Straw dogs...

[bristolseagull]

I have to do some uni c/w on regulation of pornography in the UK and many of the articles ive been reading include a peice on the banned film 'straw dogs' anyone seen it? apparently the most graphic rape scene ever.

nice.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The scene is fairly " tame " compared with today's stuff. Not that any scene depicting rape can be considered " tame ". The film may have shocked in the early 70's but it wouldn;t do now. Hoffman basically loses the plot and blows everyone away.

The worst scenes of this heinous act are in Death Wish 2 and a French film where the women raped enacts her gruesome revenge on the perpetraitors.

 

[Les Biehn]

Check out irreversible. 12 minute anal rape scene. Harshest one I have ever seen, much worse than Straw Dogs if you need a contemporary comparision to that film. Both films are also about male rage bought on through feelings of impotency (metaphorically not literally).

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Baise-moi (2000)
Directed by
Virginie Despentes
Coralie (co-director)

Writing credits
Coralie
Virginie Despentes (also novel)

Genre: Adult / Drama / Thriller (more)

Plot Outline: Two young women, marginalised by society, go on a destructive tour of sex and violence. Breaking norms and killing men - and shattering the complacency of polite cinema audiences.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I think the scandal about Straw Dogs was that the script called upon the woman being raped to show that, momentarily, she was enjoying the experience. Sam Peckinpah was a fairly, nasty twisted old f***, apparently.

I saw it, it's not terribly shocking, just a very much duller take on the Deliverance "country bumpkins are weirdoes" thing, set in the west country. Not a great film, IMHO.

 

[Les Biehn]

Have to say I thought it was better than Deliverance but still not that great.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I agree with MOH , upon watching it I thought " she is being raped but is she enjoying it ? ". That is the controversy. The film is pretty good and Hoffman losing the plot and killing all the inbreds at the end is quite satisfying.

Straw Dogs (1971)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Genre: Crime / Drama / Thriller (more)

Tagline: The knock at the door meant the birth of one man and the death of seven others! (more)

Plot Outline: A young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment. (more)

User Comments: Extremely Influential (more)

User Rating: 7.5/10 (6,039 votes)

Complete credited cast:
Dustin Hoffman .... David Sumner
Susan George .... Amy Sumner
Peter Vaughan .... Tom Hedden
T.P. McKenna .... Major John Scott
Del Henney .... Charlie Venner
Jim Norton .... Chris Cawsey
Donald Webster .... Riddaway
Ken Hutchison .... Norman Scutt
Len Jones .... Bobby Hedden
Sally Thomsett .... Janice Hedden
Robert Keegan .... Harry Ware
Peter Arne .... John Niles
Cherina Schaer .... Louise Hood
Colin Welland .... Reverend Barney Hood

Runtime: 118 min / USA:113 min (R-rated version)
Country: UK / USA
Language: English
Color: Color (Eastmancolor)
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: Finland:K-18 (cut) (1971) / Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1981) / Argentina:18 / Australia:MA (DVD re-rating) (2004) / Australia:R (original rating) / France:-16 / Hong Kong:III / Ireland:18 / Italy:VM14 (re-rating) / Italy:VM18 (original rating) / Japan:R-15 / New Zealand:R18 / Norway:18 / Spain:18 / Sweden:15 / UKBanned) (video rating) (1999) / UK:18 (video re-rating) (2002) (uncut) / UK:X (original rating) / USA:R / West Germany:18

Trivia: When Sam Peckinpah was planning the scene in which Amy is raped twice, he would not tell Susan George how he was going to shoot the scene. Under pressure from her, he eventually told her bluntly that Amy would first be raped and then buggered. She refused to take part in Peckinpah's plans for explicit portrayal of this and threatened to resign. He eventually relented, allowing George to depict Amy's trauma by concentrating on her eyes and face, rather than her body. (more)

Goofs: Crew or equipment visible: As David and Amy Sumner drive up to their house for the first time, the camera crew is reflected in the car's side window. (more)

