Deliverance  ★★★★½

IT’S hard to believe that two of the four main cast members of 1972 survival classic Deliverance hadn’t acted in a film before.

Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds were the established names that director John Boorman was mainly relying on.

Both deliver great performances with former stunt man Reynolds seizing the chance to be taken seriously.

But first-timers Ned Beatty and Ronnie Cox are equally up to the task; Beatty in particular being crucial to one of the most controversial scenes in film history.

Four men take a canoe trip down a Louisiana river. After tackling white water their real challenge begins when they are attacked by two mountain men and forced to defend themselves.

A further accident on the water forces one man to lead the fight for survival.

Reynolds plays the alpha male, all swagger in his unzipped wet suit top and chewing on a cigar.

His and Voight’s character are unlikely friends. Family man Voight is fascinated by Reynolds’ desire to tame the modern world, including a river before it disappears forever under the onslaught of so-called progress.

Reynolds’ character seems anchored somewhat by his friendship with the quieter man. They get each other.

The two other men are friends of Voight but have little experience of Reynolds; along for the fun and companionship but not realising the depth of Reynolds’ emotional investment.

When the violence rips their trip apart they look to the leader but quickly realise they all have to assert themselves in order to survive.

The script is based on a book of the same name by James Dickie, a Southerner big in both physical size and personality.

Boorman offered Dickie a small part in the film in an effort to remove him from the set where his constant presence was starting to make the cast feel uneasy and distracted.

This proved another great decision as he is perfect as the local sheriff in his scenes that end up being intense encounters.

There are two pivotal scenes that every fan of the film knows.

Ronnie Cox’s character engages in a duelling duet between guitar and banjo with a mountain boy.

The amazing scene, an allegory for the conflict between their two societies, ends with Cox’s attempt to congratulate the boy on his talent being sharply dismissed.

Later the boy watches from a bridge as Cox waves and the four men start their descent into a personal hell.

The male rape scene is simple in its staging but astonishing in its brutal impact, made greater by the event that immediately follows.

Deliverance remains the greatest survival story in cinema history.