1. The Crew Stumbled Upon The Infamous Banjo Kid In Deliverance By Accident And A Cameraman Caught It On Film
Without a doubt, the most famous scene in John Boorman's man vs. nature masterpiece Deliverance - which tells the story of an ill-fated river rafting trip in the Georgia backcountry - is the one that sees businessman Drew, as played by Ronnie Cox, playing guitar against what we're supposed to believe is an inbred hillbilly kid, who "duels" him using his trademark banjo. The big "factual" story that you always hear associated with this scene, then? That the filmmakers stumbled upon the banjo kid by accident, filmed him, and into the movie it went. Which is about as far away from the truth as possible. There was almost no spontaneity to be associated with the scene, in fact, which is probably where this story came from in the first place - somebody who thought the banjo kid seemed too realistic to have been cast in the movie presumably fabricated a tale about him being a real-life hillbilly. In reality, then, "Duelin' Banjos" had been recorded for the movie already, the scene planned, and the banjo kid hired - his name was Billy Redden - for his stereotypical "backwoods" looks. Redden couldn't even play the banjo - his awesome "skills" were created using careful editing techniques.
Like this article? Let us know in the comments section below.