# “Deliverance” ; The True Story



## MCBUCK (Jun 13, 2021)

Yeah. This will blow your skirt up some:

It was loosely based on actual events. James Dickey ( the author-who also made a movie cameo as the fictional Aintry sheriff ) ...well, he had some buddies who were Coca Cola execs as friends and they all enjoyed canoeing. So, in the early 60’s during the first stages of construction and well before completion & filling of Carter’s dam in Gilmer & Murray county, the Coosawatee River was considered a quality class II rapid, and the group of four decided to take advantage of this wild area of the north Georgia mountains destined to disappear. Just as in the movie, they traveled to a community just outside Ellijay, where a guide was hired to escort them to the rivers headwaters and then drive their vehicles down to the bottom of the mountain and leave them to be retrieved two days later. Apparently during the first day of the trip, the group paddled up to a possible camp area and found a still....to their surprise. Because moonshine was a very illegal activity, the group thought it best to expedite their excursion and get to the take out point as fast as possible. When they arrived at the bottom of the mountain, the hired guide was there at the appointed time and gave them the chilling news that, the still was indeed ran by a cousin and the cousin knew they had found  his operation and vowed he would kill them if he could find their vehicles; the guide advised them to leave the area with haste.
Years later after the success of the movies, Dickey returned to the same area and was not only shunned by the locals, but even advised to leave again.
One of the ironies of this was that Clayton, Ga where the movie was filmed, bore the brunt of the jokes and some older locals now still refer to “Deliverance” as “that ‘blank’ movie.”
This history was posted for some time in the Loberbaum Building on the campus of Dalton State College.
As I was posting this, my wife informed me of the death of Ned Beatty, age 83 . He was a in spite of this movie, a very good actor.


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## 1eyefishing (Jun 13, 2021)

One of the best reading books ever… (per my favs, anyway).


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## gawildlife (Jun 13, 2021)

As a southerner, native Alabamian now a Georgian, and a proud backwoods country boy river rat I absolutely understand and agree with the locals. That  movie has done more to stereotype southerners and country folk than any other.
The only thing it missed was the fried chicken and watermelon.
But they were all white so I guess it's all PC.


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## gawildlife (Jun 13, 2021)

Agreed, on Ned Beatty one of the greats.


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## MCBUCK (Jun 13, 2021)

I may have some of the finer points off, but as I recall reading the history of the actual events, this is pretty close to what happened.
And yes, being a north Georgia mountain boy, the movie was a double edged sword in how the long term outsiders view of the southern Appalachians. On one hand, we were portrayed as a “don’t mess with us people” amd on the other hand it painted us with a the broad brush of inbred ignorant, uneducated heathens, both of which are far swings of the pendulum.


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## Artfuldodger (Jun 14, 2021)

I remember Zeb Miller being on a campaign against the Snuffy Smith comic strip and Deliverance. 
Ned Beatty said "you can make 30 movies and this is the only one people remember you from." I wonder if he ever had second thoughts?


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## Artfuldodger (Jun 14, 2021)

MCBUCK said:


> I may have some of the finer points off, but as I recall reading the history of the actual events, this is pretty close to what happened.
> And yes, being a north Georgia mountain boy, the movie was a double edged sword in how the long term outsiders view of the southern Appalachians. On one hand, we were portrayed as a “don’t mess with us people” amd on the other hand it painted us with a the broad brush of inbred ignorant, uneducated heathens, both of which are far swings of the pendulum.


When I was in the Navy and told folks I was from Georgia, they asked if I had a Black Nanny growing up. I said y'all watch too many movies,lol. When Daddy  was stationed in England in WWII he had a girlfriend there. He said her dad never liked him just because he was from Georgia. The dad had this redneck stereotype of a backwoods Georgian instilled in his head.


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## fishfryer (Jun 14, 2021)

I’ve often had similar thoughts of Jeff Foxworthy,the movie Forrest Gump,and others like Brother Where Art Thou? I love the south,all of the south!