Quotes:
Reverend Barney Hood: Radiation. That's an unfortunate dispensation.
David Sumner: Surely is. Yes, indeed.
Reverend Barney Hood: As long as it's not another bomb.
[beat]
Reverend Barney Hood: You're a scientist - can you deny the responsibility?
David Sumner: Can you?
[beat]
David Sumner: After all, there's never been a kingdom given to so much bloodshed as that of Christ.
Reverend Barney Hood: [beat] That's Montesquieu, isn't it?
David Sumner: Oh, really?
[...]
(more)

Awards: Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win (more)

STRAW DOGS

Extremely Influential, 17 November 2004

Author: aimless-46 from Kentucky

Caution-possible spoilers ahead: The old Hollywood production code required that justice be rewarded and evil punished, the last genre to hold onto this concept was the Western (and prime time television). Violence was always highly selective; you might see the good guy wounded once in a while, but it was almost always the "deserving" bad guys who got killed. This reflected the U.S. mainstream view of violence and of pre-Viet Nam foreign affairs. What made 'The Wild Bunch' revolutionary was that Peckinpah made violence universal. Everyone stood in the same shade of gray/neutral moral middle-ground and everyone; men, women, children, dogs, and chickens were shot up in the final scene, regardless of their guilt or innocence.

Then along comes 'Straw Dogs' and Peckinpah makes another violent anti-violence film where the moral distinctions between victims (be they physical or psychological victims) is again ambiguous.

The film opens with a processional of Amy and 'Wannabee Amy' (Sally Thomsett in a dead-on Lolita performance) turning all the male heads as they walk through the village. And this introduces us to the parallel stories that will be taking place during the film. Amy will spend much of her time amusing herself by provocatively arousing a group of young men in the village. Thomsett's character will spend her time flirting with Amy's husband David (the Dustin Hoffman character) and with the village idiot (David Warner doing Lon Chaney's Lennie from 'Mice and Men'). Just one year removed from playing an innocent child in 'The Railway Children' Thomsett is perfect as every father's nightmare of a post-pubescent boy-crazy daughter.

Peckinpah's theme is about personal responsibility (and irresponsibility) and how actions have consequences. Amy and 'Wannabee Amy' will play with fire during the first part of the movie. Amy will tease the young men of the village, will playfully run them off the road with her car, and will fearlessly challenge them about killing her cat. She will even become a willing participant in what starts out as forced sex with her former boyfriend. But Amy will suffer the consequences when this is followed up by an actual rape. 'Wannabee Amy' will seduce the village idiot and suffer the consequences when he panics and accidentally kills her.

At this point Amy wants no more consequences from her irresponsibility. But David stubbornly insists on protecting the village idiot until the authorities arrive. When the magistrate arrives and is killed by the five goons outside their house, David pragmatically concludes that the goons cannot let Amy and him live, even if they turn over the village idiot. Once cornered David must fight and reverts to primitive animalistic behavior.

I think Peckinpah is telling us that we still have an innate instinctual capacity for violence and instinctual responses to violence, that women are still excited and attracted by these displays and may consciously or subconsciously incite them. Call it part of the courtship ritual, it probably has an evolutionary function.

Starting with parallel story lines that occasionally touch each other before finally coming together, Peckinpah structures the film so that a third storyline then takes over. After Amy's need for excitement has set the events in motion and they have escalated beyond her control, she withdraws and refuses to deal with anything anymore. Her active role is then taken up by the formerly passive David, who until this point has been dodging confrontation. First he is pushed to a point where he stubbornly refuses to back down any further, and finally he is cornered with has no place to back down even if inclined to do so.

I was very impressed with the work of the Production Designer on this film. The countryside, village, and house have a very uniform visual style that fits the storyline of a foreigner dealing with an insular community.

I really have no problems with this film. I found it one of those few films that are riveting from the very start. During my initial viewing I recall hating the scene where David and Amy are arguing while sitting on opposite sides of the fireplace. I was mentally protesting 180-degree rule violations and the disorienting cuts. But by the end I realized that this visually reinforced the unraveling of their relationship; it is a good example of why movie-making conventions can be broken if breaking them advances the story line.

'Straw Dogs' takes place in a Peckinpah world where men must be willing to do life's dirty work and anything else if they wish to survive, and where actions have consequences. This is a world where love has limits and might even be impossible.