Straw Dogs

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Straw Dogs
Image:Straw dogs movie poster.jpg poster for the US theatrical release of Straw Dogs
Directed by	Sam Peckinpah
Produced by	Daniel Melnick
Written by	David Zelag Goodman Sam Peckinpah Gordon Williams (novel)
Starring	Dustin Hoffman Susan George
Music by	Jerry Fielding
Cinematography	John Coquillon
Editing by	Paul Davies Tony Lawson Roger Spottiswoode
Distributed by	Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Release date(s)	December 29, 1971
Running time	118 min 113 min (R-rated version)
Country	US
Language	English
IMDb profile

Straw Dogs is a 1971 film directed by Sam Peckinpah. Dustin Hoffman and Susan George play the lead roles. David Warner, although uncredited, is also featured. The screenplay is based on the novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon Williams.

The film was released theatrically in the US the same year as A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, and Dirty Harry, sparking a heated controversy over apparently excessive violence in films.

Contents 1 Title 2 Plot 3 Reception 4 Censorship 5 Remake 6 Trivia 7 Notes 8 External links

Title

The title of the movie is drawn from a common translation of the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese philosophical treatise. Verse V reads:

Heaven and Earth are impartial;

They see the ten thousand things as straw dogs.

The wise are impartial;

They see the people as straw dogs.

Many ceremonies in ancient China, during the time of Lao Zi, incorporated the use of dogs woven out of grass. These effigies were revered and respected during the ritual, but afterward, discarded and burnt.

Plot

The film tells the story of an American mathematician, David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), and his British wife, Amy (Susan George), who move to Amy's home town in Cornwall, United Kingdom to escape crime and violence in the United States.

They face increasing levels of harassment by the local residents who kill the Sumners' cat, intimidate David, and finally, unbeknownst to David, subject Amy to a brutal double rape. When Henry Niles (David Warner), a local man with a mild mental disability (portrayed in the film as a child molester who accidentally murders a teenage girl who made advances toward him), is given sanctuary in the Sumners' house, the locals attempt to break in and subject him to mob justice. Forced into action, the normally cowardly David embarks on a spree of violence in which he savagely murders the local mob. In the final scene, he drives Henry back to the village. Henry turns to David and says, "I don't know the way home." David replies, "That's OK...I don't either."

Reception

Straw Dogs was wildly controversial on its release and has remained so to this day. Most of the controversy revolved around the long and highly explicit rape scene which is the centerpiece of the film. Critics, especially feminist critics, accused Peckinpah of glamorizing rape and engaging in misogynistic sadism. They were particularly disturbed by the seeming ambiguity of the rape scene, in which Amy at certain points appears to be asking for and enjoying the abuse she is subjected to. Peckinpah's defenders claimed that the scene was unambiguously horrifying and that Amy's trauma was truthfully portrayed in the film. Peckinpah's detractors continue to cite this scene as proof of Peckinpah's chauvinism and misogyny.

The violence in the film in general also aroused strong reactions. Many critics saw the film as an endorsement of violence as a redemptive act and the film as a fascistic celebration of violence and vigilantism. Other critics saw the film as an anti-violence story, pointing out the empty bleakness with which the film ends.

Peckinpah himself defended the film as an exploration rather than an endorsement of violence, claiming that he was working out his own obsessions with violence as a result of human interaction and inability to communicate. He also claimed that the character of David was, in fact, the villain of the film, who deliberately, if subconsciously, brings the violence down upon himself. According to Peckinpah, the homicidal rampage at the end of the film is actually an expression of David's true, repressed self.

The film remains very divisive among critics and audiences, though even its detractors have largely come to admit its importance and artistry; the film has come to be seen, for better or worse, as something of a modern classic.

Censorship

The movie gained further notoriety in the UK after it was banned in 1984 by the British Board of Film Classification under the then newly introduced Video Recordings Act due to a scene of sexual violence in which Amy Sumner is raped. A portion of the scene had already been cut by the studio prior to the film's US release in order to obtain an R rating from the MPAA. The film was again refused a license in 1999, after the distributors refused to cut the problematic scene. The film was finally certified uncut for video and DVD release on July 1, 2002. The film was screened on Channel 4 in 2003.

Remake

Production company Screen Gems is doing a remake in 2008, set in the United States, written by Reed Steiner and directed by Rod Lurie.^[1]

Trivia

• David Warner is uncredited because of problems with an injury in a previous film, and insurance matters.
• In the past Hoffman has often said that he only took the part for the money. However, in the 25-minute Making Of on the double DVD he says he took the part because he felt like doing it at the time.
• The film was made on location at St Buryan in Cornwall, and Hoffman and George were regulars at The Ship, a pub in Mousehole.
• To get the right reaction of shock when David enters the public house, Peckinpah had Hoffman enter the pub without pants. It worked.
• When David beats one of his attackers to death with a poker, it was Hoffman's idea to use a watermelon (or possibly coconut). Pieces of the watermelon (or coconut) can be seen flying up into the frame. Peckinpah kept the shot in the film and passed off the debris as flying brain matter.^{[citation needed]}
• In its original release, some American movie theaters would screen the film with short breaks after the violent sequences so the audience could recover (or leave the film altogether).
• Peckinpah liked to push Hoffman's buttons during shooting, and at one point the two reportedly almost came to blows.
• Peckinpah passed the time during breaks by practicing knife throwing. This can be seen on the Making Of film on the double DVD.
• When Peckinpah described his concept of the rape scene to Susan George she walked off the set in disgust and did not return until Peckinpah agreed to tone it down.
• Upon being offered the film, Peckinpah informed producer Daniel Melnick that he was blacklisted because of his notorious reputation. Melnick replied that that was exactly why he wanted him to direct the film.
• The German title of the film is Wer Gewalt sät, which translates into He Who Sows Violence. Obviously, the meaning of that title can more easily be understood than the original one.
• A significant difference between the novel and the movie is that the couple have a daughter in the former who is also trapped in the farmhouse.

Notes

Wikipedia information about Straw Dogs This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Straw Dogs". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.