Comment

Jan 13, 2018Tony_Jeffers rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a movie that I watched over and over on newtwork TV as a child and teenager in the early 1970s. The rape scenes were completely edited out so that I had no idea that a rape was involved. I had always admired the bravery of Burt Reynolds' character for taking on two men with guns with just a bow and arrow. One thing I learned from it as a child was that the frountier style of Justice that I had so often seen glorified in the western movies and TV shows no longer applied in modern times. While the killing was clearly self-defense they felt compelled to cover it up; mostly out of fear that they were outsiders and the man that was killed likely had family in the area that would want revenge. Years later in the late 70s I saw a less edited version which made me wonder if there had been a rape. Asking my father who apparently had seen it in the theatre he confirmed that there was a rape. In the 90s I saw a documentery about the making of the movie and discovered that the author of the novel James Dickey from which the movie was based on had played the sheriff. Mr Dickey did a great job I never had any idea that the sheriff was not played by a professional acter. Male rape still seems to be a tabo subject -no man wants to believe it could happen to him. The description of this movie as well as the description of the book which is also available from SPL do not give the slightest hint that a male rape is central to this story. Inspite of that; to it's credit SPL does have Male Rape in the subject list of the record of the book.