Film Still

Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah

United States

1971

117 minutes

Color

1.85:1

English

182

Synopsis

A young American mathematician, David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), and his English wife, Amy (Susan George), move to a Cornish village, seeking the quiet life. But beneath the seemingly peaceful isolation of the pastoral village lies a savagery and violence that threatens to destroy the couple, culminating in a brutal test of Sumner’s manhood and a bloody battle to the death. One of the most controversial films ever made, Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs is a harrowing and masterful investigation of masculinity and the nature of violence.

Cast

DavidDustin Hoffman
AmySusan George
Tom HeddenPeter Vaughan
Major Scott T.P. McKenna
VennerDel Henney
ScuttKen Hutchison
Reverend HoodColin Welland
CawseyJim Norton
JaniceSally Thomsett

Credits

DirectorSam Peckinpah
ProducerDaniel Melnick
ScreenplaySam Peckinpah and David Z. Goodman
MusicJerry Fielding
Associate producerJames Swann
Production supervisorDerek Kavanagh
CinematographyJohn Coquillon
Camera operatorHerbert Smith
EditingPaul Davies, Roger Spottiswoode and Tony Lawson
Design consultantJulia Trevelyan Oman
Production DesignRay Simm
Art directionKen Bridgeman
MakeupHarry Frampton

Disc Features

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:

  • New high-definition digital transfer of the uncut version, enhanced for widescreen televisions
  • Audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince
  • Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron, an eighty-minute documentary on Sam Peckinpah
  • Behind-the-scenes footage
  • On Location: Dustin Hoffman on the set of Straw Dogs
  • New video interviews with Susan George and Daniel Melnick
  • Original theatrical and television trailers
  • Peckinpah Responds: Select letters to critics and viewers
  • Isolated music and effects track
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
  • Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

From the Current

Home Like No Place: Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs

by Joshua Clover Mar 24, 2003

Straw Dogs turns on a woman’s rape, and one can’t blame pictures for depicting. But the film shows the woman, after some tart resistance, seeming to enjoy it, and this approaches the apex of what a delicate soul might call “problematic representation.” It’s fucked up. What’s more...

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there remaking it?

2 posts by 2 people updated 9 days ago

Available Editions

182_box_348x490_w128 Out of Print

DVD

2 Discs

SRP: $39.95