Straw Dogs

Year:	1971
Country:	International
Language:	English
Genre:	Drama, Thriller
IMDB:	IMDB Page
Rating:	8.5 Rate
Collection:	Seen It Wishlist
Community:	22 Have Seen


Director	Sam Peckinpah
Selected Cast	Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner
	Susan George as Amy
	Del Henney as Charlie Venner
	David Warner as Henry Niles [uncredited]
Producer	Daniel Melnick
Writer	Gordon M. Williams
Soundtrack	Jerry Fielding

On DVD & Blu-ray World

DVD

Straw Dogs - The Criterion Collection - USA (2003)

VHS

Straw Dogs - Fox - USA (1992)

DVD

Straw Dogs - MGM - USA (2004)

DVD

Straw Dogs - Dutch Filmworks - Netherlands

Images

Comments and Reviews


Magic Marmalade 14th Jun 2022		Rated 8/10 Finally got to cross this off my "to see" list, when I found the DVD in the charity shop. A little underwhelmed at first, thinking this was going to be another Wicker Man style affair... ...But what becomes apparent as it goes along, is that in all likelihood, Wicker Man was inspired by this instead! In fact, this is one of those, where you can feel it's seismic influence on movies for decades after, and many movies find both style, subject matter, characterisations and ideas rooted in this movie. Deliverance, Wicker Man, and even Die Hard you feel, could not have happened without this movie... It opened a few doors, and is dripping with stuff you'll recognise from later movies. Biggie has given a good sense of it in comments, but just the idea that Dustin Hoffman's meek, nerdy Mathematician everyman, has to battle the locals over what is a point of moral principle is, I think, the essence of the movie... The "Straw Dogs" of the title, of course led me to seek the meaning online, which apparently is a practice in some parts of the world of making little straw idols of the Gods, for the use of just one day, before being readily discarded as worthless, once the purpose is served. While this could reference the characters in the movie themselves, I think these Straw Dogs refer to the "Morality", sense of right and wrong, and what constitute "Justice" in a society, where a great display is made, with great vehemence and zealotry about "what's right" etc., but dig a little deeper, or put those to the test, and you discover they are only modern clothes for a more primitive thirst for vengeance... And once ignited the pretence falls away, and you see the angry villagers with metaphorical "burning torches" for what they really are.... scared cavemen who have convinced themselves they actually believe in something, and that what they do in the pursuit of vengeance actually equates to justice.... ...Until, of course, you come up against a man you really underestimated, who actually does believe in something real, thought out, and on the principle of which he is prepared to stand his ground, come what may, though the abuses come from all sides. It's a disturbing watch in places, not so much because of the violence, as we've all gotten used to this kind of thing now in subsequent years, but the rape scene is odd, unsettling, and grim. But there's no denying this film's importance, and is one I think must be considered an essential watch for movie fans. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?



BiggieTembo 14th May 2015		As a film fan, and coming from the West of England, I couldn't believe it when I found out that one of my favourite directors, Sam Peckenpah, had made a film in Cornwall with a bunch of yokels in it! Of course they were pretty stereotyped yokels, but that didn't make this a bad film. You can argue that generally, in movies, when it concerns characters travelling to remote, out-of-the-way places, there's always a bunch of country-folk waiting to whoop ass. But to be perfectly honest, I come from that kind of environment, and there are some places and people like that. Leaving the pacifism vs. provoked fascism discussion aside, this film does however include some of Peckinpah's graceful ballet-of-action and flashback/forward direction and editing. He was a one-off where this type of visual imagery is concerned. I think that only a handful of directors (Peckenpah, Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg - perhaps Dario Argento, too) mastered this form of cinematic storytelling, playing with time, space, and memory, all in a single moment.

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Tags: Rape and Revenge

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