Straw Dogs – Criterion Collection

Summary

Introduction by scholar Garner Simmons, author of Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage – The Definitive Edition: 50 Years After “The Wild Bunch” from the Writer Who Knew Him Best: 

Following Warner Bros. dismal mishandling of The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Sam Peckinpah was approached my Daniel Melnick to consider a novel titled The Siege at Trencher’s Farm by British author Gordon M. Williams for his next film.  Though unimpressed by the book (which bears little resemblance to the finished film) Peckinpah was intrigued by the basic setup: attempting to escape the campus unrest of the Sixties, an American college professor with a research grant returns with his British wife to her home on the isolated moors of Cornwall.  But instead of the peaceful tranquility of the English countryside, he soon discovers himself ostracized and baited by the locals who view him as an outsider. As David Sumner, Dustin Hoffman delivers an incredibly nuanced performance as he manages to alienate virtually everyone in village including his wife.  As the circumstances mount, Sumner finds himself more and more marginalized and alone.  In the midst of this, his wife (played with incredible complexity by Susan George) is sexually attacked in the film’s most notorious scene as Peckinpah brilliantly exposes rape as not a crime of sexual gratification but one of violence. Not for the squeamish, Straw Dogs is controversial, powerful and ultimately rewarding.    

Review

“Okay, you’ve had your fun. I’ll give you one more chance, and if you don’t clear out now, there’ll be real trouble. I mean it.”

Sam Peckinpah had just experienced the professional high of working on The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and the low of watching the film disappear quickly at the box office. Peckinpah had made his most tender film yet, and people had not made much of a response to the film at all. For his next film, Straw Dogs, Peckinpah reworked the script from David Zelag Goodman which was an adaptation of a British novel called The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams. Peckinpah thought very little of the novel and essentially threw out everything in the novel but the siege itself. He went to work turning the script into his most visceral and harrowing work; an exploration of human weakness and cowardice that leaves unforgettable imagery in the minds of all that see it. The title of the film comes from an obscure passage in the Tao te Ching that compares human beings to a Chinese ceremonial straw dog which is of worth for the ceremony but then quickly discarded. It is the harshest film that Peckinpah would ever make.

The film begins in the Cornish countryside. American mathematician David Sumner (David Hoffman) has decided to take a sabbatical with his English wife Amy (Susan George) and move to her village of Wakely where she was raised. He plans to finish writing a book on computer mathematics and also find refuge from the violence that has consumed his country. They move into the house where her father lived, Trencher’s farm, and go about making it feel more their own. The house has numerous issues, including a barn that needs a roof repair. While in town grabbing supplies, Amy bumps into an ex-flame named Charlie Venner. David goes into a pub to buy cigarettes and meets Charlie’s uncle, Tom Hedden. Tom is an alcoholic with a hot temper. Tom has a teenage daughter named Janice. Also in the small town is a mentally deficient man named Henry Niles (David Warner) who Tom’s daughter Janice seems to like despite their age gap. After witnessing a violent outburst by Tom when the bartender cuts him off, David walks back to the car where he sees Charlie talking to Amy. Charlie offers to help Amy and David with some work on the farm patching the roof. David, not realizing the discomfort that Amy has felt in Charlie’s presence, hires Charlie to do the work. Charlie brings along his friends Norman Scutt, Chris Cawsey, and Phil Riddaway. The men are all jealous of David’s relationship with the pretty Amy. They are judgmental of David’s obvious weakness. Scutt is also jealous that Charlie had been able to sleep with Amy when she was younger. Having these men around the house puts a strain on Amy and David’s marriage. The men begin to do strange things to intimidate the couple, including killing their pet cat. David does absolutely nothing and continues to keep the men on. In anger, Susan at one point walks past a window with her breasts exposed, allowing the dirtbag workers to see her. When the men invite David to go hunting, David accepts the offer against the wishes of his wife. While he is trying to prove his manhood by hunting, Charlie comes into his house. An unspeakable rape occurs that propels the plot of the second half of the film and will cause a true transformation of David as he must protect his household.

Straw Dogs is one of the hardest films to watch ever made. It is a nasty piece of work that features a harrowing rape scene that is truly awful to watch. Peckinpah pushes past the limits of comfortability to expose something ugly. Rape is terrible. The anguish it causes is horrible. Peckinpah doesn’t allow you to look away. The camera’s gaze stays on the act with numerous jump cuts between the act as it occurs and David out in the field hunting. It is infuriating and brutally effective. In Peckinpah’s world view the weakness of David has invited this awful act into his home and the only way for David to protect his home is to become hard. Peckinpah was harshly criticized at the time for the rape scene, partially because the rape by Charlie is ambiguous as to whether or not it causes any pleasure for the victim. Unfortunately, the US release of the film truncated the scene which makes it much worse. The displeasure that Amy feels when Scutt joins in is necessary to understand the extent that Amy is a victim. I don’t feel like Peckinpah is intending erotic pleasure from showing the rape, but the exact opposite. I think he wants the audience to feel sick in the pit of their stomach and mad. He wants the audience to feel anger at David for being so weak that this occurs.

