Offer of the Day (10/24/2007):

Deliverance (1972) DVD

(27 votes, average: 4.22 out of 5) votes, average:out of 5)

If you havenâ€™t watched the movie Deliverance go out and buy, rent, or download it today!! We highly recommend you do so. Our favorite character in Deliverance was a boy named â€œLonnyâ€.

The Lonny character, played by actor Billy Redden, sometimes gets lost in the mix when there is a discussion about Deliverance; with actors like Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds, it’s understandable.

We are taking a stand and making sure that Lonny gets his recognition too, because Lonny is special (a very “special” boy indeed). And for God sakes, the boy can play a mean banjo!

If you foolishly decide not to watch Deliverance, which has an all-star cast by the way, then feel free to read what we have found on the internet below. The following is just a TASTE of what youâ€™re missing.

These excerpts about Deliverance actually talk about Billy Redden:

Excerpt #1 : “The face that you don’t forget when you see Deliverance belonged to a backward boy of fifteen named Billy Redden, who had the role of a retarded banjo player. His thin-lidded eyes and simple grin are haunting on film, and they were just as disturbing to see on the set. Billy seemed so lost. He went around bumming cigarettes, proud of himself for smoking in public, more interested in his Marlboros than almost anything else that was going on. And he did try to do as he was told, but some things were beyond him.” - by Christopher Dickey



Excerpt #2 : “The movie opens with a sequence at a backwoods gas station, where Drew on the guitar and this boy with his banjo start out just sort of picking a few notes, then take off into a burst of bluegrass virtuosity: “Dueling Banjos.” Nobody ever expected that Billy could play that piece, or any piece. The music was all going to be dubbed. But Billy couldn’t even fake it. He could make his right hand strum more or less convincingly, but he couldn’t imitate the fretwork with his left hand at all. In the end the scene was set up with Billy sitting on a kind of swinging bench, and another little boy hidden beneath it, whose left hand up Billy’s sleeve was faking the fingerwork for the camera.” - by Christopher Dickey

Excerpt #3 : I have also seen this description of him on the Internet; â€œson of a mountain manâ€.

The following is further reading I found on The Internet Movie Database (IMDb):

He also worked for a time giving Deliverance tours along the river where the movie was shot. Over 30 people have died on the river since the film was made. Redden said that he found it too risky and quit.

At the age of 16, this boy from Rabun County, Georgia, was the only “authentic” local to play the role of The Banjo Boy in John Boorman’s disturbing hit movie Deliverance (1972). He was hand-picked from his local elementary school, largely due to his “look” (his large head, skinny body, odd-shaped eyes and moronic grin had sadly branded him a poster-child for inbreeding and mental deficiency).

He was discovered by director Tim Burton in 2003 working as a dishwasher-busboy at the Cookie Jar Cafe in Clayton, Georgia. Burton wanted him for a cameo (as the “banjo boy“) in his movie Big Fish (2003).

Quote about Billy Redden : “He was a real nice guy, a lot nicer than Burt Reynolds.” - Tim Burton

Where is Billy Redden Now?

As of November 2003 - Cook and dishwasher at the Cookie Jar Cafe in Clayton, Georgia.

Do you have anything interesting to add about Billy Redden or Deliverance? Please Submit in the Comment Section Below :