Straw Dogs

[davidb]

This film is wicked!

After hearing about it from my father, who said it was so violent, I knew I had to see it. In 2002, Freemantle Entertainment released it into a Special Edition. I got it like that from Blockbuster. I was blown away and the farm siege at the end was demanding a rewatch! I later saw the "Vanilla disc" version with just a trailer and I had to smile that I didn't get that one.

i disagree ,this film like clockwork orange [ also same year ] gained such noteriety due to the fact they were banned or refused a vhs release or whatever .then when the time comes that you get to see these incredibly naughty films ?....... ....theyre not everything theyve been made out to be . theyre not bad films ,its just the hype surrounding them ,which is nothing but hype

[rskershaw]

Cat killer as well.

Simon

I thought the workmen did that. I need to see the film again

[pod1969]

This discussion recalls for me a dispute I had with a guy who chose to post a compendium of clips from classic contemporary gangster flicks (The Godfather, Good Fellas, Casino, etc.) on YouTube. The clips he chose were of various characters being dispatched, violently, to their maker. I asked, "Why not upload a selection of your favourite rape scenes, while you're at it?" He suggested that that would be 'sick'. And there's the rub. How come it's ok to select 'favourite' murders but not 'favourite' rapes? Was he implying that rape is a more heinous crime than murder?



And this is the problem, I think, with much of the tortuous dissection of the infamous rape scene in Straw Dogs. I have a great deal of sympathy with feminist critiques of the film that highlight the way in which the scene is conveniently divided between the 'good rape' and the 'bad rape', and I agree with the more general points about how the complex shades of grey that make up sexuality should allow for Amy's ambivalence towards her former 'protector' to be represented in the way it is. But I'd also add that it is our very fetishisation of sex that turns sex into a weapon for some men intent on putting women 'in their place'. As Germaine Greer has said, why should physical assault with the aid of an erect penis be seen as qualitatively different than any other kind of physical assault? That is to say, the belief that rape is the worst possible thing that can happen to woman is a self-fulfilling prophecy.



Depicting violence is part and parcel of the filmmaker's box of tools and devices. That rape tends to be treated as a discrete and especially dangerous theme or narrative device is rarely looked at in these terms.

[pod1969]

Love Straw Dogs!! I think the music score is also a fantasic part of the film.



Always wanted to read Siege of Trencher's Farm, the book the film was based on.

I've knocked up a wma file of the score (from the isolated track on the dvd), if you're interested.

[716Jones]

Love Straw Dogs!! I think the music score is also a fantasic part of the film.



Always wanted to read Siege of Trencher's Farm, the book the film was based on.

You can pick up copies of the book, take a look on Amazon.co.uk, some second hand copies there.

[Steve Crook]

This discussion recalls for me a dispute I had with a guy who chose to post a compendium of clips from classic contemporary gangster flicks (The Godfather, Good Fellas, Casino, etc.) on YouTube. The clips he chose were of various characters being dispatched, violently, to their maker. I asked, "Why not upload a selection of your favourite rape scenes, while you're at it?" He suggested that that would be 'sick'. And there's the rub. How come it's ok to select 'favourite' murders but not 'favourite' rapes? Was he implying that rape is a more heinous crime than murder?

Just ask the editors. A lot of the best ones are sweet little old ladies.



Thelma Schoonmaker saw all the bits the were cut out from Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed and many more of Scorsese's most violent pictures. But she takes pride in her ability to be able to put the various takes together in a way that makes them appear even more shocking and violent.



And Michael Powell's 1960 shocker Peeping Tom was edited by Noreen Ackland. Another sweet little old lady. If people were shocked by what they saw on screen, think of all the bits that she saw that didn't make it though the final cut.



But they are two lovely ladies



Steve

[pod1969]

Not quite the response I expected, but thanks. I think.

[paulcornelius]

If you want to fully understand STRAW DOGS you must read Robert Ardrey's The Territorial Imperative. Peckinpah was completely under Ardrey's spell at this point, I think.

[ianmcm]

So many memories of my teens in this thread



Straw Dogs

Don't Look Now

A Clockwork Orange

The Wicker Man

The Graduate

Midnight Cowboy

If...

Easy Rider

Death in Venice



It's all coming back... Inevitably, the above are probably nine of my top ten favourite films.

[ianmcm]

So many memories of my teens in this thread

Straw Dogs

Don't Look Now

A Clockwork Orange

The Wicker Man

The Graduate

Midnight Cowboy

If...

Easy Rider

Death in Venice



It's all coming back... Inevitably, the above are probably nine of my top ten favourite films.

And, thinking about it, my tenth is from the same era: The Exorcist...