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## baddave (Jun 14, 2021)

andy griffith , Beverly hillbillys , gomer pyle , forrest gump etc . they have a lot to do with our reputation with yankees and it's probably all by design


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## king killer delete (Jun 14, 2021)

Oh it was great in the Army . Being from the Mississippi Delta I fought the idea of people from the north for 20 years. We were all uneducated and dump as a bucket of rocks. Until you got in a fire fight and the southern boys never broke and ran


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## fishfryer (Jun 14, 2021)

king killer delete said:


> Oh it was great in the Army . Being from the Mississippi Delta I fought the idea of people from the north for 20 years. We were all uneducated and dump as a bucket of rocks. Until you got in a fire fight and the southern boys never broke and ran


I had a friend who has now passed that was a native of Michigan and a medically retired Green Beret captain. He made his home in the south by choice and he told me once to that there wouldn’t be special forces without the southern boys.


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## JustUs4All (Jun 14, 2021)

Could somebody tell me what anyone might think would be wrong with black nannys.  Momma got some help which she needed badly, a woman got some money which she needed badly, I got cared for by a black lady who looked on me more as a grandchild than a ward.  Where is the looser here?


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## GeorgiaBob (Jun 14, 2021)

Funny that some folks would be bothered by idiots, , , I grew up in Texas and was aware of certain misconceptions by Yankees, Northerners, Down Easters, and other foreigners, but I never thought their error was a problem for me. Generally, when I encountered those mentally misfit folks, I worked at reinforcing their skewed beliefs just to be able to laugh at them. (Cruel I know, but it was fun) In my experience, there were a few of them worth feeling sorry for, fewer still worthy of correcting, and a whole passel of them fools not worth anything more than a laugh at their expense.


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## JustUs4All (Jun 14, 2021)

You just posted the flip side of the coin we are discussing.

When we all take the time to rub the dust and tarnish off the side we are not so familiar with we are usually pleasantly surprised.  I have been over and over again. Having been around for a good long time, I find that I usually have more differences with city dwellers than I do with others from any particular part of the country.  And with city dwellers the degree of difference is generally proportional to how close to the city center the other chooses to live.

Not a hard and fast rule but it usually holds true.


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## Thunder Head (Jun 14, 2021)

Stereotypes are just part of human nature I reckon.

Two of the biggest rednecks ive ever met, came from Western Ney York. Just good ole country boys.

From Germany to Africa. Asia to Argentina. Find you a hunter or a fisherman. Youll be swamping stories in just a few minutes. Cultural difference's and misconception's get put to the way side pretty quick.


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## Danuwoa (Jun 14, 2021)

Great movie.  Great book.  The two are very different.  That is always true but it’s particularly so in this case.  

There is a pretty good short documentary on the making of the movie shot then with commentary from John Boorman.

There is also a really good write up on it with interviews featuring everyone involved.  I think it was written for Garden and Gun and while that rag makes me sick to my stomach this was really well done and worth seeking out.

So many interesting things about this movie.  Did you know Jack Nicholson and Lee Marvin and Marlon Brando were supposed to have been in it?  Brando agreed, Nicholson finally agreed and wanted whatever Brando was being paid.  John Boorman was told in no uncertain terms that they would cost too much money and for him to get unknowns for the the four lead roles.  Beaty and Ronnie Cox were totally unknown stage actors at the time.  Neither had ever been in a movie.  Jon Voight’s career was sputtering and of course the movie made Burt Reynolds a star.  Herbert Coward or “Toothless Man” ended up in the movie because Burt Reynolds remembered him from working with him at Ghost Town In The Sky in North Carolina.  The movie was shot in sequence so they all had to dread that infamous scene as they knew it was getting closer.  Ned Beatty said the entire cast was full of anxiety as it got closer.  John Boorman said that he had know idea how he was going to shoot that scene until they got to that particular part on the river.  Something about the way those woods looked gave him the breakthrough he needed.  He said he wanted the two men who attack Ed and Bobby to sort of just appear out of the woods like some sort of malevolent spirits of the landscape. 

Boorman also used a camera trick of some sort to make the water of the Chatooga River appear almost black because he thought of the river as a star in the movie and the real antagonist.

