Straw Dogs....I can never stop talking about this film. I first saw it a couple of years ago and to this day,I've never seen another film more emotionally shocking and breathtaking. Especially during the grand finale, it will grab you and wont let go. Here is a few interesting things about the film as well as it's plot. And just to let everyone know,to make it easier for me, I copied and pasted this portion from wikipedia. I figured it could explain it much better than I could.
Straw Dogs is a 1971 American film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. A dark, domestic psychological thriller, the screenplay by Peckinpah and David Zelag Goodman is based on the novel, The Siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon Williams.[1] The film's title derives from a discussion in the Tao Te Ching which likens the human condition to that of an ancient Chinese ceremonial straw dog.
Controversial to this day, the film is noted for its violent concluding sequences and a complicated rape scene that critics point to as an example of Peckinpah's (and Hollywood's) debasement of women.[2] Released theatrically the same year as A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, and Dirty Harry, the film sparked heated controversy over the perceived escalation of violence in cinema.[3][4] Nevertheless, it is considered one of Peckinpah's greatest films.[5] The film premiered in US cinemas on December 29, 1971.
Spoiler Alert-this portion which describes the plot gives alot of information about the movie.It's a pretty simple story though so I dont believe it will ruin much. But if you'd rather not read this,then go ahead and watch the film!!
Plot
David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), a timid American mathematician, leaves the chaos of college anti-war protests to live with his young wife Amy (Susan George) in her native village in Cornwall in the south-west corner of Great Britain. Almost immediately, there is tension between the couple as David becomes immersed in his academic work while ignoring Amy. Craving attention, Amy begins to flirt with several of the town locals (Jim Norton, Ken Hutchison, Donald Webster) doing repair work on the couple's isolated farmhouse. One of these locals is Amy's former lover Charlie Venner (Del Henney).
Amy's flirtations and David's intellectual reserve create resentment and the workmen begin to taunt and harass them. David discovers their pet cat strangled and hanging by a light chain in their bedroom closet. Amy claims the workmen did it to prove they could get into their bedroom and to intimidate David. She presses him to confront the villagers, but he refuses. David tries to win their friendship, and they invite him to go hunting in the woods the next day. During the hunting trip, the workmen take him to a remote forest meadow and leave him there with the promise they will drive the birds towards him. Having ditched David, Charlie Venner returns to the couple's farmhouse where he confronts Amy. He rapes her in a controversial scene where Amy begins to enjoy the rape due to feelings she still has for Charlie. After they're finished, a second villager, one of the workmen who had left David in the field, arrives, forces Venner by shotgun to hold Amy down, and rapes her.
After several hours, David realizes he's been tricked and returns home to find a disheveled and withdrawn Amy. She does not tell him about the rapes. Later that week, they attend a church social where Amy becomes distraught after seeing the men who raped her. David and Amy leave the social early and while driving home through thick fog they accidentally hit the village idiot Henry Niles (David Warner). They take the injured Niles to their home and David phones the local pub about the accident. Unbeknownst to him, earlier that evening Niles accidentally strangled a young girl from the village, and now her father and the workmen are looking for Niles.
The phone call alerts them to Niles's whereabouts. Soon the drunken locals, including the men who raped Amy, are pounding on the door of the Sumners' home. After a few minutes of their breaking the windows and hammering on the door, the local magistrate arrives and after attempting to defuse the situation, is shot dead by the young girl's father by accident. It's decided at that point that the father and the workmen agree that they cannot go back on what they've done, but only continue. At this point, David realizes that they will not allow anyone in the house to live and begins preparing to defend his home. First he heats two saucepans of cooking oil. Then, when one of the men attempts to unlock the window, he ties his hands together at knife point. As more men appear at another window, he burns them with the boiling oil, temporarily incapacitating them. Then he lays down a large mantrap in his living room and sends Amy upstairs to hide.
When two more men enter and attempt to shoot him, he knocks the shotgun out of one of their hands, causing it to fire and mangle the man's foot. He then engages in a fight with the other man, beating him to death with a fire poker. Finally, Charlie appears and holds David at gunpoint, but before he can shoot him, the two hear Amy screaming. As they both run upstairs, the fifth man, one of the men who had raped Amy before, is there. He tells Charlie to take David downstairs and kill him so they can rape Amy again. Instead, Charlie shoots him and David begins to fight Charlie. As they reach the living room, David, despite Amy's pleas not to, kills Charlie by springing the mantrap over his head, crushing his neck. As David looks at the carnage around him, he murmurs "Jesus, I got 'em all." He is then attacked by another villager, who is shot by Amy. At the end of the film, David is driving Niles to town, when the latter turns and says: "I don't know my way home." David solemnly replies: "That's okay, I don't either."
David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), a timid American mathematician, leaves the chaos of college anti-war protests to live with his young wife Amy (Susan George) in her native village in Cornwall in the south-west corner of Great Britain. Almost immediately, there is tension between the couple as David becomes immersed in his academic work while ignoring Amy. Craving attention, Amy begins to flirt with several of the town locals (Jim Norton, Ken Hutchison, Donald Webster) doing repair work on the couple's isolated farmhouse. One of these locals is Amy's former lover Charlie Venner (Del Henney).
