MovieChat Forums > Deliverance (1972) Discussion > How the hell did Jon Voight manage to sh...

How the hell did Jon Voight manage to shoot HIMSELF with a bow and arrow?


So Jon Voight is aiming the bow and arrow at the redneck whose friend raped Ned Beatty's character, on top of the cliff. Voight takes aim with the bow and arrow, the redneck fires his shotgun, the arrow is obviously loosed, but THEN ENDS UP IN VOIGHT'S LEG!?!

I mean, HOW the FUCK did THAT HAPPEN?

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I think it's implied that he was that nervous that he released the bow (before the string) thus firing/sending the arrow back at himself?

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I posted the OP when that moment happened, BUT the redneck with the shotgun was still impaled by an arrow, so it MUST'VE been Voight's arrow! So was Voight knocked down onto a loose arrow? I didn't see one sticking up, and how could it?

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Funny enough, I'm watching it right now and it does indeed look like Voight dropped the bow after he fired it (with had other arrows attached to it, for easier access) before falling back on the Cliff edge at a weird angle and impaling himself on it)

Can't believe I'd forgotten that he shot the hillbilly through the throat (I must be getting old?)

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I did some archery when I was younger, and yes, I'd say it's possible to send an arrow into your thigh. Or even calf.


But you'd have to have the whole bow pointing downwards to give the arrow impetus, and I don't recall the details of the scene.

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Just watched it last night, and from what I gathered, he landed on his other arrows when he fell, and one somehow went completely through his side... Not that that makes a whole lot more sense, but ya know, a little bit.

I noticed that there was a bit of foreshadowing just before when he was on the rock (maybe when he'd just climbed up the night before?) and we saw that the quiver (?) didn't have a cover on it like Burt Reynolds' did. My first thought was, "Dude, get those sharp arrows away from your face!" lol

I was confused, however, by the bad guy's partial dentures... When we first saw him, he's missing teeth, but the ones he has are surprisingly white. Then when Jon Voight is checking the guy's mouth, all of the teeth look rotten, even the partial denture (which, of course, is weird in and of itself).
And if the guy wasn't wearing it the day before, why would he run home after his friend was killed, put in his teeth, and then go out to find the guys?
So just to clarify, he did get the right guy, right?

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He didn’t shoot himself. When both exchange fires, Voight falls on one of the arrows from the holster.

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Didn't think that could be done.

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