Duelling Banjos Gif (2024)

FAQs

What happened to the kid that played Dueling Banjos in Deliverance? ›

Since playing the role, Redden has made a few cameos in movies but for the most part, has been working menial jobs to make ends meet. “He had been working the last several years at the local Walmart,” Frantzich said. “Billy isn't complaining, but some believe there might have been some exploitation of this boy.”

In Deliverance (1972), during the “dueling banjos” scene, Billy Redden, who played the young banjo-playing local, didn't know how to play banjo. To make it look authentic, a skilled banjo player hid behind & played the chords with his left arm in Redden's sleeve while Redden picked with his right.

The banjo boy scene in Deliverance establishes the narrative's resonating themes of ability, adaptability, and manhood. The hyperwhite banjo player functions as a kind of future primitive, whose savant skill on an ancient instrument signals danger.

"Dueling Banjos" is a bluegrass composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1954 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos"; it contained riffs from Smith, recorded in 1955 playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by five-string bluegrass banjo player Don Reno.

Billy Redden (born 1956) is an American actor, best known for his role as a backwoods mountain boy in the 1972 film Deliverance. He played Lonnie, a banjo-playing teenager in north Georgia, who played the noted "Dueling Banjos" with Drew Ballinger (Ronny Cox).

Jack Nicholson was considered for the role of Ed, while both Donald Sutherland and Charlton Heston turned down the role of Lewis. Other actors who were considered for the film included Robert Redford, Henry Fonda, George C. Scott and Warren Beatty.

In the director's commentary, it is revealed that Drew refused to continue anymore, which is the reason why he shakes his head and falls out of the canoe, he refusing to go on after witnessing and being a part of what has just happened.

The deliverance seems to be failing with a possessed Andre throwing around the reverend, fatally wounding her. Before she dies, James attributes her failure to her fear, giving Ebony the holy water and telling her not to doubt herself. She says the only way to successfully cast out the demon is by having “no fear.”

Ed manages to kill the hillbilly, whose dead body is tied down with weights and tossed into the river by Ed, Lewis, and Bobby to ensure it will never be found. Lewis is convinced that Drew died from a gunshot fired by the hillbilly.

Some facts about the scene are that Redden did not know how to play the banjo, so another teenager was his hand double in the song "Dueling Banjos" while in the soundtrack, Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell were the musicians performing the song.

Was Dueling Banjos improvised? ›

The “Dueling Banjos and Guitar” scene in the 1972 Deliverance was unscripted and spontaneous. Even though The kid Billy Redden didn't know how to play the banjo, and played by another boy.

Duelling Banjos was initially composed by Arthur Smith (Sometimes called Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith) in 1954 and was first called 'Feudin' Banjos'! It contained all sorts of entertaining riffs from another classic song, 'Yankee Doodle.

Some facts about the scene are that Redden did not know how to play the banjo, so another teenager was his hand double in the song "Dueling Banjos" while in the soundtrack, Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell were the musicians performing the song.

Billy Redden, who played the teen character in the “Dueling Banjos” scene, is now retired in Rabun Gap with mounting medical bills.

The actor was killed in a motor vehicle accident in North Carolina, the authorities said. Herbert Coward, the actor whose modest career included the small but memorable role of Toothless Man in the 1972 thriller “Deliverance,” was killed on Thursday in a motor vehicle accident in North Carolina. He was 85.

Ed returns home to his wife and son. In the final scene, Ed awakens from a nightmare of a hand rising from the lake. His wife shushes him, calms him down, and tells him to go back to sleep.