DELIVERANCE

A backwoods canoeing trip goes horrifically wrong for a group of friends in John Boorman's muscular nerve-jangler, DELIVERANCE, adapted by James Dickey from his own novel. Directed with grit and a palpable sense of danger by the always-adventurous Boorman, this psychological thriller rightfully turned Burt Reynolds into a major star and features excellent work from Jon Voight, Ronnie Cox, and the perpetually-underrated Ned Beatty. Nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, DELIVERANCE is an immersive nightmare that, while endlessly disturbing, never revels in the horrors it puts on screen, emphasizing character and intelligence over everything else.

filmmaker John Boorman

John Boorman is one of cinema's visionaries, best known for directing (and in some cases writing and producing) POINT BLANK, HELL IN THE PACIFIC, LEO THE LAST, DELIVERANCE, EXCALIBUR, THE EMERALD FOREST, HOPE AND GLORY, and THE TAILOR OF PANAMA, among others. He has received five Oscar nominations, the BAFTA Academy Fellowship and three BAFTA nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, and two Cannes Best Director Prizes.