Straw Dogs (1971)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Written by David Zelag Goodman, Sam Peckinpah
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Susan George
Release Date December 22nd, 1972
Published September 12th, 2011
"Straw Dogs," a remake of the controversial 1971 Sam Peckinpah thriller, opens in theaters nationwide September 16, 2011. Many questions surround this remake from director Rod Lurie, the most potent being whether or not the new "Straw Dogs" can stir up audiences the way the original did 40 years ago. Have audiences become so desensitized to violence that we can no longer be shaken the way our parents were when "Straw Dogs" took the violence of the tumultuous '60s and '70s and planted it squarely in the upper middle class home of a young everyman and his beautiful wife, saying, essentially, this could happen to you?
" Straw Dogs " starred Dustin Hoffman, one of our finest actors and, at the time of the filming, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood due to his other controversial works "The Graduate" and the X-Rated Best Picture-winner "Midnight Cowboy." Hoffman's David was a timid man who, when forced to step up and defend his young wife Amy (played by Susan George), failed repeatedly.
David and Amy have moved to a cottage in the English countryside where Amy grew up. There, a number of people from her past, including a jealous ex-boyfriend, are waiting with judgmental eyes for her new husband. Things begin badly when men doing work in their home harass Amy and David refuses to do anything about it.
Instead, David attempts to befriend the workers, who continuously humiliate and poke fun at him. Eventually, the workers invite David to go hunting with them. Leaving him stranded in the woods, the workers return to David's home, where the former flame proceeds to rape Amy.
Peckinpah's shooting of the rape scene was debated at the time and remains the film's most controversial element. The stomach of many an audience member turned as Amy's resistance to her rape slowly turned to pleasure, the rapist being a man she's been with before; she seems to give into him and begin enjoying it. Things turn dark again, however, when a second man enters the scene. Amy never tells David about the rape. The film devolves toward an ultra-violent conclusion not because David is finally ready to defend his wife, not because he is seeking revenge over the rape, but because of a complex series of misunderstandings.
Feminist scholars have argued that Peckinpah's depiction of Amy's rape was his revenge against the character's feminist bent and the way the character repeatedly emasculates Hoffman's David. Peckinpah was often criticized as a misogynist for his depiction of women onscreen.
Remake director Rod Lurie has even taken shots at Peckinpah's alleged misogyny.
In an interview with the Brandeis University newspaper, Brandeis Now, Lurie said, "I was never enchanted with Peckinpah's philosophies on human behavior or his attitude toward women. I don't want to talk too deeply about that because he isn't here to defend his name, but it certainly came into the context of my making the film."
Does this imply Lurie's "Straw Dogs" will tone down the violence of the original? At the very least we can expect a new context and perspective on what takes place. Lurie's "Straw Dogs" is rated R but, unlike Peckinpah's film -- which was plagued by a ratings battle over its violent content -- the remake has been met with no such controversy.
Which brings us back around to my original question: Can the new "Straw Dogs" stir audiences the way the original did 40 years ago? It depends on a number of factors, not least of which is how much Lurie has shifted the context of what takes place in the film and how graphically the violence is depicted. Peckinpah's high shock factor played as big a role in the impact of "Straw Dogs" on audiences as did his intent to bring violence into the well-tended homes of the upper middle class. 40 years later can a new "Straw Dogs," or any other film for that matter, reach audiences the way "Straw Dogs" did in 1971?
We will find out how audiences take to the new "Straw Dogs" when the film arrives in theaters nationwide Friday, September 16, 2011.
