Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Spoiler-free premise
Four city friends canoe a remote Georgia river before the valley is flooded by a dam.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Atlanta friends Lewis, Ed, Bobby, and Drew canoe the Cahulawassee River before a new dam floods the valley. Their wilderness challenge becomes a survival crisis after an encounter with local men far from roads or immediate help.
Why it belongs
Through river geography, physical risk, spare sound, and the men's collapsing confidence, Boorman defines outdoor adventure as primal conscience-bound ordeal.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
The dueling-banjo encounter, real rapids, steep banks, forest sound, and increasingly stripped-down equipment make the landscape indifferent rather than picturesque—Reynolds, Voight, Beatty, and Cox embody four unstable ideas of competence.
Major award wins
No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.
Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20
Good for
Film Club
Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.
Institutional reference ranks
Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 250—AFI 100—
Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score
