MovieChat Forums > Deliverance (1972) Discussion > Drew's body

Drew's body

posted 8 years ago by matt21-690-602571
6 replies | jump to latest

I'm not sure I understand why they left Drew? At first, after they found him, you see them with him tied to the side of the canoe. That led me to think they were bringing him with to the end. I guess maybe that wasn't practical- all 4 of them getting down river with just the 1 canoe. Okay.
What I don't get is, why did they want to hide his body. They did have those rocks tied to him, right? Idk why they wouldn't want him found. Was it that he had a gunshot wound? That might make sense.

[–] juror12 8 years ago

It was because of the gunshot wound. Ed(Voight) says to Bobby(Beatty) that there are experts who can figure out stuff because of the gunshot wound. They wouldn't be able to explain how one of them had gotten shot and killed. So they had to hide him in the river.

[–] Neil_Williamson 8 years ago

He wasn't shot though- he pretty much committed suicide by riding into the rapids not wearing a life vest then tumbled over board and drowned.

[–] AprilValen 8 years ago

It is somewhat ambiguous,but if you look carefully at Drew right before he falls into the river, he shakes his head a couple of times as if he was struck by something. It's possible that he was shot, after all, the remaining mountain man was up on the cliff as Lewis said. Because they weren't sure though, they couldn't take the chance.

It ain't the Ganges, but you go with what you got." ~ Ken Talley, "The Fifth of July"

[–] liscarkat (19031) 4 years ago

It is somewhat ambiguous whether or not he got shot, but he did not commit suicide.

[–] sunezno (271) 3 years ago

Okay, that's where I was totally confused, because that's what I thought, too. To me, it looked like Drew was in a state of shock or something, so distraught by the coverup of the justifiable homicide that he essentially just decided to give up and throw himself into the river.
It looked like a clear-cut suicide to me, especially since he just ignored Ed's insistence that he put on his life jacket. He just looked emotionally numb and gone, then just took an out.

So then when they finally get to the rocks and Lewis is adamant that Drew was shot (when I didn't hear or see a gunshot at all), it seemed like Lewis was just trying to say, "This is what happened in case anyone asks." And then it seemed like Bobby was unsure but just went along with that story, too.

So then I was even more confused when Ed was up the hill and there actually was the other bad guy up there with a gun, and he seemed to be looking or them.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that assumed Drew killed himself. That's definitely how it appeared to me.

[–] spiraleyes (18) 4 years ago

The director said in the commentary he purposely made Drew's death ambiguous. Bobby and Ed did not know for sure that there were bullet holes in his head or bruises from rocks. If Drew really was shot and they brought him to Aintry, then they'd have to explain the whole story about killing the mountain men.