Though best, if most uncomfortably, remembered for townie Ned Beatty's shocking encounter with the hillbillies in the Appalachian mountains, this provocative adult thriller from director John Boorman is about more than shock tactics. Adapted from James Dickey's novel, it charts the gradual erosion of "civilisation" by the elements, as four men on a back-to-nature canoe holiday, led by the macho Burt Reynolds, meet with disaster and destiny. It works as a piece of straightforward suspense cinema, with an uneasy atmosphere conjured from the start by the iconic "duelling banjos" scene (where Ronny Cox duets with a local musician). But it also resonates as a metaphor about masculinity under threat - and a warning not to go into the woods.

Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.