Lots of stories, legends, and outright myths about where James Dickey got the idea for the story. One popular one was that the events depicted actually happened to Dickey himself but there is a lot of controversy surrounding that as Dickey was very much a self mythologizer and a real character himself.  Another story told to me by the owner of a bookstore in the mountains was that there were a bunch of folks living up on one of those rivers far away from even the next most remote.  They only came to town a few times a year and were so isolated that they had an accent all their own different from the known Southern Appalachian accent.  They were said to be strange and appearance as well as action and Dickey heard of these people and it started there.  Dickey’s own son, Cristopher, said the idea came to his father while they were living in Italy and he was homesick and watching some mountain climbers on a set of cliffs.  Nobody really knows and that is almost better.  Dickey was a fascinating character and phenomenal writer.  One of my favorite things is a recording of his reading of his poem, For The Last Wolverine.  I’ve got a transcribed copy on the wall in my hunting cabin.  If you aren’t familiar with it, Dickey’s reading of it is on YouTube and well worth seeking out.  Another, Looking For The Buckhead Boys sparked a good conversation with a friend here who relates to it in a very personal way.
I could ramble on some more but I’ll give somebody else a turn for a while.


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## gawildlife (Jun 14, 2021)

Being from Birmingham and white I got tagged with the label The Klansman by one particular E-4 who fancied himself some sort of bully. I tolerated it for awhile and tried not to let it get under my skin but he kept pushing until the inevitable if I'm a klansman then I'm gonna hang your........
That's all it took, getting in his face with it and we ended up good friends and drinking buddies.


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## Danuwoa (Jun 14, 2021)

I hate to be that guy but we were being stereotyped way before Deliverance.  It started as soon as the Civil War ended if not before.  Reconstruction is still going on today and most people forty and under don’t even know what it was or is.  Deliverance might have been and might still be another arrow in their quiver but it was going on way before that.


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## MCBUCK (Jun 14, 2021)

No doubt.


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## longrangedog (Jun 15, 2021)

I was pretty close to some folks in Clayton while the movie was being made. In fact several of them were extras and appeared in the movie and were kinda proud of the fact that their home town was the location. Many townspeople were also proud. Apparently not many understood that the movie depicted them in a less than flattering light and in the end they felt betrayed.


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## Danuwoa (Jun 15, 2021)

I remember Ronnie Cox talking about how when filming started he felt bad about the whole thing.  John Boorman defended it by pointing out the the way the people were depicted when Ed, Bobby, and Lewis make it back.  The hospital personnel and the folks at the boarding house.


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## mrs. hornet22 (Jun 15, 2021)

JustUs4All said:


> Could somebody tell me what anyone might think would be wrong with black nannys.  Momma got some help which she needed badly, a woman got some money which she needed badly, I got cared for by a black lady who looked on me more as a grandchild than a ward.  Where is the looser here?


Same here. My mama had Mz. Liza until the day she died. Mama took care of that lady better then anyone I know. Every picture I have of my Diddy as a child had his Nanny in the picture. He loved that lady like a Mama. I agree. It's a win win for all.


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## Rich Kaminski (Jun 15, 2021)

JustUs4All said:


> You just posted the flip side of the coin we are discussing.
> 
> When we all take the time to rub the dust and tarnish off the side we are not so familiar with we are usually pleasantly surprised.  I have been over and over again. Having been around for a good long time, I find that I usually have more differences with city dwellers than I do with others from any particular part of the country.  And with city dwellers the degree of difference is generally proportional to how close to the city center the other chooses to live.
> 
> Not a hard and fast rule but it usually holds true.



Now that's the best response yet!


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## turkeykirk (Jun 15, 2021)

The Dueling Banjo scene really peaked my interest in old time music.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 16, 2021)

I bet I paddled by the "rape scene" 100 times while in college.


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## Gbr5pb (Jun 16, 2021)

Heck I told my children them people all was probably your relatives! Lot of moonshiners in the Gilmer part of family


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## Danuwoa (Jun 16, 2021)

A pretty funny part of the story about the making of the movie was told by Burt Reynolds.  He explained that Dickey insisted on calling the four actors by their characters names.  He said the cast and crew was staying somewhere outside Clayton while filming and he came in one evening to the bar and there was James Dickey over in corner at a table, drunk and holding court with several people.  “I went to the bar and got a beer and I hear Dickey yell, ‘Lewis!  Come over here boy.  I want to talk to you.’  I just kept drinking my beer and the bartender said, ‘I think Mr Dickey wants to speak with you.  He’s calling you.’  And I said, he ain’t talking to me.  My name’s Burt.  Well I could feel Dickey coming across the room and he got over there and he got real close to my face.  Remember, I’m sitting on a bar stool and he had to bend down to get in my face.  He was a big man.  He said, ‘Now Lewis, I was talkin to you, boy.’  And I said, Mr Dickey, my name is Burt.  If you want me to be Lewis I’ll be Lewis again tomorrow at six o’clock.  But for now, get out of my ‘dang’ face!  I thought for sure that he’d beat me half to death or pull out a knife and cut me.  But he didn’t say anything for about ten seconds and then nodded and said, ‘That’s EXACTLY what Lewis would have said!’  He walked off and never bothered me again.  Drove everybody else crazy but never bothered me again.”


