Hello guys is there a reason that they used Bear Bows in the moive Deliverance ?. Also what make and what modle was it. and what arrows did they used any Info would be great.
Cody

If I remember right,Burt Reynolds had an "A" handle Victor takedown(green) and John Voight had a Kodiak Hunter.

Because Bear provided the equipment and technical advisor...Hugh Blackburn.  

I was attending the University of Georgia when the movie was being filmed and managed the sporting goods department in the old Gibson Store in Athens.  Hugh was a jobber and Bear Rep. who visited on a regular basis.  I wished I'd have recorded all that he told me during those days, but I didn't and now only remember pieces of our conversations.

The filming crew was housed in Clayton, Ga. and I can remember seeing their trucks and such parked there on the weekends when I drove by going trout fishing in the Warwoman WMA.

Cody- In the mid 80's I lived in Columbia,S.C and James Dickey, the author of Deliverance was a client of mine and I spent some time with him discussing the book and movie There are too many interesting little stories to tell here but as to why Bear equipment was used I can tell you. Dickey was a bowhunter- loved to hunt hogs- and used Bear equipment himself and had met Fred previously.Bear was by far the biggest name in archery at the time and as Cliff said, they could devote more manpower and energy toward providing tech support and the equipment also served as a sort of advertisement. Kind of a "win-win" situation. Dickey told me that Reynolds was hopeless as an archer (didn't like him much) but that Voight was a great guy and a quick study. Jim said he actually had to shoot the fish for Reynolds. That may or may not be true.Owen Jeffery lived in Columbia-still does- and he and I were good friends. He despised Dickey and had nothing good to say about the man, the movie, or Bear's involvement in it.He was Bear's master bowyer and Vice-President at the time. Jim- if you get a chance to review the movie you will notice that Reynold is shooting a very long TD-pretty sure its a "C" riser but Owen said he also made a wood handled "B" riser for him as well. If you want to know more about the making of the film, read Chris Dickey's book, "The Summer of Deliverance"- he was James Dickey's son. Its a pretty dark chronicle.   Grant

Grant,I stand corrected.Thanks.I was going strictly on memory and thought it was the same length as my A Mag.Lots of interesting information there.Thanks guys.

They didn't show the takedown very much.  That wqas an A mag huh? I saw the kodiak hunter a little more.

Hello,
I'm OK with Grant, that was a "C" handle for Mr REYNOLDS (with chromed latches) and a Kodiak Hunter for Mr VOIGHT.
I think, I saw this movie may'be hundred times.
Rich

Hi Rich,
Was that a 60" Kodiak Hunter???  Any guess about what year the Kodiak was?
Mark

Hi Mark,
I think that was a 1970 or 1971 Green 60" Kodiak Hunter with the Chromed stabilizer.
Rich

I just put my B and C riser in front of me to compare ... what Reynold is shooting here looks pretty much like a Mag B riser to me.

I think in this pic one can almost make out the little bears on the latches and also the silkscreen of the upper limb appears already on the belly side.

sic!



 

Hello Falk, Thanks for the pics....


Cody

Hey Falk- I think you're right. It seemed longer in my memory but it has been a long time since I saw the film last. It may have seen longer to me because of Reynold's height or maybe I was just confused,lol. At any rate I should have known- I've been shooting B risers for a long, long time. Thanks for pointing that out.      Grant

OK, so who got the shaft the worse...the two hillbillies, or Ned Beatty?

There is one part of the moive where the arrow gose in John's leg is this ture it's been some time since I last seen the moive....

I believe after John Voight's character shoots the guy on top of the cliff(as pictured) he falls back and impales himself through his side with the arrow left in his kwikee quiver.   The Burt Reynolds character breaks his break prior to this after his canoe capsizes going through the rapids.  Pretty bad break-the bone sticks out through his leg.

Hello Jeff I think u got it right Thnaks,

Cody

John needs to get his elbow up a little.  Wonder if he has corrected that?  

Trap

I wounder how many bows they had with them... when makin the moive...