Deliverance

In James Dickey's harrowing 1970 novel, DELIVERANCE, four men set out on a canoe trip in the north Georgia wilderness. Only three make it back--and those three are changed forever. The story begins as a lighthearted adventure about city boys eager to test themselves against the elements, but it soon spirals down into a tense, nail-biting saga of degradation and murder when the four confront a pair of psychopaths in the woods and, after a series of horrifying events, become the hunted prey of a man bent on vengeance. Brilliantly, even lyrically written by a prize-winning poet, DELIVERANCE is both a classic action tale and an allegory about the way "civilization" can break down when naked survival is at stake. The novel was made into a highly acclaimed film in 1972 by John Boorman, starring Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds, with a screenplay by Dickey.