Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6590 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-07
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
According to critic Pauline Kael Straw Dogs was "the first American film that is a fascist work of art". Sam Peckinpah's only film shot in Britain is adapted from a novel by Gordon M Williams called The Siege of Trencher's Farm which Peckinpah described as a "lousy book with one good action-adventure sequence". The setting is Cornwall, where mild-mannered US academic David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) has bought a house with his young English wife Amy (Susan George) in the village where she grew up. David is mocked by the locals (one of whom is Amy's ex-boyfriend) and treated with growing contempt by his frustrated wife, but when his house comes under violent siege he finds unexpected reserves of resourcefulness and aggression.

The movie, Peckinpah noted, was much influenced by Robert Ardrey's macho-anthropological tract, The Territorial Imperative. Its take on Cornish village life is fairly bizarre--this is a Western in all but name--and many critics balked at the transposition of Peckinpah's trademark blood-and-guts to the supposed peace of the British countryside. A scene where Amy is raped caused particular outrage, not least since it's hinted she consents to it. Not for the first time in Peckinpah's movies there are disquieting elements of misogyny, and it doesn't help that the chemistry between Hoffman and George is non-existent. (Impossible to believe these two would ever have clicked, let alone married.) But taken as a vision of irrational violence irrupting into a civilised way of life Straw Dogs is powerful and unsettling, and the action sequences are executed with all Peckinpah's unfailing flair and venom. Oh, and that title? A quote from Chinese sage Lao-Tze, it seems, "The wise man is ruthless and treats the people as straw dogs." The film was long withheld from home viewing in Britain by nervous censors, but this release presents it complete and uncut. --Philip Kemp

On the DVD: Straw Dogs is as jam-packed a disc as is possible for a film made before the days of obligatory "making of" features. Both the sound and visuals have transferred well, and, like the script, have aged well. There's a bumbling original interview in the style of Harry Enfield's Mr. Cholmondley-Warner, along with stills and original trailers. The new material includes a feature on the history of the film's censorship and commentaries by Peckinpah's biographers musing over interesting fan-facts (though none of the speakers have any first-hand experience of the making of the film). However, Katy Haber's commentary, and interviews with Susan George and Dan Melnick, offer a much more in-depth and intimate portrayal of the man and the making of the film. --Nikki Disney

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Expert commentary with Peckinpah biographers Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons & David Weddle
Commentary with Katy Haber, dialogue director and Peckinpah's assistant
Isolated Oscar-nominated Jerry Fielding score in stereo featuring additonal scores
Interview with Peckinpah's biographer Garner Simmons
Interview with Susan George
Info on deleted scenes (via shooting script & stills)
History of Straw Dogs and the Censor
Behind the B&W scenes/on location stills
Original B&W publicity stills
Original colour publicity stills
Original colour lobby cards
Original 1971 film posters from around the world
Reviews, views & correspondence (including Peckinpah letters and BBFC rejection letters)
1971 Television South West on location documentary
1971 Original US Theatrical Trailer
1971 Original US TV and Radio ad spots

Synopsis
In Sam Peckinpah's brutal thriller, a quiet, peace-loving American (Dustin Hoffman) moves with his British-born wife (Susan George) to an isolated English village where he is constantly harassed by the locals. He is finally pushed into a violent confrontation in order to protect himself and his wife.

Customer Reviews

One of the best British films of the 1970s and one of Peckinpah's best too
Sam Peckinpah made this film, clocking in at a hefty 1 hour 53 minutes, right after "The Wild Bunch" western. It's one of his best, perhaps actually the best, made after failing to get the job of filming "Deliverance". He still wanted to explore the theme of rural violence against city people. The film title came from a quote reading "Heaven and earth are ruthless and treat the myriad of creatures as straw dogs".

The film that immediately sprang to mind for comparative purposes was "The Wicker Man", and certainly not "Deliverance".

