Burt was in great shape.
Then later on he thought he was Cary Grant.
shareIn one of his final movies -- The Last Movie Star (2017), a very old and frail looking Burt Reynolds plays an old movie star based a lot on himself.
In fantasy scene, "Old Burt" sits in a raf with "Young Burt" -- "Old Burt" has been CGIed into a scene with his younger self. Its pretty rough to see -- side by side -- what time can do to a man.
They repeat this gimmick one more time -- morphing "Old Burt" into the car with "Young Burt" in Smokey and the Bandit. Its painful, too -- but not as painful as "Old Burt" with the half-shirtless muscular "Young Burt" in Deliverance.
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Then later on he thought he was Cary Grant.
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Which was funny, because in the very beginning -- when he was on TV -- Burt Reynolds was considered a young Marlon Brando clone -- to the point where Brando was actually disdainful of him.
Burt Reynolds went from Brando clone to "macho muscle man" (White Lighting, The Longest Yard) and indeed on to some Grant type roles(in Rough Cut, he does an actual Cary Grant impression.)
But mainly he locked in his laughing Southern good ol' boy routine for much of his career.
He's very good and rather unappealing as the macho posturuer in Deliverance.
Reynolds wrote of Deliverance: "It was a great film to be in, so early in my career. I thought I would get a lot more of that quality, but I was wrong. They are rare."
Well, for Burt Reynolds, maybe.
"He's very good and rather unappealing as the macho posturuer in Deliverance."
His character wasn't meant to be a macho-type in this film. He was a guy who appeared to be a badass, but was out of his league when it came down to it. It's a bit difficult to lump his role here with the macho man characters in, say, White Lightning.
Fair enough. He was probably the most macho of THOSE four guys, but yeah -- about halfway through(with a horrific bone break) -- he folds.
And of course, Jon Voight proves to be more macho, just in a quiet way.
what do you mean he folds??? His leg is broken in half, what is he supposed to do.
sharewhat do you mean he folds??? His leg is broken in half, what is he supposed to do.
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Ha. Yeah, I think I typed that one too fast without thinking. Oops.
Truth is he LITERALLY folds, his body collapses, he's no good.
I suppose where Deliverance delivers its twist here is that the most macho man on the trip -- the guy that the others were depending upon to help guide them, help protect them -- is rendered physically useless. So the responsibility for physical confrontation shifts to Voight.
Out of his league?????? He was the badass leader untill his leg was broken innhalf.
shareOmar Sharif said something similar, that the only good movies he was in were the ones directed by David Lean.
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