Dueling Banjos was made famous by the 1972 film "Deliverance," which also led to a successful lawsuit by the song's composer, as it was used in the film without Smith's permission. The film version was arranged and recorded by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell, but only credited to Weissberg on a single subsequently issued in December 1972. It went to #2 for four weeks on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1973, all four weeks behind Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song," and topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks the same year. It reached #1 for one week on
The Getaway (1972 film) producer David Foster, was originally hired as the director of "The Getaway". Thompson came on board to write the screenplay, but creative differences ensued between him and McQueen and he was subsequently fired along with Bogdanovich. Writing and directing duties eventually went to Hill and Peckinpah, respectively. Principal photography commenced on February 7, 1972, on location in Texas. The film reunited McQueen and Peckinpah, both of whom had previously worked together on the relatively unprofitable "Junior Bonner" which was released the same year. "The Getaway" opened on December 13, 1972 to generally negative reviews. Even so, numerous retrospective critics gave