Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The big canoe crash scene – 'I can't believe those guys filmed this.'
• Chris: The cliff climb scene – Voight climbing the cliff plus getting stabbed by his own arrow.
• Russillo: The 'squeal like a pig' scene – 'it's hard to beat this one... this is like Luke Skywalker learning Darth Vader's his dad.'
• Also: Dueling Banjos scene, Voight vs. the sheriff.

Dueling Banjos – won the 1974 Grammy. There was a copyright infringement case. Boorman's gold record was stolen by Dublin gangster Martin Cahill.

• Bill: The rapist's dead body – carried around for seven more scenes, always looks convincingly dead.
• Chris: The entire movie's themes laid out in Robert Altman-style overlapping dialogue during the opening credits; the mini-mystery of whether Drew was shot.
• The hierarchy of the buddies flipping when Burt gets hurt.
• The casting of actual locals.

• Bill: Young Jon Voight looking like Angelina Jolie – 'it's disturbing.'
• Chris: The depiction of the femur break – 'looks like a chicken cutlet.'
• Russillo: The Drew death scene – 'poorly executed,' too vague and abrupt.

Chris: Drew (Ronny Cox) – 'he's just a dumb guy who can play the guitar.'

• Bill: This is 'one of the most secretly ripped off movies ever made' – created hillbilly horror, influenced Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
• Russillo: 'Are we sure the relatives would show up to jury duty?'

• Ronny Cox and Burt Reynolds arguing about the law: 'It is a matter of the law! The law! What law? Where's the law, Drew?'
• The rapist's death rattle 'goes on for a while.'

• Ronny Cox – 'he's that guy from 'Beverly Hills Cop' and Robocop and 'Vision Quest'.'
• James Dickey (the author) as the sheriff.

Billy Redden (the banjo kid) – could not play banjo at all; a player put arms through from behind. 'I watch toilets at Walmart.'

• James Dickey wanted Sam Peckinpah to direct.
• Boorman wanted Lee Marvin and Marlon Brando; Marvin said 'we're too old, use younger actors.'
• Jack Nicholson agreed to play Ed if Brando played Lewis; Brando was too expensive.
• Donald Sutherland was in the mix but objected to the violence (later regretted it).

• Bill: John Cazale (Fredo) in the Drew part.
• Chris: Dennis Hopper as one of the mountain men.

• No insurance for the actors; Reynolds broke his tailbone doing the canoe stunt.
• Ned Beatty almost drowned; someone had to pull him from the bottom.
• Boorman and Dickey got in a fist fight; Dickey was then cast as the sheriff.
• Dueling Banjos copyright infringement case; Boorman's gold record stolen by Dublin gangster Martin Cahill.
• Billy Redden was cast because Boorman wanted 'a black albino.' Got $20/month from the movie company.
• Jimmy Carter established a Georgia film commission because of the movie.

• Burt Reynolds: No – Longest Yard or Smokey and the Bandit era.
• Ned Beatty: No – Network.
• Canoeing: 'This or River Wild.'
• Banjos: 'Definitely this or Steve Martin.'
• Hillbillies: Yes.

• Why did they spend so much time arguing about the dead body instead of just getting rid of it?
• Why throw away all the weapons?
• The pre-broken canoe visible in the crash scene.
• Entrusting their cars to hostile strangers for $40 after insulting them.

Wayne Jenkins as the sheriff.

• Chris: Burt Reynolds for Best Supporting Actor.
• Bill: Leans toward John Boorman for direction.

• Was Drew actually shot in the river? (Three different opinions.)
• Is it the same mountain man Voight kills on the cliff?
• Do the four guys ever hang out again? Definitely not.

• Chris: 'Never get out of the boat.'
• Bill: 'I'm out on canoe trips.'
• Russillo: 'Know the water.'

Bill: Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Burt Reynolds – 'Just that star power in the first half of the movie.'

Craig: Not a movie to watch with your girlfriend and future mother-in-law. Found the pacing surprising – expected continuous mountain man hunting after the big scene.