This was written and recorded in 1955 as "Feuding Banjos" by Country star Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. When the song became a hit, he had to file a lawsuit to get credit for writing it.

A group called The Dillards popularized this in the mid '60s on the folk circuit. It was their version that author James Dickey heard and thought would fit nicely in the film version of his novel Deliverance.

This plays a prominent role in the movie Deliverance. The version used in the film was written and recorded by Weissberg and Mandell. It was used in the pivotal square-off scene between the guitar-playing city boy and the banjo-playing country boy.

The first appearance of this tune was in the movie Deliverance. Apart from this tune that was one hell of an intense movie. If you have never seen it, rent it. You will thank me for the tip.

Anyway back to the music.
The Original from the 1972 Movie Deliverance. Billy Redden was the banjo kid aged 16 at the time, and Ronny Cox on guitar. Although it's doubtful either of them were playing their instruments.

Largely as a result of its use in the movie, this in often associated with country bumpkins. The first few notes are often used to imply a hillbilly mentality.

This was used in a TV commercial for Toyota.

For the definitive & vastly superior version with exceptionally talented musicians, listen to the original "Fueding Banjo's" by Arthur 'Guitar Boogie' Smith & the great Bluegrass picker Don Reno.

I've never heard of anyone commenting on this but for what its worth, in the soundtrack of Dueling Banjos used for Delivernce, Weissberg is using the classic Scruggs 3-finger banjo picking style, however, if you look at the kid's hands, he's trying to play the banjo clawhammer style. Given the rural setting, and perhaps the somewhat out of the mainstream location, my guess is that if that was real, it would been played the older more traditional clawhammer banjo style. Anyway, that was a movie blooper that escaped the director's notice. And believe me the two styles sound quite different.