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## MCBUCK (Jun 16, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> I bet I paddled by the "rape scene" 100 times while in college.



Not sure where that was filmed at but I’m sure it had to be on the Chattooga somewhere. It’s typical Georgia mountain river terrain & vegetation. I don’t think they veered much off the Chattooga during filming.


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## Gbr5pb (Jun 16, 2021)

A classic! Did have to rent for children to see it! They didn’t know what the paddle faster I hear banjo music bumper stickers meant


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## Meriwether Mike (Jun 16, 2021)

Them  folks was from the South Carolina side of the Chattooga River.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 16, 2021)

MCBUCK said:


> Not sure where that was filmed at but I’m sure it had to be on the Chattooga somewhere. It’s typical Georgia mountain river terrain & vegetation. I don’t think they veered much off the Chattooga during filming.



Yep.  Chattooga.


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## MCBUCK (Jun 16, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> Yep.  Chattooga.



I know they ventured around the mountain some during filming but that exact scene I was unsure of where it was filmed. You know how rumors grow. I’d heard of them getting as far East as Cohutta Wilderness, but that could be a stretch. But movie companies spread out film locations sometimes. Weirdos.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 16, 2021)

MCBUCK said:


> I know they ventured around the mountain some during filming but that exact scene I was unsure of where it was filmed. You know how rumors grow. I’d heard of them getting as far East as Cohutta Wilderness, but that could be a stretch. But movie companies spread out film locations sometimes. Weirdos.



I’m no expert but most of the movie looks to me like Section III and Section IV on the Chattooga.  I definitely recognize Screaming Left in the movie.  Some of it also reminds me of Tallulah Gorge which I still to this day have nightmares about.  Not sure about Cohutta but like you said, who knows.  I’m almost certain the rape scene was filmed on a small beach in the gorge on Section IV just before Five Falls.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 16, 2021)

I think Bull Sluice is in the movie too.  Need to rewatch it.


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## Danuwoa (Jun 16, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> I’m no expert but most of the movie looks to me like Section III and Section IV on the Chattooga.  I definitely recognize Screaming Left in the movie.  Some of it also reminds me of Tallulah Gorge which I still to this day have nightmares about.  Not sure about Cohutta but like you said, who knows.  I’m almost certain the rape scene was filmed on a small beach in the gorge on Section IV just before Five Falls.


I’m definitely not an expert either but I know this to be correct.


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## Archer45ACP10mm (Jun 16, 2021)

Danuwoa said:


> I’m definitely not an expert either but I know this to be correct.



Yep - the rape scene was where Camp Creek comes into the Chattooga, just upstream of Five Falls.  I have stood on the exact spot, and kinda got the heebie jeebies, thinking about the movie.  You can get there by a fairly short and easy hike.

Yep, on Screaming Left Turn.  And of course, Deliverance Rock, on Section 3.  The scene where all of the junk cars were at the riverbank was at the bottom of Woodall Shoals.  I don't recall seeing Bull Sluice in the movie, but I may have missed it.  I have kayaked Sections 2, 3 and 4 many times, in the past, and know the river well.

All of the cliff scenes, and many of the whitewater scenes were filmed in Tallulah Gorge.

My understanding of the basis of the story was, as mentioned, from Dickey taking an actual canoe trip on the Coosawattee, and running across some moonshiners.  And the damming of the lake in the movie came from Carter's Lake being made.  Some of Georgia's best whitewater is (or was) right about where Carter's Lake dam is now, about 400' under the surface of the lake.  And under the Carter's Reregulation Reservoir below the main dam was a HUGE native American village.  I was a little kid when the dam was being made, they opened that up to digging, and lots of people, us included, went there, dug and sifted, and came home with several shoe boxes full of artifacts.  Points, pottery shards, teeth, small bones, etc.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 17, 2021)

Archer45ACP10mm said:


> Yep - the rape scene was where Camp Creek comes into the Chattooga, just upstream of Five Falls.  I have stood on the exact spot, and kinda got the heebie jeebies, thinking about the movie.  You can get there by a fairly short and easy hike.
> 
> Yep, on Screaming Left Turn.  And of course, Deliverance Rock, on Section 3.  The scene where all of the junk cars were at the riverbank was at the bottom of Woodall Shoals.  I don't recall seeing Bull Sluice in the movie, but I may have missed it.  I have kayaked Sections 2, 3 and 4 many times, in the past, and know the river well.
> 
> ...



