Deliverance poster

Deliverance (1972)

Film · 1h 49m · Rated R

Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Four city friends discover the terrifying, primal cost of adventure in the unforgiving American back-country.

Suspenseful and bleak. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is devastating.

Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 28, 2026.

Deliverance parents guide

Heads up on strong sex and nudity. That is past what the R on the box suggests. Beyond that, real scares and a jolt or two.

Scare
Properly scary
Frightening, not just tense.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Graphic gore
Blood and wounds shown clearly.
Violence
Brutal violence
Our top level for violence.
Sex and nudity
Strong
Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Deliverance scary?
Yes, properly. Deliverance is the real thing without being an endurance test.
How gory is Deliverance?
Graphic gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
What is Deliverance rated, and is it OK for kids?
Rated R, and it earns it: real scares, strong sex and nudity, and brutal violence. Not one for kids.

What is Deliverance about?

Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byJohn Boorman
StarringJon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Ed Ramey, Billy Redden

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Deliverance is on our Survival and 1970s lists.

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.