy ridge.ā
Dang! Robin Williams isnāt looking so good! 
I prefer Southern Comfort to Deliverance. Am I unusual?
Also, I donāt much like the title of this thread.
I was gonna say Bono, but Robin Williams is a good call.
And who actually played that banjo part? Eric Weisberg, New York musician. He and Marshall Brickman (writing partner of Woody Allen) released a breakthrough album of banjo picking featuring the new-at-that-time āmelodicā banjo style, playing fiddle-like melodies note for note. They and Bill Keith modernized banjo playing. Northerners, all. (BTW, Eric appeared in a recent Viagra commercial set in a Nashville recording studio).
That movie has forever associated dueling banjos with unpleasant things for so many people. Being from Georgia with a southern accent (pronounced AX-SEE-INT), Iāve had it jokingly referenced more than once by people Iāve spoken to as Iāve traveled to northern and western states. I guess thatās better than squealing like a pig!
I was with my friends Steve and Elaine, looking at CDs at a Circuit City (say, this was a while back!). I paused over Rhinoās āAppalachian Stompā disk, and Elaine asked me what I was looking at.
āWell,ā I said, āThis looks like it has all the bluegrass pieces I ever felt like playing. It even has the Ballad of Jed Clampett. Hereās Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Orange Blossom Special, Rocky Top, Dueling Banjosā¦ā
āThatās my brother,ā she said. I looked confused, and she explained that her brother, Steve Mandell (not to be confused with her husband of the same first name), played guitar on the cut ā for which he got [no byline and] not a lot of money.
After that, I just had to get it, and, to make a long story shortā The End. Drive safely.
edited to set off the part on which I was corrected [Iād rather have put a line through it]
No byline? I had an audiocassette of music by Weissberg and Mandel that featured the track in question, and both names were listed prominently on the cover. Looked just like this:
Hmm. Maybe he didnāt get screen credit for it.
I stand corrected, and have awkwardly edited my comment to sort-of, kind-of, reflect that.
For a modern viewer, the strangest thing is that nobody is filming it with their phone.
He was in Big Fish? Now i know how Miley learned how to twerk.
Thanks!