Quick side note on Woodall Shoals.  The reason for the nasty hydraulic at the base is from when they used to float logs down the river.  At least so I’ve been told.  Logs were forever getting hung up at Woodall so loggers blasted the rock with dynamite.  The charge blasted instead of straight down and created a cave underneath which in turn created the hydraulic.  The only one scarier on the river is the twins at the base of Sock-Em-Dog.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 17, 2021)

Archer45ACP10mm said:


> Yep - the rape scene was where Camp Creek comes into the Chattooga, just upstream of Five Falls.  I have stood on the exact spot, and kinda got the heebie jeebies, thinking about the movie.  You can get there by a fairly short and easy hike.
> 
> Yep, on Screaming Left Turn.  And of course, Deliverance Rock, on Section 3.  The scene where all of the junk cars were at the riverbank was at the bottom of Woodall Shoals.  I don't recall seeing Bull Sluice in the movie, but I may have missed it.  I have kayaked Sections 2, 3 and 4 many times, in the past, and know the river well.
> 
> ...



Spot on!  Camp Creek is the spot.


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## SemperFiDawg (Jun 17, 2021)

That movie, Gone with the Wind, and Uncle Tom's Cabin have done more to hurt the Southern Culture than any 3 works I know of.  The mentality formed based on the stereotypes from them are directly responsible for the root of the BLM and cancel ALL SOUTHERN culture movement today.


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## Archer45ACP10mm (Jun 17, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> Quick side note on Woodall Shoals.  The reason for the nasty hydraulic at the base is from when they used to float logs down the river.  At least so I’ve been told.  Logs were forever getting hung up at Woodall so loggers blasted the rock with dynamite.  The charge blasted instead of straight down and created a cave underneath which in turn created the hydraulic.  The only one scarier on the river is the twins at the base of Sock-Em-Dog.



Side note briefly continued:

I didn't know that, but am glad that I do now.  It seems like I had previously heard that they used dynamite to recover bodies from the hydraulic.  I couldn't understand why that would be the case, but your explanation makes more sense.  Back when my gonads were bigger, I intentionally ran that hole in a kayak.  A buddy was as close to the hole as he could get, with a throw rope, and I knew what the perfect line was, set up, and made it.  It was at an optimum level for doing that, and I went right through it, with no problem.  It is a class 3 rapid, with class 6 consequences.

Sock-Em-Dog is extremely fun to intentionally swim, when the river is at 0.6-0.8'.  You can jump off of the launching pad, and go straight down the 17' to the bottom.  No real hydraulic at that level, so it is safe.  While kayaking it at normal levels, that hole only got me once, but it spit me out and I rolled up just downstream.

Corkscrew is my nemesis.  The only rapid on Sections 2-4 that I have never ran successfully.  Not even at extremely low levels, when pretty much everything else gets way easier.

At 0.6', you can see precisely what holds and kills people in Left Crack, and you can also figure out how to possibly escape from it.  If you get your ankle or wrist loose from that wedge, you can swim under the big rock between Left and Middle Cracks, and wash out below them.

Not sure I will ever run Section 4 again, at normal levels, anyway.  I'm not into tempting fate anymore.  Plus, holes like to grab and munch on the tail of my Pyranha Ripper.

Sorry for derailing this thread.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 17, 2021)

Archer45ACP10mm said:


> Side note briefly continued:
> 
> I didn't know that, but am glad that I do now.  It seems like I had previously heard that they used dynamite to recover bodies from the hydraulic.  I couldn't understand why that would be the case, but your explanation makes more sense.  Back when my gonads were bigger, I intentionally ran that hole in a kayak.  A buddy was as close to the hole as he could get, with a throw rope, and I knew what the perfect line was, set up, and made it.  It was at an optimum level for doing that, and I went right through it, with no problem.  It is a class 3 rapid, with class 6 consequences.
> 
> ...



