Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1972: Ned Beatty in Deliverance

Ned Beatty did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Bobby Trippe in Deliverance.

Ned Beatty plays one of the men going on a river rafting trip in the deep south and like the entirety of the cast Beatty non-verbally establishes how his own character, Bobby, views the locals they must interact with in order to get to the river. Beatty plays Bobby as obviously having some clear disdain for them although does not bother to make it quite as obvious as Burt Reynolds's Lewis, though he he clearly expresses a particularly clear discomfort with dealing with the locals. When the trip starts it becomes rather obvious that Bobby is not suited for the outdoor adventure they are on. Beatty's very good in these scenes in a rather understated way. It is obvious that Bobby is suppose to be the one out his element to the point of derision from Lewis. Beatty does well though because although he properly matches the incompetence needed for the character but he doesn't go too far with in making Bobby seem like a caricature. He importantly stays believable and makes Bobby's inadequacies realistic. 

The trip eventually leads to the infamous scene where Bobby and Ed (Jon Voight) are accosted by some armed locals. Beatty is terrific in this scene where he must fulfill a particularly unglamorous role. Beatty is quite good as he begins still with the same slight unease and disdain at the behavior of locals as they at first just seem to be hassling the two men in just sort of general fashion. Quickly enough though when the men do pull the guns on them Beatty is great as he expresses almost a complete confusion at their request for him to strip as though he barely able to process what exactly is going on. When the man actually goes to rape Bobby Beatty creates the horror of the scene through by so effectively realizing that horrible moment where Bobby understands what the man intends to do to him. Beatty does well by capturing the brutality of the scene as Bobby is raped by one of the hillbillies. Before anything worse happens though they are saved by Lewis who kills on the hillbillies leaving the four men to decide what it is that they should do.

Bobby's choice of covering up the death of the hillbilly is made particularly understandable by Beatty's performance as he shows Booby almost running the whole situation in his mind and portrays the intense fear at thinking his rape will come to light in public. Beatty conveys the trauma in a different way that might be expected, but still in a way that feels honest. Instead of portraying a constant overt distress Beatty plays Bobby's manner as man trying his best to forget what happened to him. Beatty still shows that Bobby is irrevocably scared by his experience though he internalizes into him as for the rest of the film Bobby clearly no longer takes anything without some concern. There is a general cautiousness Beatty plays and has a whole unease towards the world that he did not before. When they do go back with the locals Beatty's performance works especially well as he portrays quite a different reaction in Bobby as he deals with the locals now. There's no disdain towards them just a constant friendliness about his interactions, although still with that strong undercurrent fear as Bobby obviously wants to give no form of offense to them for his own sake. This is a very good work from Ned Beatty as he, like his other three co-stars, successfully keeps an honest humanity in the story that in the wrong hands could have just seemed like absurdest exploitation.