Amy's flirtations and David's intellectual reserve create resentment and the workmen begin to taunt and harass them. David discovers their pet cat strangled and hanging by a light chain in their bedroom closet. Amy claims the workmen did it to prove they could get into their bedroom and to intimidate David. She presses him to confront the villagers, but he refuses. David tries to win their friendship, and they invite him to go hunting in the woods the next day. During the hunting trip, the workmen take him to a remote forest meadow and leave him there with the promise they will drive the birds towards him. Having ditched David, Charlie Venner returns to the couple's farmhouse where he confronts Amy. He rapes her in a controversial scene where Amy begins to enjoy the rape due to feelings she still has for Charlie. After they're finished, a second villager, one of the workmen who had left David in the field, arrives, forces Venner by shotgun to hold Amy down, and rapes her.
After several hours, David realizes he's been tricked and returns home to find a disheveled and withdrawn Amy. She does not tell him about the rapes. Later that week, they attend a church social where Amy becomes distraught after seeing the men who raped her. David and Amy leave the social early and while driving home through thick fog they accidentally hit the village idiot Henry Niles (David Warner). They take the injured Niles to their home and David phones the local pub about the accident. Unbeknownst to him, earlier that evening Niles accidentally strangled a young girl from the village, and now her father and the workmen are looking for Niles.
The phone call alerts them to Niles's whereabouts. Soon the drunken locals, including the men who raped Amy, are pounding on the door of the Sumners' home. After a few minutes of their breaking the windows and hammering on the door, the local magistrate arrives and after attempting to defuse the situation, is shot dead by the young girl's father by accident. It's decided at that point that the father and the workmen agree that they cannot go back on what they've done, but only continue. At this point, David realizes that they will not allow anyone in the house to live and begins preparing to defend his home. First he heats two saucepans of cooking oil. Then, when one of the men attempts to unlock the window, he ties his hands together at knife point. As more men appear at another window, he burns them with the boiling oil, temporarily incapacitating them. Then he lays down a large mantrap in his living room and sends Amy upstairs to hide.
When two more men enter and attempt to shoot him, he knocks the shotgun out of one of their hands, causing it to fire and mangle the man's foot. He then engages in a fight with the other man, beating him to death with a fire poker. Finally, Charlie appears and holds David at gunpoint, but before he can shoot him, the two hear Amy screaming. As they both run upstairs, the fifth man, one of the men who had raped Amy before, is there. He tells Charlie to take David downstairs and kill him so they can rape Amy again. Instead, Charlie shoots him and David begins to fight Charlie. As they reach the living room, David, despite Amy's pleas not to, kills Charlie by springing the mantrap over his head, crushing his neck. As David looks at the carnage around him, he murmurs "Jesus, I got 'em all." He is then attacked by another villager, who is shot by Amy. At the end of the film, David is driving Niles to town, when the latter turns and says: "I don't know my way home." David solemnly replies: "That's okay, I don't either."
Like I said, some big spoilers in there,but you should still DEFINITELY see the film.One thing I love about the film is how morally conflicting it is. In one scene,Susan George is raped by her ex-lover. At first she strongly resists and it is clearly rape,but as they get into it,you start to see she is slowly starting to enjoy it. It's these types of mind games that Peckinpah brings to you that makes him such an amazing director.And man,do I LOVE Dustin Hoffman. And this is easily my favorite film of his. I love his character. Near the end, he is so determined to defend his own house at all costs,only to protect a crazy man who just strangled a little girl.Many people think he is exacting revenge on the angry locals because of his wife being raped,but if you pay attention,he never finds out about it.It makes you wonder what you would do if you were in his shoes. He has the situation where 5 angry,drunk men are outside desperately trying to break in to his house so they can get the village idiot,Henry Niles,so they can find out what he's done to one of their daughters. He could so easily end it all by simply giving them Henry Niles,who probably deserves the punishment since he killed the girl,but then again,he isnt right in the head so its not entirely his fault. But due to his morals, he is hell bent on the idea of protecting his home and wait until police show up to pick up Henry Niles. And it all ends in one of the most violent,amazingly visual showdowns I've ever seen.My favorite kill would have to be the bear trap over the head. OUCH!!
So far,this is the only film I've seen with Susan George,and she is SPECTACTULAR in it.So I'm looking forward to seeing what else she has done.And its not just her,but the entire cast that give such an amazing performance.One reason I'm doing a review on this film instead of my number one favorite,Pulp Fiction,is simply because mostly everybody already knows about Pulp Fiction.While this film isnt very well known,which is a true crime because its one of the best I have ever seen.Sam Peckinpah is such an incredible director and to be doing this kind of work in the 70's,he was truly ahead of his time. It's such a timeless film of which the material will never grow less shocking or emotional. So please,take the advice of a big movie lover,and do whatever you can to see this film. Rent it.Buy it. Borrow it from me, I dont care,just watch Straw Dogs. You owe yourself the true enjoyment this film will bring.
Well,I guess that's all I have to say about Straw Dogs. I hope you all enjoyed the read. If you did, I have about 30-40 blogs on my myspace(Myspace.com/hurricanedave87) filled with all sorts of crazy material,so check those out and drop me a line on either my myspace page or here on blogspot.. Thank you everybody!!Check back often for new blogs,videos and what have you. Oh,by the way.......watch Straw Dogs.
David
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