Straw Dogs (DVD)

When quiet American mathematician David Sumner and his wife Amy return to her native Cornwall, they are expecting a quiet life. And initially, it seems that they will get their own way. But David has a job to do, Amy feels neglected and bored, and flirting with an ex-boyfriend and his friends, who are helping to repair their delapidated home, seems an obvious way out. It soon becomes apparent that the locals have not taken to David - they go out ...
...the Sumner's cat and raping Amy. Then a girl is killed by a local man, who ends up at the Sumners' home, shortly followed by a gang of men baying for his blood. Before long, their home is under siege. Will the Sumners manage to get out alive? This film was a complete surprise to me. I have heard of it, and its director, Sam Peckinpah, but I had no idea what it was about, or that it was so old - it was made way back in 1971. It is apparently known ...

sunmeilan 13.10.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

...Goodman and director, Sam Peckinpah, Straw Dogs became one of the most controversial movies of the 70s & 80s even though the film itself disappeared from the box office on its first release in 1971. Anyway, to the story: a weak minded American mathematician (Dustin Hoffman) chooses the quiet life out in the English country based around Cornwall with a rather frisky wife who wants more from her husband than just equations. Amy (Susan George), is ...
...hell anyway. But in Straw Dogs I felt he had lost the plot at an early stage. The message was made clear to all of us more or less right at the beginning, we didn't need to have it repeatedly rammed down our throats with more graphical signposting. The rape (and this was no ordinary rape but what appeared to be buggery) was totally unnecassary, in fact the entire treatment of Amy is unacceptably sexist & ugly. Peckinpah could have held back and ...

dreamstar70 12.02.2001 (23.02.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

...action. This is how Straw Dogs finally came to be reclassified and released for home viewing, and with the lengthy saga of 'that' scene out of the way, this 1971 Sam Peckinpah thriller has alot to recommend it. Dustin Hoffman and Susan George head the cast as an American mathematician and his younger wife. David Sumner (Hoffman) and wife Amy (George) have moved to a remote Cornish village, and Amy's birthplace, to escape the growing violence and ...
...deep dark resentment builds against David and his beautiful young wife, who once rejected the charms of local workman Charlie Venner (Del Henney). Employed to work on the dilapidated farmhouse into which the couple have moved, Venner and accomplices from the Hedden family, begin a slow campaign of hate and spite against the Sumners. Starting as playful, but ending in shattering violence, as David realises that he can no longer escape the bullying, ...

dadmancat 23.02.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

~ ~ I recently came across this old movie from the early 70’s while scouring my local video shop for something to pass away an idle evening. This is a thriller from the stable of director Sam Peckinpah, who was renowned, (some say notorious) for the graphic portrayals of violence in his films. He was one of the first Hollywood directors to use the slow motion technique to further highlight violent scenes, and to better shock the cinema audience ...
...first used in his very violent Western “The Wild Bunch” (1969) I recall being fairly shocked by this film when I first watched it in the cinema in 1971, so decided to have a second look to see how it had worn with age. Later I was surprised to learn that the censor here in Ireland had actually banned it up until as recently as 1999, and it is still banned to this day in the UK. (so if you really want to watch it, you’ll have to ...

the_mad_cabbie 27.06.2001 (18.02.2002) · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

Straw Dogs is a Sam Pekinpah film, adapted from 'The Siege of Trenchers Farm' a 1969 novel by Gordon Williams, it is known by many simply for the brutal violences which seemed shocking at the time but now seems brutal but not out of the ordinary. It has a reputation due to a brutal rape scene, which is awful, but absolutely relevant to the story and the dramatic events that follow. As it was not allowed for home release it developed a notoriety along ...
...film is about David and Amy Sumner (Dustin Hoffman and Susan George) a couple who move to the remote Cornish village where Amy grew up ironically to escape the violence and brutality of inner city America. Due to a misunderstanding over some building work the Sumners ask for on their broken down farmhouse, a local builder Charlie Venner (Del Henney) and his workmen create whispers about the Sumners and a campaign of deep seated mistrust and resentment ...

paulie1975 28.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

Released in 1971 Straw dogs caused outrange due to the level of violence and resulted in the film being banned for 18 years. Right, I’m going to try get through this review without using the words ‘cult’ and ‘classic’. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, whom it could be argued was famed for the portrayal of violence in his work, the film is set in a sleepy Cornish village (filmed only about 5 miles from Lands End in St. Buryan) and it can be difficult to ...
...From the opening it shows a close nit community looking like it by-passed the last 6 decades completely and decided to stay in the post war era, and it’s clear that they don’t take to outsiders. The story centres on the newly married couple the Sumner’s played by a (back then) fresh faced Dustin Hoffman (David) and Susan George (Amy). The couple have moved back to the village where Amy grew up to escape the violence in the U.S. and so American Mathematician ...

Paid.Ark.Man 12.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

This film revolves around the couple. David and Amy Sumner. I think the directors intention was for us to find it a hard film to watch. This is told by the first person camera angles during the famous and explicitly brutal 'Rape' scene. The term used loosely. David is a wimp.Meek & frail, Plain and simple, has no views on anything and just wants to live his life. Amy is the flirtacious wife and seems to hate everything about David. Storyline: David ...
...David can spend some time away from America and get some hard work done in peace. Unluckily, the local residents aren't quite as normal as they expected. The builders David hired to build his garage spend more time drinking and spying on his wife then actually working and this gets us anxious. As we can usually tell what will happen later. And it does. David is out hunting, when Amys old lover comes calling for her. He becomes forceful and soon ...

Razzmond 28.08.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)

This Film is about a mild mannered phyisicist (american) who moves with his british wife to cornwall where she grew up. The film starts with small hints of things to come eg a gaping bear trap. Since the House the couple are living in is run down they recruite some of the girls childhood friends to do the building. soon the lads start abusing the couple hanging there cat and raping the woman. after the village idiot accidently kills the locals dons ...
...( the idiot) seeks refuge in the couples house and the mild mannered man goes psycho, defending house from the locals out for revenge. it should be noted that this film was banned for its graphic violence. The story raises a valid point about defending your house from intruders as the current law(gb) is unclear. Anyone who has any questions about the film feel free to ask them as a comment and i shal reply as best as a can. ...

okakenny 17.05.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Straw Dogs (DVD)