Revealing mistake: In a scene where the canoes are shooting the rapids through a sheer cliff you can clearly see a stuntman climbing out of the water onto the rock.
Deliverance (1972)
Directed by: John Boorman
Starring: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
Revealing mistake: When the mountain man is grinning at Jon Voight tied to the tree, you can see that his "missing" front tooth is actually painted black.
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)
Trivia: At the end of the film, the police officer advising Beatty and Voight to go away and not to come back is James Dickey, the screenwriter and author of the book the film is based on.
Trivia: Burt Reynolds broke his tailbone while going down the rapids.
Trivia: Actor Billy Redden (who portrayed the inbred hillbilly banjo player) actually could not play the banjo at all. Despite training for the film, Redden's hand movements simply weren't convincing, so a local musician was hired to hide behind Redden and portray the left-handed fingerplay in complex banjo-picking shots. We only see the briefest snippets of Redden handling the banjo with his own two hands; however, when the iconic "Dueling Banjos" scene reaches a fever pitch, the left hand seen working the banjo frets is that of the real musician hiding behind Redden.
Mountain Man: Now let's you just drop them pants.
Mountain Man: Looks like we got us a sow here instead of a boar.
Mountain Man: You ever had your balls cut off you fucking ape?
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.