In fact, weakness and cowardice is what Peckinpah really wants to explore with this film. It’s an indictment of weakness in men. I have never seen a film that so well encapsulates what cowardice feels like for a man. I remember a time in college where I felt a similar feeling of weakness and cowardice and vowed to never let that feeling find me again. Men are meant to be strong and to protect those they love. Peckinpah is telling the audience that to fail to be strong and loved ones is a failure to be a man. That is why the transformation of David in the finale of the film is so liberating. David has left America to escape the violence of the country, but he can not escape the violence within himself – his human nature. The violence of the finale is orgiastic for the audience because we so badly want to see the badness of the world destroyed. We want to see the evils of the world decimated in front of us. We want to see bad men meat violent fates and we want them to suffer the way they have made others suffer. In my estimation, this is one of the most primitive feelings that Peckinpah was tapping into. To pretend for even a second that the film is not incredibly effective would be ridiculous.

The film was shot well by cinematographer John Coquillon, and it looks appropriately bleak. I want to say that the film is beautifully shot, but that would be a misnomer. There is no beauty to be found in Straw Dogs. I will instead say that the film is very well shot. The score by Jerry Fielding fits the film perfectly, but that should come as no surprise given Fielding’s previous work with Peckinpah. The acting in the film is incredible. Dustin Hoffman may give his best performance in this film. It is so understated in the first half and the transformation in the second half is brilliantly done. Hoffman was a perfect vessel to be the object of ire for the jealousy of other men. He is brilliant in the film. Susan George may not have been the top choice that Hoffman had for his counterpart, but she gives a truly unforgettable performance as Amy. You won’t be able to shake her performance off after watching it. Peter Vaughan is great as the violent Tom. Del Henney is totally believable as Charlie Venner and Ken Hutchison is just as good as Norman Scutt. David Warner is a great actor in general, but it is impressive that he is able to portray mental deficiency so easily with so little screen time. 

Straw Dogs is a hard film to recommend because it is a hard film to sit through. That is simply because the film is so effective at drawing out the very worst emotions and feelings from those who watch it. It isn’t an empty exercise. While it is a deeply uncomfortable film, it is also one of Peckinpah’s very best.

Video

Criterion have released Straw Dogs with a new pristine 4K digital restoration that causes the film to look the absolute best it could’ve ever looked. As I mentioned above, the film can not be called a thing of beauty but it is certainly well shot. The relentlessly bleak cinematography of John Coquillon shines on the new Blu-ray from Criterion. Fine detail is excellent and a very fine grain hangs over the picture lending a very filmic look. It looks great.

Audio

Criterion Collection have provided a very well done LPCM Mono track for the film. Considering the film has a very detailed action sequence in the finale, it is interesting that a reworked DTS-HD MA 5.1 track was not produced, but the LPCM Mono track capably replicates the original sound design of the film. The score by Jerry Fielding is great. Dialogue is crystal clear. The film has never sounded better.

Supplements:

• Trailers – four trailers for Straw Dogs.
• Commentary – in this commentary recorded for Criterion in 2002, Stephen Prince, author of Savage Prince: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent Movies, gives a detailed analysis of the film.
• Mantrap -“Straw Dogs”: The Final Cut (2003) – this nearly hour long documentary film features interviews with numerous cast members about their recollections of working on Straw Dogs. Really enjoyable.
• Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron (1993) – this feature length documentary film focuses Peckinpah and his work through interviews with numerous people who worked with him. 
• Behind the Scenes
• Roger Spottiswoode – in this new interview, editor Roger Spottiswoode discusses editing the film and working with Peckinpah.
• Susan George – in this archival interview from 2002, actress Susan George discusses working on the film.
• Daniel Melnick – in this archival interview from 2002, producer Daniel Melnick discusses the production history of Straw Dogs.
• Garner Simmons – scholar Garner Simmons lends himself to a fascinating interview where he discusses the film and Peckinpah’s intent with it. He discusses the rape sequence and other aspects. I found myself agreeing with every single thing that he said.
• A Controversial Classic – Linda Williams, professor emerita of film and media and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses the sexual violence in the film.

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5 

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 5/5

Straw Dogs is a painful film to watch. The film has its share of admirers and detractors. The rape scene is harrowing and one of the hardest sequences too endure in any film. The film exposes many ugly things about the worst parts of human nature. It draws out uncomfortable feelings from the audience. It is an emotionally draining film and it is also one of the most brilliantly done films ever made about weakness and cowardice. Any man who has ever felt a twinge of cowardice will find this film touches a raw nerve. It is deeply unsettling and also a work that is brutally efficient. It is not a film that I find myself returning to as often as Peckinpah’s other films, because I can’t say that I like the way the movie makes me feel. The sense of outrage that the film makes me feel lends towards a feeling of bloodlust as David squares off against the demonic hordes that have tried to lay claim to his home. Peckinpah wants you to know that if you are not strong that your house and its inhabitants are vulnerable. It is a harsh worldview that sits uncomfortably with some. The film is nothing short of an absolute masterpiece for what it is, despite being a film that will not draw repeated viewings from many. The Criterion Collection Blu-ray is incredible. Featuring hours and hours of great supplements and beautiful video and audio, it is an essential purchase for fans of Peckinpah and the film. Straw Dogs is not for the faint of heart, but for those who can handle it, the film remains an unforgettable experience.