deanteaster — 19 years ago(December 06, 2006 05:27 AM)

TV One
27/11/2006
XtraMSN
Director John Boorman's harrowing adaptation of James Dickey's best-selling novel is a nightmarish descent into the backwoods of America.
Four Atlanta businessmen embark on a weekend canoeing trip in the mountains of Georgia. The group's macho leader, Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds), is driven by Hemingway-esque notions of man's ability to conquer nature, while his three friends, Bobby Trippe (Ned Beatty), Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox), and Ed Gentry (Jon Voight), aren't so sure.
As the men begin to navigate their way down the precarious rapids, they discover that nature isn't the only one out to get them. The eventual appearance of two menacing hillbillies turns the vacation into a nightmare.
"You must be awfully good to be convincingly bad," says producer-director John Boorman about the performances of Bill McKinney and Herbert (Cowboy) Coward as a pair of depraved mountaineers who terrorise the four men.
"Villains must threaten the audience," continues Boorman, "and both of these guys did that and more. McKinney's a trained actor from Actor's Studio, and I knew what to expect from him. On the other hand Coward never made a film before, but he looked exactly right for the part. I found out later that he has a natural talent that doesn't need much direction. He's been playing Ike Clanton in a western shoot-out in a South Carolina tourist attraction for ten years. He's used to shaking people up."
As Cowboy Coward explains, "It took me two years to get used to the crowd cheering when I was shot down, now I love the boos, then I know I'm doing the job right."
Conversely, McKinney auditioned for one of the good guy roles in Deliverance, then landed the heavy role. "I've played a lot of villains over the years," smiles McKinney, "but this dude is really crawling out from under a rock. No redeeming qualities at all."