Revealing mistake: As Voight starts to climb down the cliff with the rope, a safety wire is visible to the right of him. (01:20:10)
Deliverance (1972)
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Directed by: John Boorman
Starring: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
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More mistakes in Deliverance
Mountain Man: Now let's you just drop them pants.
Trivia: Burt Reynolds broke his tailbone while going down the rapids.
Question: What exactly happens to Ronny Cox? Does he get shot by the sniper, does he fall out of the canoe and drown, or does he commit suicide?
Answer: Just like Burt Reynolds says. He clearly yells out "he was shot."
Characters can be mistaken. The director left it intentionally ambiguous. Ronny Cox has stated in interviews that he played the scene as if the character had simply "shut down" and given up on a world that no longer made sense.
Answer: No wound. Shook his head and dove from the canoe. Refused his life jacket. Just ridden with guilt as he was dead set against burying the hillbilly.
It's ambiguous. In an unused shot from that scene, Drew does grab at his head before falling overboard. Still, I too think he simply passes out from the stress.