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| DIRECTED BY |
| John Boorman |
| STARRING |
| Jon Voight |
| Burt Reynolds |
| Ned Beatty |
| Ronny Cox |
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In the initial scenes, it�s immediately apparent to us that the businessmen should have picked a different location for their weekend excursion, as the hillbillies that they encounter do not seem to take very kindly to tourists of any sort. We do see one tangible sign of warm-heartedness � When Drew notices a boy sitting on a porch, happily playing his banjo, he decides to take out his own guitar and they both start playing together. But the true omen comes when we see the banjo-playing boy, completely devoid of the smile that he once had, glowering down from a bridge as the unsuspecting men slowly pass under it in their canoes.
Then, by director John Boorman�s dexterous cinematography, we ride along with the men as they navigate their canoes through the perilous rapids of the Chattooga River. Of course, anyone who�s seen this film knows that the river is not what the men have to be wary of. The next day, Lewis and Drew go further downstream as Ed and Bobby make the very unwise decision of checking out some of the vast wilderness that surrounds them. They find themselves being accosted by two wandering mountain men, and the scene that follows is one that any viewer would want to purge their mind of immediately, however, it�s not something that�s easily forgotten.
What results is the gruesome-but-essential murder of a hillbilly, which triggers an exploration of the nature of mankind � their instincts take over to create an emotional and moral dilemma that plagues the men throughout the rest of the film. And when the raging rapids claim Drew�s life, the three remaining men find themselves desperately trying to escape a disastrous situation that they willingly walked into.
The denouement certainly doesn�t leave us with a conventional mood of optimism. The men�s lives have been changed forever, perhaps for the worst, and that message is bluntly stated to us. But what Lewis, Ed Bobby and Drew (up until his death) gained on that trip was a greater understanding of their own natures, which is something that, perhaps, is worth going through Hell to obtain.
