John Boorman's film revolves around several themes of conflict: man "conquering" nature, modern day-trippers clashing with the indigenous people, a gung-ho Burt Reynolds irritating his less adventurous cohorts etc. The film quickly pitches the townsfolk visitors into a hostile world in which nature & the locals are arrayed against them. This hard hitting film was a great critical success, receiving 3 Oscar nominations.

 

American artist Bill Gold's image of a gun emerging from the depths & the unknown vacationers canoeing on the surface above, creates an apt sense of tension & foreboding. For the International 1-Sheet poster, Gold produced a separate image of a canoe emerging from an eye but the British Quad poster picked up on Gold's initial design. We show both the US 1-Sheet poster designs here for reference. The poster design for "Deliverance" was clearly also very influential in Roger Kastel's design for the iconic poster for Jaws (see also in the Fiskens collection).

 

One of the most memorable scenes in the film appears towards the start when the vacationers encounter some local hillbilly's & a duelling banjo competition begins. "Duelling Banjos" was recorded by Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell. This track establishes an eerie but uneasy form of communication between two very different cultures & anyone who has seen the film will instantly re-call this powerful scene. Released by Warners, "Duelling Banjos" reached #2 in the US charts & was also the cause of a lawsuit, the track being used in the film without the composers permission.

 

The poster presented here has been linen-backed.