The highest I ever ran Woodall was 1.4   Anything higher than that and it was the cheat chute for this ole boy.  I loved Soc-Em-Dog.  Actually got in an LVM video once for hitting it so perfect and landing so flat.  I HATE Corkscrew.  Even walked it occasionally.  Never ran Left Crack low enough to see just always heard the storys.  My boat of choice was a Riot Disco.  Loved that lil guy.  Usually above 2.0, I’d stick to section III but I’ve done some stupid stuff.  I promised God if he’d get me out of the Narrows on the Green, I’d never go back.  I got out and I’ve never been back.  Tallulah is nuts too.  Too old for that stuff now. Was fun though!


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 20, 2021)

The gorge scene was filmed in tallulah. Funny story I heard Bert Reynolds tell. He insisted on doing the scene where he flies out of the canoe over the falls. The director just wanted to throw a dummy over the falls but Bert wouldnt have it. 

He did the stunt, broke several bones and got a major concussion. He woke up in the hospital the next day and the director was sitting bedside. He asked how the scene looked and the director said, “Well it looked like we threw a dummy over a waterfall”. 


My wife’s grandfather lived next door to dickey for a long time. He was supposedly the inspiration for the Drew character.


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## Doboy Dawg (Jun 22, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> I’ve done some stupid stuff.  I promised God if he’d get me out of the Narrows on the Green, I’d never go back.  I got out and I’ve never been back.



Where’s Narrows on the Green?   I pulled a bonehead move on a little class IV, when I had such a blast running it forward, while my spotter-wife watched, I portaged back up it and decided it was so much fun running it forward I’d run it backwards.

After I thought I was going to die in a underwater washing machine, I managed one last double leg kick off a rock and came up about 50 yards downriver.  I managed to swim back to my boat, beach it, then I spotted my paddle and swam over and got it.  Then I beached myself wondering where my spotter was?  I was gassed, I laid there a few minutes catching my breath.

I decided to walk back up to tell my spotter, Run the Left side!, not the Right! When I found her she was literally chasing butterflies.  I asked her, did you see that?  She says no what?

All I could say was, Run the Left ~uhm~ Side!  That should have been enough to stop me, but it didn’t.

There’s just something about seeing the sun at the surface, the bottom, the sun, bottom, sun, bottom, sun, etc.. rinse and repeat.

I’m going to run it one more time and maybe hang up my whitewater paddle.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 23, 2021)

Doboy Dawg said:


> Where’s Narrows on the Green?   I pulled a bonehead move on a little class IV, when I had such a blast running it forward, while my spotter-wife watched, I portaged back up it and decided it was so much fun running it forward I’d run it backwards.
> 
> After I thought I was going to die in a underwater washing machine, I managed one last double leg kick off a rock and came up about 50 yards downriver.  I managed to swim back to my boat, beach it, then I spotted my paddle and swam over and got it.  Then I beached myself wondering where my spotter was?  I was gassed, I laid there a few minutes catching my breath.
> 
> ...



Asheville ish.  It’s nasty.  I did some serious damage to my lower back on Gorilla Falls.  The whole creek is nightmare worthy.  Bride of Frankenstein is rough too.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 23, 2021)

Doboy Dawg said:


> Where’s Narrows on the Green?   I pulled a bonehead move on a little class IV, when I had such a blast running it forward, while my spotter-wife watched, I portaged back up it and decided it was so much fun running it forward I’d run it backwards.
> 
> After I thought I was going to die in a underwater washing machine, I managed one last double leg kick off a rock and came up about 50 yards downriver.  I managed to swim back to my boat, beach it, then I spotted my paddle and swam over and got it.  Then I beached myself wondering where my spotter was?  I was gassed, I laid there a few minutes catching my breath.
> 
> ...



Bull Sluice?


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## Doboy Dawg (Jun 23, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> Bull Sluice?



Amicalola River


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## Para Bellum (Jun 23, 2021)

Doboy Dawg said:


> Amicalola River



Ahh.  Edge of the World.  Only ran Amicalola once and it was pretty low.


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## Doboy Dawg (Jun 23, 2021)

I


Para Bellum said:


> Ahh.  Edge of the World.  Only ran Amicalola once and it was pretty low.



I quit the whitewater kayaking.  I still enjoy rafting and ducks on Nantahala.  I swam some in the Nantahala too, almost  broke my leg there, left a blood trail from the River.

Might try Chattooga again this year.