[mikey4444]

I have a holiday caravan in the village in Cornwall, where this was filmed. St Buryan has never been the same since ! If you go into the Pub in the village, you can see a framed "cast calling rota" from the film ( I am not sure if I am using the correct terminology but experts in this forum can always put me right ) I meet people in the village, even now, who were extras. They all say that it put the area on the map. Anyway, its a very nice place, so why don't you all in next time you are in Penzance ?

[taffy1967]

i disagree ,this film like clockwork orange [ also same year ] gained such noteriety due to the fact they were banned or refused a vhs release or whatever .then when the time comes that you get to see these incredibly naughty films ?....... ....theyre not everything theyve been made out to be . theyre not bad films ,its just the hype surrounding them ,which is nothing but hype

I'm pretty sure I saw this available to hire on commercial VHS (& probably Betamax) at a local video film hire store back in the early 1980's. I assumed it got banned sometime afterwards.

[taffy1967]

I have a holiday caravan in the village in Cornwall, where this was filmed. St Buryan has never been the same since ! If you go into the Pub in the village, you can see a framed "cast calling rota" from the film ( I am not sure if I am using the correct terminology but experts in this forum can always put me right ) I meet people in the village, even now, who were extras. They all say that it put the area on the map. Anyway, its a very nice place, so why don't you all in next time you are in Penzance ?

Such a shame the people of Newcastle and Gateshead don't feel the same way about the 1971 Michael Caine classic 'Get Carter' (which is often referred to as the greatest British film of all time).



Then perhaps they'd have turned that 1960's iconic multi-storey car-park into an exhibit instead of demolishing it.

[taffy1967]

I hired 'Straw Dogs' on DVD when it was first released and I can't say it's a film I'd want to watch again or have in my collection. There's just nothing there that really appealed to me apart from Susan George, but seeing her raped wasn't particularly enjoyable at all (not my bag).







Although I do have a copy of 'A Clockwork Orange' on DVD though, but there's more to that film and I couldn't not buy it now I have 'If' and 'O Lucky Man' (plus Britannia Hospital).

[Mr Chips]

I remember watching it when it first came out at the cinema and back then it was an excellent film, quite violent for its time. A couple years back bought on DVD going quite cheap and after watching it it felt tame and the story was not as good I had remembered it.

[Mandragora]

I must take another look at this... I think I was struck by the uncompromising bleakness and how the character played by Hoffman seemed no better than the violent locals...

[Jack Gurney]

Believe it or not, this is my Dad's favourite film of all time, and he took my Mum to see it at the flicks when it came out...read into that what you will.



Is it a horror movie? Well, that-s a moot point: it often gets listed as one in reference books, largely due to its "home invasion" and "rape revenge" subgenre statii. It definitely shares ground with REVENGE, ASSAULT, SOMETHING TO HIDE, THE NIGHT DIGGER, THE PENTHOUSE and other films of that ilk, but probably gets overlooked as a genuine horror because its director is primarily famous for Westerns. And also because most film critics are pretentious berks. Apart from one or two... it's definitely an "isithorror" film at the very least, ala THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA and BRITANNIA HOSPITAL.



As for censors...well, I know I'm going to upset a lot of my mates at the BBFC by saying this, and possibly some "sweet old ladies", but I'm sorry, I've NEVER seen the point of them, especially in this day and age when the news is worse than any fiction. The only purpose their continued existence serves, as far as I can see anyway, is to allow people with no discernible skills but who still want a job in the film & TV industry to gain employment- and to be honest, if we did away with them and their wage packets, we might be able to fund some decent films for a change....

[taffy1967]

I must take another look at this... I think I was struck by the uncompromising bleakness and how the character played by Hoffman seemed no better than the violent locals...

What I didn't like is the fact Hoffman wasn't protecting his house and taking out the nasty locals for what they'd done to his wife and their pet cat.



No he was just protecting the local village idiot (played masterly as ever by the excellent David Warner) from being lynched. Not that I've got a problem with that, because Warner's character accidentally killed Sally Thomsett character.



But the gang bang rape scene didn't seem as important?



I'm probably not making any sense here?

[HUGHJAMPTON]

I'm pretty sure I saw this available to hire on commercial VHS (& probably Betamax) at a local video film hire store back in the early 1980's. I assumed it got banned sometime afterwards.

Dead on, Taffy: it did have a vhs release, prior to the 1984 certification act. I still have a copy.

[will.15]

What I didn't like is the fact Hoffman wasn't protecting his house and taking out the nasty locals for what they'd done to his wife and their pet cat.

No he was just protecting the local village idiot (played masterly as ever by the excellent David Warner) from being lynched. Not that I've got a problem with that, because Warner's character accidentally killed Sally Thomsett character.

But the gang bang rape scene didn't seem as important?



I'm probably not making any sense here?

It's been so long since I saw it, but I don't think Hoffman knew about the rape until later.



You would have been okay with the village idiot being lynched if if it was deliberate murder? Neither Hoffman or the villagers knew what happened. That's what the legal system is for.