Diagnosed with an aggressive cancer of the right lung on my 58th birthday (14th July) So not really ...
Diagnosed with an aggressive cancer of the right lung on my 58th birthday (14th July) So not really in the humour for writing much at the moment, although I *WILL* be back before too long...Ken
Member since:06.12.2000
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~ ~ 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 with graphic close ups of blood and guts, which he 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 order it online from the US)
~ ~ This movie co-stars Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. (Did I ever fancy this actress when I was younger!!) Hoffman plays a shy and introverted American intellectual, David Sumner, who has moved over to rural England (Cornwall) with his new young wife Amy (Susan George) who is English and originally from the area, to escape the escalating violence of society in his native USA. He hires some of the local citizens to repair his leaky roof (first big mistake) and a bigger bunch of drunks, misfits, thugs, and downright psychopaths you would be hard put to find. One of these characters turns out to be an old flame of his missus, and it’s here the trouble begins. Luring David out onto the moors on the pretext of a hunting trip, his wife Amy is then brutally gang-raped and sodomised by both her old flame and another of the friendly locals. Be duly warned, the rape scene is, even to this day, the most brutal and graphic you will ever see on the screen. Peckinpah decided to show Amy actually ENJOYING being so brutally assaulted by her old boyfriend and it was this that caused the film to be banned in the UK, and which raised the hackles of feminists all around the world. (It also ultimately cost the then head of the British Board of Film Censors his job, when he decided to grant this film a certificate, along with two other controversial movies, “A Clockwork Orange” and “The Devils”, all in the same year.) That Amy also decides to not tell her husband about the rape, and not to report the incident, also did little to endear this movie to the female population.
~ ~ David then knocks down the local idiot Henry Niles (played impeccably by David Warner as a “favour” to Peckinpah) on his way home from a local function. It transpires that he has been up to some “naughties” of his own with one of the young local girls who has been leading him on, and has ended up accidentally strangling her. The local louts are out on the rampage hunting for Niles to extract bloody revenge, and when they discover that he is in David’s cottage, they arrive on the scene demanding that he hand over Niles to be summarily executed. At this point the worm (David) turns, and refuses point blank to hand over Niles to the “lynch mob”. Mayhem then ensues, with the cottage coming under violent siege from the locals, and being defended to the death by David, whose character as a meek, mild mannered mathematician erupts into an orgy of violence against his tormentors. The final half hour of this film is so graphically violent that it actually has to be seen to be believed, but I wont go into any further detail as it would totally ruin the whole movie for anyone who decides to watch it.
~ ~ To say that I enjoyed this film would be going much too far, as it is not something that a normal, sane person could watch with any degree of pleasure. But, believe me, it will not fail to make an impression.
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Great review but I've got to be honest - I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to violent films - I will not be contacting the US for a copy of this one. Mike
flabbercabbage 19.02.2002 00:52
I had a Susan George thing too!
Morgenhund 18.02.2002 23:29
This one somehow slipped through the net first time round! Mike
According to critic Pauline KaelStraw Dogswas "the first American film that is a fascist ... more
work of art". Sam Peckinpah's only film shot in Britain is adapted from a novel by Gordon M Williams calledThe Siege of Trencher's Farmwhich Peckinpah described as...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
According to critic Pauline KaelStraw Dogswas "the first American film that is a fascist ... more
work of art". Sam Peckinpah's only film shot in Britain is adapted from a novel by Gordon M Williams calledThe Siege of Trencher's Farmwhich Peckinpah described as...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Available for home viewing in the UK for the first time in almost 20 years Sam ... more
Peckinpah's notoriously controversial 1971 classic STRAW DOGS will be released completely uncut on this Special Edition DVD. Based on Gordon M. Williams's novel The Siege ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Straw Dogs [1971] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78536003.jpg "Straw Dogs [1971] [DVD]")
![Straw Dogs [1971] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78496737.jpg "Straw Dogs [1971] [DVD]")
Jun 27th, 2001
(Feb 18th, 2002)
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