This widescreen version of "Straw Dogs" was issued in 2002, the film having then been unavailable for 18 years due to its controversial content, namely the scene in which Susan George is raped by an old friend in the village she has returned to but soon appears to be enjoying what's happening to her, at least until another local takes over. The scene supposedly influenced the way Peter O'Toole treated Barbara Hershey in "The Stunt Man". Prior to this she had been flaunting herself around the village. Next, getting out of her car, she purposely hiked up her mini-skirt to reveal her knickers to the already-ogling workmen, and then complained to her husband that they were "almost licking my body". "Why don't you wear a bra" said her husband, obviously unaware of what she'd just done. Add quite a lot of violence, blood and guts and it's certainly not family viewing, hence the 18 rating.

Susan George is brilliant throughout but though Dustin Hoffman was also lauded for his performance as a method actor, the diminutive one's distinctly wimpy character irritates after a short while.

David Warner is un-credited as he was uninsurable whilst working with a broken foot from an alcohol-related incident, whilst T P McKenna's arm is in a sling as it was genuinely broken in another incident.

An excellent transfer means that the picture quality is very good apart from the odd glitch and colours are superbly bold, as you would expect from a film of this time. It's a pity though that the soundtrack is only in original mono (apart from a brief leap into stereo as a Triumph Stag starts up) and not a 5 or 6.1 surround remix, as is often done these days. The mono sound does let the film down somewhat, as dialogue is hard to catch in places even at relatively high home cinema volumes.

In the copious extras (for a single disc at least), as well as commentary, nice interviews and an on-location documentary, there's also an all-to-rare isolated score option. There's also a nice booklet with lots of interesting information. My GB copy of the film, bought on issue in 2002, seems to have some sort of limited edition numbering on the case front, though this is not referred to as such.

Gut-wrenching Peckinpah classic.
Absolutely notorious, at the time of its release, for its graphic violence. I had to wait a dreadfully long time before getting the opportunity to see this gut-wrenching film. First of all, in Turkish on Turkish television(!), just to see what it was all about. Subsequently, as very late-night viewing on French television (with sub-titles).

Nothing can really prepare the viewer for what is likely to be one of the most uncomfortable film experiences they will ever endure. I'm reminded, somewhat, of the feeling i had at the start of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". One just knows that this is not going to be a very enjoyable experience.

Susan George "acts" the "rape" scene so well, that she's almost certainly shedding real tears. (And how old was she when this film was made?) I'm not as keen on Dustin Hoffman, in his role. He seems a bit miscast. And apparently he was very hard on Sam Peckinpah during shooting, trying to get him replaced.

"Straw Dogs" does, of course, start off quite slowly. There's an interesting depiction of a sort of circa 1970 merry olde Englandesque village in Cornwall, which is populated by some distinctly unsavoury characters. (Peter Vaughan's is particularly unpleasant.) The film slowly builds into an extremely tense psychological drama, and features some absolutely vintage Peckinpah moments. The sequence in the village hall, for example, where Susan George meets the men who had just recently violated her. The climactic siege is, similarly, quite unforgettable.

Careful which version you buy, as a reviewer previously stated. My Dutch/French(?) copy has the running time of 111 minutes, and the second part of the rape scene has, indeed, been edited/censored. Although this scene is dreadfully disturbing, "Straw Dogs" demands to be seen in an entirely uncut version.

Susan George on top form!

Not my favourite Susan George film - not because of her performance, but because this movie has had so much critical acclaim over the years - but for all the wrong reasons; the violence, sex and nudity. I am not prim by any standards, but I think it's quite sad that any film should be so appraised and popular for those reasons. I purchased this simply because I am a huge Susan George fan, and anything she's in is always good. Having said all that, this is not to say that this is not a good film, because it is. There's a good story, and probably many lessons to be learned from it. It doesn't help that I'm not really a Dustin Hoffman fan either, and so from this perspective, it has a few issues going against it for me. Susan George as always gives a top performance, and there are many other familiar faces in it. A young Sally Thomsett ('Man About The House') has one of her best roles.