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## Wifeshusband (Jun 23, 2021)

It was a real let down for me to find out, about 15 years ago, that the little boy on the front porch playing the banjo was not actually the one playing the banjo; they had a real banjo player behind him who inserted his picking hand around the boy and played dueling banjo with the guitar player.  They sure fooled me!
As for Dickey, the guy should have won some kind of award for the way he chewed gum.  I can't tell you how many southern sheriffs I've seen who chew gum and talk the way he did in that movie.


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## Archer45ACP10mm (Jun 25, 2021)

Para Bellum said:


> Ahh.  Edge of the World.  Only ran Amicalola once and it was pretty low.



EOTW used to scare the poop out of me every time I approached that horizon line.  Turns out it is a straightforward and pretty easy rapid to run.  As long as you know the line.  That stretch of the river is a hoot to run, especially with some good flow going.

The Pyranha Ripper I just got has run the Green Narrows before...with the previous owner in it.  No way I would ever attempt that river.  I'm too old, and not pushing my luck anymore, living on credit now, after using about 13 of my 9 lives already.

But I will be on Section 3.5 in August.  Starting at Thrift's Ferry and ending just below Woodall.  Gotta run the Bull, 'cause I still have too much pride to portage it, but at least I will run the easy single drop part.  The double drop has never gotten me, but again, I know my luck is all used up.  That is a bodacious rapid. I will probably run the slot at Screaming Left Turn, and catch a few enders and stern squirts at Surfing Rapid.  That one is real fun to swim, too.

I did Talking Rock Creek a few days ago.  Incredible scenery, enough whitewater to keep things interesting, and a very long day.  3rd time running that creek this year.  Hard to catch it with good water in it.

Bunch of leftists in my paddling club.  I don't tell many of them that I always have a gun either on my hip or within reach while on a river (or the drive there, or anywhere and always - hehehe).


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## Archer45ACP10mm (Jun 25, 2021)

Wifeshusband said:


> It was a real let down for me to find out, about 15 years ago, that the little boy on the front porch playing the banjo was not actually the one playing the banjo; they had a real banjo player behind him who inserted his picking hand around the boy and played dueling banjo with the guitar player.  They sure fooled me!
> As for Dickey, the guy should have won some kind of award for the way he chewed gum.  I can't tell you how many southern sheriffs I've seen who chew gum and talk the way he did in that movie.



I saw somewhere that Banjo Boy was paid like $500 for his role in the movie, and ended up being a Walmart employee.  Pretty sad.   I had also heard that he used to be a raft guide on some river (maybe the Nantahala?).


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## Para Bellum (Jun 25, 2021)

Archer45ACP10mm said:


> EOTW used to scare the poop out of me every time I approached that horizon line.  Turns out it is a straightforward and pretty easy rapid to run.  As long as you know the line.  That stretch of the river is a hoot to run, especially with some good flow going.
> 
> The Pyranha Ripper I just got has run the Green Narrows before...with the previous owner in it.  No way I would ever attempt that river.  I'm too old, and not pushing my luck anymore, living on credit now, after using about 13 of my 9 lives already.
> 
> ...



No shame in the boof rock left of Bull Sluice.  Over 2 ft, that was always my play.  Screaming Left was always one of my favs.  You can catch 4 or 5 micro eddies in that rapid if you pick it apart.  Fun stuff.


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## TL60 (Jun 26, 2021)

Worked with a guy once who was fresh down from New Jersey, overly cocky character. Asked me once in front of a bunch of others if I had any family in that movie. I gave him the thousand yard stare and never cracked a smile... I said the bigger question was did he learn the correct way to "squeal like a pig" in NJ or was he still practicing? 

He didn't see the humor in everyone laughing at him ....


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## flatfoot (Jun 29, 2021)

What was the Docs name at the end of the movie? I have been told it was Doc Fowler who had real practice going in Clayton.


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## Danuwoa (Jul 5, 2021)

flatfoot said:


> What was the Docs name at the end of the movie? I have been told it was Doc Fowler who had real practice going in Clayton.


Yeah it was him.

The banjo player’s name is Billy Redden.  He worked at the Wal Mart in Clayton until not long ago.  I was trout fishing on the Chatooga a few years ago.  I wanted to stop off on the way home and see if he was working and maybe meet him.  But my buddy was in a hurry to get home.  He and Herbert Coward “You shore have got a purty mouth.” are still living.  Bill McKinney died not too long ago.


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