MovieChat Forums > Deliverance (1972) Discussion > I need an explanation about a scene in t...

I need an explanation about a scene in this movie that has bugged me

posted 10 years ago by deck007-1
19 replies | jump to latest

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to have seen this movie at a theater went it came out. I've also seen it a few more times over the years & still don't get this scene.

When Jon Voight's character wakes up in the morning after he had climbed up the cliff and then spots the other hillbilly. He gets his bow and arrow ready to shoot him and then does and kills him.

Now if I remember - after being shot with the arrow - the hillbilly's gun is pointed down at the ground & goes off before he dies harming nobody. But Voight then acts like he is injured and is injured.

So what happened.....when he shot the hillbilly the arrow broke in two and 1/2 of it came back into Voights side & the other 1/2 of it killed the hillbilly? That doesn't make any sense.

I remember when Voight gets to the hospital....the doctor says to him something like "I've never seen anybody before who shot themselves with their own bow and arrow." Which again negates the possibility of the hillbillys gunshot at the ground ricocheted & hit him or anything along those lines.

He wasn't injured when he climbed the cliff the night before. And it just looks (actually, that scene doesn't "look" clear) like he shoots the hillbilly and himself with the same arrow. So what was the deal with what was supposed to happen there?

[–] Funkybuds 10 years ago

I thought that Ed actually hit him with his shot, but the first gunshot from the hillbilly scared Ed into falling into his other arrow. The hillbilly comes in for the kill but succumbs to his injury just as he's trying to kill Ed.

[–] trenchcoatwizard 10 years ago

Basically - he shot the hillbilly who fired in return which scared him, causing him to stumble backwards and fall on another arrow.

Sorry for the terrible, run-on sentence!

[–] fluffchop 10 years ago

Exactly, it's not rocket surgery.

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Scientologists love Narnia, there's plenty of closet space.

[–] KingCobra686 10 years ago

It is very confusing when you see the scene the first time. It makes it look like he misfired and shot himself with the arrow, but then the hillbilly collapses with an arrow in him too.

[–] stones78 9 years ago

I can't stand folks like you; it's a msg board to discuss things, turd.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 8 years ago

I can't stand folks like you; it's a msg board to discuss things, turd.

Ironically, the arrogant shmuck who made his crack got the expression wrong. It's rocket "SCIENCE," not rocket "surgery." 

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IMDB, flagging ppl for bull💩 since 1995. 

[–] osully67 8 years ago

Yeah... pretty sure they were making a joke. Like a cross between rocket science and brain surgery.

[–] MissTexasMcCoy 10 years ago

You're not alone. There seems to be alot of misunderstanding about this scene. I have noticed quite a number of people on this board over the years who don't get that scene or misinterpret it.

I have both read the book and seen the movie a bunch of times.

What happened was Ed noticed the hillbilly first before the hillbilly noticed him, hence Ed had a bit more time to get his shot ready and aim. He managed to shoot the hillbilly with the arrow before the hillbilly had time to shoot back, but the hillbilly still had his finger on the trigger of his rifle and hence got off his one useless shot at the ground as he was falling/dying. Because Ed gets nervous when he is using his bow and arrows, he was shaking like crazy and fell over backwards onto his own quiver after shooting the hillbilly, hence impaling himself with another arrow he had on him. It was just a freak accident that he hurt himself that way.

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[–] ofumalow 10 years ago

I just watched it a few minutes ago, many decades after last seeing the movie (and several years after reading the book). Yes, it's quite confusingly staged.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 9 years ago

This movie is full of key scenes that are filmed in a confusing way:

1. The arrow thing with Ed.
2. Drew falling out of the canoe.
3. Finding drew with his bent arm.
4. Was it the same mountain man.

I can't believe that this is all coincidence. It seems that the director deliberately filmed all of these key scenes in a confusing way for the purpose of generating the exact kind of threads so often seen here.

Person after person asks: was it this or that? And people try to bring proof for either position. Well, the answer to all of these questions is simply that there is no answer.

I call this lazy film-making. Instead of making a coherent film, deliberately make a sloppy film so people will endlessly look for answers that aren't there.

Kind of like people looking for hidden meanings in Beatles songs. John got so annoyed by it that he deliberately wrote nonsense songs, like I am The Walrus, to mock them.

It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you really did LOL!

[–] tranz9 9 years ago

No, what's "lazy" is people who want everything spelled out to them with no ambiguity in a film ... when that is not how life or some of the greatest storytelling throughout history works. In Henry James' classic "Turn Of The Screw" we are left to ponder whether the ghosts are real or figments imagined by a disturbed governess of two children. I suppose a certain kind of plodding or literal-minded reader or viewer would want that question answered clearly -- which would deprive the tale of its brilliance and its riddles. It is not about "hidden meanings" at all. It is about the very nature of existence and realizing that a key level of human wisdom and maturity is reached when one learns to accept that there are conundrums we will never fully understand and mysteries for which we will never know the answers.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 9 years ago

There is a world of difference between thought-provoking ambiguity and pointless incoherent muddle.

It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you really did LOL!

[–] oscarunger 9 years ago

Basically - he shot the hillbilly who fired in return which scared him, causing him to stumble backwards and fall on another arrow.

all this time I thought it was a broken arrow that half hit ed and half the hillbilly

[–] Tricklebrook (313) a year ago

[deleted]

[–] Tricklebrook (313) a year ago

"It seems that the director deliberately filmed all of these key scenes in a confusing way for the purpose of generating the exact kind of threads so often seen here"

That can't be the case. When this movie was made there was no internet.

[–] brianwhite5 8 years ago

Yer he kills the hillbilly with his shot, loses his balance and impales himself with a spare arrow he has. It's not obvious since it happens so quick.

[–] texascoon2 8 years ago

I believe that Voight's character fell on his bow inwhich the extra arrows are attached to and that one pierced him.

[–] jm2-1 8 years ago

This story is based on a book. It has been several years, but I believe in the book, Ed is in a tree, waiting to get the killer. I think he and the killer shoot each other at the same time and Ed falls from the tree and one of his own arrows pierces his side. The fall may be after the second shot of the killer, but after the killer was hit by the arrow, very seriously through his shoulder, he can't get his arm up to aim the gun properly. So that is why he shoots and misses.

Also in the book, the killer manages to live a while longer and makes his way back through the brush/woods. Ed has to go after him and find him to make sure he is dead and remove his body (to hide evidence).
I think after his fall from the tree and injury, he is several minutes, if not much more, behind the killer. But he traces his trail due to the blood, broken branches, and other signs. Then he has to drag back the body and sink it in the river.

[–] sunezno (269) 2 years ago

There's a bit of foreshadowing there, I think. When he gets to the top of the cliff, he's lying next to his bow, and we see that his quiver doesn't have a covering on it like Lewis's does, so his sharp arrows are sitting there a few inches away from his face. To me, that said right there that he was going to end up being hurt by that situation somehow.