(reposted from the Ogden Museum's VERSO blog...)On Saturday, September 26, 2009, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will present "Delivering
Deliverance with
Clint Maedgen and Helen Gillet." As part of our ongoing series,
The Art of Southern Film: Established Masters & Emerging Makers produced by
Madeleine Molyneaux, the Ogden has commissioned a new original score composed and to be performed live by Maedgen and Gillet.
The 1972 film, produced and directed by John Boorman, is based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Georgia-born poet and novelist,
James Dickey, who performed the role of the sheriff. The film is set on the Cahulawassee River, in a valley soon to be destroyed by a dam built to supply Atlanta with water. The allegorical theme of man against nature is set up when the character of Lewis (played by Burt Reynolds) lectures his friends on why they should brave the river:
"...because they're buildin' a dam across the Cahulawassee River. They're gonna flood a whole valley, Bobby, that's why. Dammit, they're drownin' the river...Just about the last wild, untamed, unpolluted, unf--ked up river in the South."
The themes of man vs. nature, city vs. country, and man vs. adversity all find their focus with the River. It becomes both setting and player. Through my conversations with Maedgen and Gillet, it is clear that the River will play a major role in their composition and performance, as well, perhaps leaving the audience with a musical memory of iconic film beyond the enduring Dueling Banjos scene.
Doors open at 7:30. The film screens at 8. A whiskey reception will follow.The New Orleans Bingo Show on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace
