Thursday, April 22, 2010

Dueling Banjos - Deliverance





Dueling Banjos from the film 'Deliverance'

From Wiki: Widely acclaimed as a landmark picture, the film is noted for the memorable music scene near the beginning that sets the tone for what lies ahead: a trip into unknown and potentially dangerous territory.

In the scene, set at a rural gas station, character Drew Ballinger plays the instrumental "Dueling Banjos" on his guitar with a hillbilly youth named Lonnie (implied as being an inbred albino in the novel) who is portrayed by Billy Redden in the film, though a body double actually played the banjo.

The song won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance. The film was selected by the New York Times as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made", while the viewers of Channel 4 in the United Kingdom voted it #45 in a list of "The 100 Greatest Films".

I vaguely remember watching this movie many years ago - it was probably heavily censored in South Africa at the time - but, the Dueling Banjos scene is unforgettable.

Edit: I'm using this as a "test" post because my previous post 'If Dead Cars Could Speak' did not appear as an update on Blog Roll lists ...

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13 comments:

  1. You are right 'Dead Cars' did not appear on my list I just found it by looking at your blog. Loved the dueling banjos, sorry I never saw the film. Diane

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  2. Thanks for the feedback Diane - I probably did something wrong in the last post ...

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  3. I've never seen this film, but will keep an eye out for it. You post on the cars did not appear in my google reader either, but I see it there in your recent posts/sidebar - so I am off to read it now !

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  4. Thanks Lynda ... I wouldn't recommend the film though - if I recall correctly it's pretty violent ...

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  5. how uncanny, this was on Monday night at 9 pm.
    Hmm surprised you don't remember the scene with the nasty hillbillies, then again you did say it was heavily censored. By todays standards of what is shocking, that uhhum... edited scene is ludicrously funny.

    ..did I say funny twice?

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  6. Thanks Monica - synchronicity (if there is such a word) seems to be in the air ... a few minutes ago I phoned my Mom after not speaking to her in awhile - just as she was looking for my number to phone me ...

    Yes, you said funny twice ... :)

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  7. One of my favourite music tracks! I have posted it/commented with it a few times, excellent to hear again. Now off to read the "missing post".

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  8. good clip
    It shows the power and universal appeal of music. Also a banjo and guitar can sound great together.

    the first youtube video was posted 5 years ago - unbelievable growth with a good idea and the internet.

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  9. Thanks lisleman ... yeah, youtube was a brilliant idea - why can't I think of something like that?

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  10. I saw the movie on tv but only at the end. What was the last scene, did a car go under water or was it a hand of a man drowning? Anyways, my husband had joked about paddle faster, I hear banjo music. Do you happen to know the meaning?

    The music was awesome, a little spooky but awesome.

    Did you check the date of the missing post? I had that happened to me once and it was because it posted backdated to the date I created the draft, not the date it was published.

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  11. Hello Fazlisa - mmm no, I don't remember the ending so I don't know what your husband meant, in fact I'm beginning to wonder if I ever saw the movie at all - maybe I just imagined it or read about it somewhere ...

    Yeah, I was messing around with the date and time before I posted it so I may have messed it up somehow ...

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