Dueling Banjos - Use in Deliverance

Use in Deliverance

In Deliverance, a scene depicts Billy Redden playing it opposite Ronny Cox, who joins him on guitar. Redden plays "Lonnie"—a mentally challenged inbred but extremely gifted banjo player. (Redden could not actually play the banjo. A local musician, Mike Addis, disguised using careful camera angles, reached around from behind Redden.) Two young musicians, Ron Brentano and Mike Russo, had originally been signed to play their adaptation for the film, but instead it was performed by the others.

"Dueling Banjos" was arranged and performed for the film by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and was included on its soundtrack. When Smith was not acknowledged as the composer by the filmmakers, he sued and eventually won, receiving songwriting credit as well as royalties.