Film · TMDB
7.2David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate.
Released: 1971-11-25116 minDir: Sam PeckinpahThriller, Drama, CrimeBudget: $2.2MBox office: $3.3M
Cast
- Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner
- Susan George as Amy
- Peter Vaughan as Tom Hedden
- T. P. McKenna as Maj. John Scott
- Del Henney as Charlie Venner
- Jim Norton as Chris Cawsey
Themes
- rape
- countryside
~17 min read
Article
Straw Dogs is a 1971 psychological thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. The screenplay, by Peckinpah and David Zelag Goodman, is based on Gordon M. Williams's 1969 novel, The Siege of Trencher's Farm. The film's title is derived from a discussion in the Tao Te Ching that likens people to the ancient Chinese ceremonial straw dog, being of ceremonial worth, but afterwards discarded with indifference.
The film is noted for its violent concluding sequences and two complicated rape scenes, which were censored by numerous film rating boards. Released theatrically the same year as A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection and Dirty Harry, the film sparked heated controversy over a perceived increase of violence in films generally.