Four Atlantan friends decide to paddle a rough and distant stretch of river before a new dam is built and drowns it forever, but it doesn’t turn out to be a wonderful weekend. The backwater nightmare the four city people find themselves in or the fact that the movie led to an increase in whitewater tourism in the region it was shot in is more horrifying, right?
What were the Deliverance filming locations that added to the excitement of the picture? It serves as evidence that there is no such thing as negative publicity. Fair enough, the canoeing is thrilling, and despite director John Boorman and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond’s best efforts to reduce the “beauty” of the setting by desaturating the natural color, the wild river appears magnificent.
A Still From The Movie, Deliverance
Your mind is being invaded by the movie. It is not without faults, however: the forced and ineffectual ending; Burt Reynolds is more of an argument than a character, and the early sequences’ depiction of the mountain people comes off as patronizing and clichéd.
Despite these flaws, the movie is nonetheless a top example of what may be considered a moral suspense narrative. Deliverance is more than just an adventure novel because of its introspective themes of guilt, innocence, truth, and duplicity. James Dickey is a renowned poet who wrote both the screenplay and the book.
He has been a teacher, a World War II fighter pilot, and an executive in the advertising industry. He thrives on discovery and adventure. Director John Boorman has brought the novel’s fast-paced suspense and lyrical sharpness of moral vision to the big screen.
Vilmos Zsigmond (The Crossing Guard, Life as a House) does a fantastic job of capturing the ominous nature of the mountainous terrain and turning the river’s threat into a palpable fear rather than a gorgeous amenity. Let’s learn about the Deliverance filming locations without further ado. Let’s learn more about them, but first, have a look at the movie’s plot and actors.
Story Of The Deliverance
The story follows four civilized, polite suburbanites who embark on a canoeing trip down the perilous Chattooga River in the heart of the untamed Appalachian region. They pursue a variety of goals.
Burt Reynolds’ character Lewis is adamant about showing that he is one with nature. More contentedly established in metropolitan life than challenging, Ed (Jon Voight) is intrigued. Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox’s characters, Bobby and Drew, are along for the amorous adventure.
Each has learned a difficult lesson, and one has passed away at the end of a horrible trip that involves death, sexual assault, and extreme physical suffering. Their love fantasies, which are a part of a larger American narrative, are dashed. Their deception is discovered, and their quest for the holy grail, as described by Boorman, is revealed to be pitiful and pointless.
Star Cast Of The Deliverance
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds played the role of Lewis Medlock. At the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, Reynolds made his theatrical debut in Tea and Sympathy, launching his acting career. Since starting his career in 1958, he has gone on to act in more than 190 movies and television shows. He received one Oscar nomination for his work in the Paul Thomas Anderson movie Boogie Nights.
Jon Voight
Jon Voight played the role of Ed Gentry. Since 1963, Jon Voight has taken on around 100 roles in movies and television. In addition to being nominated three more times, he received an Academy Award for his performance in Coming Home.
The films Deliverance, Coming Home, Ali, Heat, Transformers, and Mission: Impossible are among his best-known. In addition to being the father of Anjelina Jolie, he is considered one of the greatest performers of his time.
Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty played the role of Bobby Trippe. For his work in Sidney Lumet’s Network, Ned Beatty was nominated for a 1977 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Throughout his lengthy career, which started in 1972, Beatty has made 170 film and television appearances.
Beatty made his acting debut in Deliverance, and he later became well-known for his parts in the Superman films of the 1970s and the Richard Pryor-starring movie The Toy. At the age of 19, he started acting professionally, spending ten years in local theatre.
Ronny Cox
Ronny Cox played the role of Drew Ballinger. In 1972’s Deliverance, Ronny Cox made his screen debut alongside Ned Beatty. Because of his guitar-playing skills, Cox was selected for the movie. After more than 140 films and television episodes during his career, he now seldom ever performs as he travels and collaborates with top artists at 100 music festivals across the globe.
Deliverance Filming Locations
The movie was shot on location in Rabun County, near Clayton and Rabun Gap, in northern Georgia, close to the Carolinas’ border. The majority of the Chattooga River, which forms Georgia’s border with South Carolina and flows south into Lake Tugaloo, serves as the fictional “Cahulawassee River” that Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (Jon Voight), and his crew canoe down.
The roughly 10-mile stretch of the river running south from Earl’s Ford Road and under Highway 76, the Lookout Mountain Scenic Highway, to Lake Tugaloo itself was used in the movie. Although the Chattooga has a number of well-known rapids, including Bull Sluice and Five Falls, the movie was shot at Screaming Left Turn, Raven Rock, and the impressive geological formation that is now inexorably known as Deliverance Rock.
Lake Tugaloo
The Blue Ridge Mountains, lakes, and miles of hiking trails can all be found in Rabun County for anyone looking for a true outdoor adventure. The river was chosen for its inaccessibility and is not suitable for novice canoeists, so keep that in mind if you’re thinking about coming. There were multiple fatalities among individuals who misjudged the water’s severity in the years after the movie’s premiere.
The calmer section of water in which the surviving three find themselves is the breathtaking Tallulah Gorge, downstream from Tallulah Falls, after they lose one of their boats and Drew (Ronny Cox) mysteriously perishes. In order to meet the final mountain guy, Ed climbs this cliff’s precipitous face.
Tallulah Gorge
Another place to be added to the list of Deliverance filming locations is the State Park. Two miles long and 1,000 feet deep, Tallulah Gorge State Park was established in 1992 and is located a few miles west of Tugaloo Lake.
The canyon bottom may be reached by hiking with a permit, or you can trek the rim paths to a number of views (permits are not issued on some dates due to water releases). An 80-foot-high suspension bridge that has been in place since 2002 provides breathtaking views of the river and its waterfalls.
The founder of The Flying Wallendas, renowned tightrope walker Karl Wallenda, probably had the best view of all when he traversed the Gorge on a high wire in 1970. The renowned Tallulah Point Overlook, which is on Jane Hurt Road east of Highway 1 and open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., is where you should stay.
Tallulah Point Overlook
The Duke Power Company created Lake Jocassee in 1971 by flooding Jocassee Valley, and it rises at the conclusion of the film in a moving echo of the narrative. You can reach Oconee County in South Carolina, where the lake is situated, after a 30-mile drive from Clayton.
The graveyard should be included on the list of Deliverance filming locations as well. The graveyard from which coffins are seen being relocated, Mount Carmel Baptist Church Cemetery, is about 130 feet beneath the surface.
The Coosawattee River’s floods after being dammed to create Carter’s Lake served as the inspiration for the tale. Over 50 miles to the west of the shooting area, it is located southwest of Ellijay. It was already too late to utilize the Coosawattee itself when the movie was produced since the trees on its banks had been cut down.
